Krypton Radio Newswire
An Acting Legend Passes Away
Jonathan Frid
I have always thought of myself, frankly, as a sort of dilettante actor. That is to say, an actor that considers himself reasonably successful but hardly ever sparked by the urge to make big bucks or even a modest living from his profession. Consequently some of my early or even opening night performances have been appallingly bad and yet by the end of their runs have been as good as any other actor in the business. I repeat, “as good as any other actor in the business” – Jonathon Frid (December 2, 1924 – April 13, 2012)
If you’re not into Gothic stories, then you may not have heard of Jonathan Frid. But Mr. Frid through his work did for Gothic stories and vampires what Star Trek did for sci-fi and race relations, they both changed television history forever. In 1965 Dan Curtis created a first of its kind drama for ABC Television, he created a Gothic Drama Soap-Opera, called Dark Shadows. Premiering in 1966, Dark Shadows had moderate success and stunned audiences by introducing a serious supernatural element with ghosts after six months of running. By 1967 the show’s ratings were fluctuating and a new character was introduced, a vampire named Barnabas Collins played by Jonathon Frid, graced the screen and turned the Dark Shadows world on it’s ear with a new storyline.
Jonathan Frid born John Herbert Frid, a Canadian National who spent over thirty years in live theater, was best known to American audiences as his Vampire character Barnabas. But Mr. Frid who was an accomplished actor also starred in productions such as Dial “M” for Murder and Oliver Stone’s movie Seizure. There have been a few reports of his death on different dates, but one source claiming to have received the news directly from his survivors indicates that Mr. Frid passed away from natural causes on April Friday the 13th, 2012 at a Canadian hospital.
