Editing Jonathan Frid (section)

===Television===

Frid's United States television appearances began in 1960 with his role as [[Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester]] in Shakespeare's ''[[Henry IV, Part 1|Henry IV Part I]]'' as part of ''Play of the Week''.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dark Shadows and Beyond - The Jonathan Frid Story |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/637245/dark-shadows-and-beyond-the-jonathan-frid-story |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Clips at timestamp 18:52-19:55 and DVD bonus feature.</ref> This was followed by an episode of [[CBS|CBS-TV]]'s ''[[Look Up and Live]]'', ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Television Record |title=The Picture of Dorian Grey |url=https://museumtv.pastperfectonline.com/Archive?search_criteria=The+Picture+of+Dorian+Gray&onlyimages=false |website=Museum of Broadcast Communications |publisher=Breck's Golden Showcase |access-date=24 August 2023}}</ref> and several episodes as a psychiatrist on the CBS-TV soap opera ''[[As the World Turns|As The World Turns]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mason |first1=Doug |title=Jonathan Frid ready to pass on his vampire fangs, cape |work=The Knoxville News-Sentinel |agency=Page 4 |date=July 1, 1990|quote=Frid had played a small role as a psychiatrist in the daytime soap opera ''As the World Turns''...}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Higgins |first1=Robert |title=A Vampire for All Seasons |magazine=TV Guide |date=July 13, 1968 |issue=798 |pages=12–14|quote=...split his time between...TV (shows like ''Look Up and Live'' and ''As the World Turns'')...}}</ref> 
[[File:Jonathan Frid Barnabas Collins Dark Shadows 1968.JPG|thumb|left|Frid as Barnabas Collins, 1968]]
Frid is widely known for the role of vampire [[Barnabas Collins]] in the original [[Gothic fiction|gothic serial]] ''[[Dark Shadows]]'', which ran from 1966 to 1971.

In early March 1967 Frid was arriving at his Manhattan apartment following the completion of a National Tour of ''Hostile Witness'' with [[Ray Milland]] when he received the phone call from his agent that would change his life: a request to audition for a 13-week role as a vampire. Although planning to move to the West Coast to pursue a teaching position at a [[Southern California]] university, Frid appeased his agent by auditioning for the role that, if he got the part, would help finance his move west. He won the role of Barnabas Collins, a vampire released from a chained coffin after 175 years, on the gothic daytime serial ''Dark Shadows''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gross |first1=Ed |title=Jonathan Frid Interview with a Vampire |magazine=TV Gold |date=July 1986 |volume=3 |pages=52, 54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lamparski |first1=Richard |title=Whatever Became Of...? |date=January 30, 1985 |publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc. |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-517-55541-7 |pages=56–57 |edition=Ninth Series}}</ref>  Before taping began the producers asked the actor and the writers, including [[Ron Sproat]], a fellow Yale alumnus, to discuss the character's development. Collaborating with the writers, Frid explained that when he played villains he invested them with an emotional life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=The Museum of Television & Radio |title=Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera |date=January 1, 1997 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc. |isbn=0-8109-3997-5 |page=144}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gross |first1=Edward |title=Dark Shadows Tribute |date=January 1, 1990 |publisher=Pioneer Books |isbn=1-55698-234-8 |page=63}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Purdy |first1=Pamela |title=Unmasking Jonathan Frid |work=City Paper, Baltimore's Free Weekly |issue=44, Vol. 11 |date=October 30, 1987}}</ref> The result was a new interpretation of a vampire: a monster depending upon blood to survive yet fighting to regain his humanity.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Master of Dark Shadows |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/538805/master-of-dark-shadows |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 30:59-32:08</ref> Frid's compelling portrayal of the sympathetic vampire was so popular with audiences that his short-term contract stretched into four years and Frid scrapped his plans to move to the West Coast.<ref name=officialbio>{{cite web|url=http://jonathanfrid.com/New%20Site/biography.htm |title="Biography" |access-date=2012-05-10 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218030427/http://jonathanfrid.com/New%20Site/biography.htm |archive-date=December 18, 2010 }} (2002). Jonathan Frid (official site). Archived from [http://www.jonathanfrid.com the original] on July 20, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Winkie |title=Frid enjoying his work in reader's theater |work=Goldsboro News-Argus |date=October 14, 1990|quote=Needless to say, Frid never made it to the teaching job.}}</ref>

Frid appeared on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'',<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Master of Dark Shadows |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/538805/master-of-dark-shadows |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 41:10-41:35.</ref> ''[[The Mike Douglas Show]]'', ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]'', and ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'', and was even a special mystery guest on ''[[What's My Line?]]''<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dark Shadows and Beyond - The Jonathan Frid Story |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/637245/dark-shadows-and-beyond-the-jonathan-frid-story |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 2:55-3:42 and 31:35-32:26.</ref> The iconic image of Frid as Barnabas Collins adorned comic books, paperback gothic novels, bubble gum cards and even a board game, complete with coffin. Screaming teenagers thronged to his personal appearances like he was one of [[the Beatles]].<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dark Shadows and Beyond - The Jonathan Frid Story |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/637245/dark-shadows-and-beyond-the-jonathan-frid-story |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 23:43-3:31.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Ship of Ghouls |magazine=Time Magazine |date=August 30, 1968 |volume=92 |issue=9 |page=46 |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,844594,00.html|quote=When Barnabas the Vampire (Actor Jonathan Frid) goes on personal appearance tours, he is apt to pull 25,000 people at a time.}}</ref>
[[File:Jonathan Frid 1968 promotional tour with crowd.jpg|thumb|right|Frid during a 10-city ''Dark Shadows'' promotional tour, Charleston, South Carolina, May 1968]]
The ''Dark Shadows'' [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] Studios in [[Manhattan]] became inundated with fan mail for Frid, at its peak reaching upwards of 5,000 letters per week.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Turned-On Vampire |magazine=Newsweek |date=April 20, 1970 |page=107|quote=Frid continues to receive some 5,000 cards and letter a week from his fans.}}</ref>

In 1970, ''Dark Shadows'' became the first soap opera to be converted into a feature-length movie. Frid made his American feature film debut portraying his famous television character in [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]'s ''[[House of Dark Shadows]]''. While the movie script kept the same characters as the TV series, it was a bloodier, more violent story.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Kathryn Leigh |title=The Dark Shadows Movie Book |date=1998 |publisher=Pomegranate Press, Ltd. |location=Los Angeles |isbn=0-938817-48-5 |pages=9, 22}}</ref>

During the run of ''Dark Shadows'', and particularly with the release of ''House of Dark Shadows'', Frid was made aware of speculation he could be typecast.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Master of Dark Shadows |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/538805/master-of-dark-shadows |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 1:02:25-1:02:36.</ref> Both during and immediately after ''Dark Shadows'', he worked to broaden his acting identity with theatre roles very different from television's Barnabas Collins. In 1969 he took a four-week hiatus from the show to star in the [[Frederick Knott]] play ''Dial M for Murder'' at the legendary [[The Little Theatre on the Square]] in [[Sullivan, Illinois]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Institutional Repository |first1=Eastern Illinois University |title=Dial 'M' For Murder |url=https://thekeep.eiu.edu/little_theatre_1969_programs/2/ |series=1969 Programs |date=September 23, 1969 |publisher=Digital Commons |access-date=August 10, 2023}}</ref>

With the announcement of the cancellation of ''Dark Shadows'' in March 1971, Frid returned to performing on stage with the role of [[Thomas Becket]] in the Off-Broadway play ''[[Murder in the Cathedral]]'', followed by Harry Roat in ''[[Wait Until Dark]]'' at the Windmill Dinner Theaters in [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]] and [[Houston]].<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dark Shadows and Beyond - The Jonathan Frid Story |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/637245/dark-shadows-and-beyond-the-jonathan-frid-story |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 49:32-49:37.</ref> In 1973, Frid performed a supporting role in the TV movie ''[[The Devil's Daughter (1973 film)|The Devil's Daughter]]'' starring [[Shelley Winters]], and in 1974 starred in [[Oliver Stone]]'s directorial debut, ''[[Seizure (film)|Seizure]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Swardon |first1=Carlotta |title=Festival celebrates cult TV show |work=The Daily Journal-Newark |date=September 23, 1983|quote=After the show folded in 1971, Frid played roles in Texas theaters and the part of Beckett in T.S. Elliot's "Murder in the Cathedral," in New York. He also appeared in..."The Devil's Daughter" ...with Shelley Winters, and "Seizure..."}}</ref>

Frid found the role of Barnabas Collins to have many facets with a demanding range of emotions to play. Even so, the heavily promoted image of Barnabas baring his fangs left industry people, who may never have seen the show, with only a caricature of what he actually played.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Kathryn Leigh |title=The Dark Shadows Companion 25th Anniversary Collection |date=December 1990 |publisher=Pomegranate Press, Ltd. |location=Los Angeles |isbn=0-938817-26-4 |page=13}}</ref> Frid became very conflicted about the commercial career his talent agency was offering. He did not want to become the modern-day version of [[Bela Lugosi]], so he stepped away.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cushing |first1=Chris |title=Thank God It's Frid Day: The Lid's Off Barnabas's Coffin, 1971 |url=http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2014/01/thank-god-its-frid-day-lids-off.html |website=Collinsport Historical Society}} Reprint of May 1971 ''Startime'' article.</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |title=Master of Dark Shadows |url=https://tubitv.com/movies/538805/master-of-dark-shadows |publisher=tubi, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2023}} Timestamp 1:05:32-1:06:23.</ref> For a few years he travelled, lived in Mexico for a while, and enjoyed quiet time out of the spotlight of fame.<ref name="Whatever Became Of">{{cite book |last1=Lamparski |first1=Richard |title=Whatever Became Of...? |date=January 30, 1985 |publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc. |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-517-55541-7 |page=57 |edition=Ninth Series}}</ref>