Wednesday, Jun. 30, 2010

Barnabas Collins, Dark Shadows

At the height of the Vietnam War, prolific television director Dan Curtis created Dark Shadows, a weekday gothic soap opera featuring werewolves, monsters, witches and warlocks. With sagging ratings after nearly 200 episodes, vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, was accidentally released from his coffin. For more than 1,000 episodes, Barnabas traveled back and forth in time (and into a parallel timeline), solving mysteries, stealing souls and trying to return to the present. Barnabas romanced several women but always searched for Josette, his beloved fiancé who committed suicide in 1775. British actor Ben Cross reprised the role of Barnabas in the series' short-lived revival in 1991. In 2007, Warner Bros. announced that it had purchased the film rights: Tim Burton is set to direct Johnny Depp as Barnabas in a 2011 release.