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The Doctors Cast Reunion #3- 1/15/21

Retro TV airs The Doctors weekdays at 12 noon and at 7:30 p.m. EDT/PDT (see listings at MyRetroTV.com) and streams online at 4 p.m. EDT weekdays at MyRetroTV.com and on the Retro TV Roku channel. Episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series and exclusive interview content is available on-demand at WatchTheDoctors.com, Roku and App Stores.

Malcolm Marmorstein Dies: ‘Pete’s Dragon’, ‘Dark Shadows’ Writer Was 92

The cause of death was cancer, his stepdaughter Romy Fleming told Deadline.

A New Jersey native, Marmorstein began his career as a stagehand and stage manager on Broadway, working on such iconic productions as A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Damn Yankees with Gwen Verden.

Before moving to Los Angeles in 1967, Marmorstein began writing for the New York-based soap The Doctors, where he was head writer before being hired away by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis in late 1966. During Marmorstein’s early tenure on what was then a failing Jane Eyre-style melodrama, Curtis and his small writing staff began adding supernatural elements — at first a ghost or two and then a strange woman who turned out to be a from-the-ashes phoenix.

But it was the introduction of the vampire Barnabas Collins in spring 1967 that turned the daytime drama into a national pop-culture phenomenon. Played by actor Jonathan Frid, the tragic, reluctant vampire character grabbed hold of the public’s attention and turned Dark Shadows into a hit.

Although its popularity would burn itself out within a few years, the soap — which soon would be populated by witches, werewolves, warlocks, a Frankenstein, a Jekyll-Hyde and even odder characters based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos — would inspire a cultlike devotion that continues to this day. The series, which spawned two original-cast movies and a 1990s TV reboot, is available on Amazon Prime. Among its fans: Tim Burton, who directed the 2012 Dark Shadows feature film starring fellow enthusiast Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins.

Exactly which Dark Shadows taking creditscribe created Barnabas long has been disputed, with writers Marmorstein, Joe Caldwell and the late Ron Sproat at one point or another. In a 2012 interview, Marmorstein said he told Curtis” “We have to pretend we’re doing a vampire for the very first time. Let’s get a young, blond guy, because our audiences are very young. They’ll fall in love with him.’” (Frid was neither blond nor particularly young, prompting Marmorstein to advise the glum-looking actor: “Don’t act. Be a nice man, as you are. This is your family in the house, and you’ve got to be charming for them.”)

Marmorstein and Curtis soon fell out, and the writer, his wife and four children moved to L.A., where he quickly found work writing for the popular 1968 nighttime soap Peyton Place. In 1974 he co-wrote the feature S*P*Y*S, starring Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland in an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the acting duo’s earlier MASH success. Marmorstein and Gould reteamed, again unsuccessfully, for 1975’s Whiffs.

Marmorstein was considerably more successful in his next outing, 1977’s Pete’s Dragon, a live-action/animation musical hybrid starring singer Helen Reddy. The following year saw Marmorstein back with Disney for Return from Witch Mountain, a sci-fi adventure sequel with Bette Davis and Christopher Lee as its adult leads.

Marmorstein’s subsequent credits include a 1986 TV adaptation of Frankenstein, some installments of children’s series ABC Weekend Specials and, in 1990, a final outing with his old friend Gould for Dead Men Don’t Die. In 1993, he revisited the reluctant vampire theme with his feature film comedy Love Bites starring Adam Ant.

Despite his longtime interest in vampires, Marmorstein was not impressed with the Burton-Depp iteration of Barnabas Collins. “I was shocked to see, at the beginning of the movie, Barnabas killing seven or eight innocent people, who weren’t even trying to harm him,” the writer told Yahoo News after seeing the film. “Barnabas would never do that. And I saw no reason whatsoever for the movie to be set in 1972. For nothing, I would have told them not to do that.”

Marmorstein was predeceased by first wife Martha, and is survived by his wife of 17 years, Barbara; sons Larry, Wayne, and Mitchell; daughter Darragh; stepdaughters Romy and Dena; as well as in-laws, three grandchildren and a great-grandchild.g

Ben Cross Dies: ‘Chariots Of Fire’, ‘Star Trek’ & ‘First Knight’ Star Was 72

The veteran stage and screen star passed away this morning in Vienna, his family has confirmed to us.

Cross was born Harry Bernard Cross in London in 1947 to a working class family. He began acting at a young age, participating in grammar school plays, but left school to work as a window cleaner, waiter, joiner and carpenter before being accepted age 22 into London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He excelled at RADA and won the acting school’s prestigious Vanbrugh prize for performance of the year. He would go on to claim a string of key stage roles and made his big screen debut on 1976 World War II epic A Bridge Too Far.

Cross’s path to international stardom began in 1978 with his performance in the play Chicago, in which he played Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer of murderess Roxie Hart. His performance prompted his casting in the Brit classic Chariots Of Fire, alongside actors such as Ian Charleson, Ian Holm and John Gielgud. Based on a true story, the box office smash and Best Picture winner charted the story of two British track athletes, one a Jew who ran to overcome prejudice, and the other a devout Christian who ran for the glory of God, who competed in the 1924 Olympics. For their acclaimed performances as fierce running rivals, Cross and co-star Charleson both won Most Promising Artist of 1981 from the Variety Club Awards.

Cross followed up Chariots of Fire with projects including 10-part BBC drama The Citadel, HBO spy film Steal The Sky and NBC TV miniseries Twist Of Fate. Among notable stage roles that decade were in John Guare’s play Lydia Breeze and opposite Charlton Heston in the revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

In 1995, Cross starred as the villain Prince Malagant opposite Richard Gere, Sean Connery and Julia Ormond in Columbia Pictures action adventure pic First Knight, and in 2007, he was cast in the role of Sarek in the then-new Star Trek film directed and produced by JJ Abrams.

Among recent performances were The CW series Pandora and 2018 action movie The Hurricane Heist and the actor wrapped his last role as Cardinal Mathews in Lionsgate horror The Devil’s Light only ten days ago.

In post-production is Netflix romance Last Letter from Your Lover, in which Cross starred with Shailene Woodley, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn and Callum Turner. The actor had also been cast in development movies including Resilient 3D and Liberty.

Cross, who was married three times, is survived by his wife Deyana Boneva Cross, and his two children, Theo and Lauren.

Download the Emmys App to Watch Past, Present, and Future Shows!

“Television programming and its underlying technology have each gone through immense change over the more than seven decades the Emmys have recognized excellence in both facets of our industry,” said Adam Sharp, NATAS President & CEO. “Our awards have adapted through each of these transitions. Working with Vimeo, we now bring our celebration of this dynamic community of creators to all of the devices the audience uses to watch the television programming they love.”

The platform will allow fans to watch behind the scenes interviews, clips of memorable moments, and past Emmy ceremonies. Plus, you’ll be able to watch the upcoming shows live as they happen, because this year’s Daytime Emmys were split up into multiple shows to separate out the categories. Here’s what’s coming up:

Sunday, July 19, at 9 p.m. ET: The 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards – Digital Dramas
Sunday, July 26, at 8 p.m. ET: The 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards – Children’s, Lifestyle, and Animation
Tuesday, August 11, at 8 p.m. ET: The 41st Annual Sports Emmy Awards
September 2020: The 41st Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards

The app is completely free and all you have to do is sign up. Watch The Emmys is available on the web, as well as for iOS, Android, Amazon FireTV, and Roku.

William DeVry & Rebecca Staab Chat 7/10/20

Guiding Light - General Hospital Reunion 7/10/20

John Karlen Dies: Emmy-Winning ‘Cagney & Lacey,’ ‘Dark Shadows’ Actor Was 86

Karlen’s death was announced via Twitter on the Dark Shadows News page. The actor had been in declining health for a decade. Last March, the ShadowGram Dark Shadows newsletter posted that Karlen had suffered a stroke.

A frequent and favorite guest at Dark Shadows festivals over the decades, Karlen joined the supernatural ’60s soap in 1967 as the no-account, slightly menacing thief Willie Loomis. Soon after his arrival in the fictional Collinsport, Maine, Karlen’s Loomis, hearing tales of treasure in a secret mausoleum chamber, discovered the old coffin and inadvertently freed the sleeping vampire within, quickly becoming the undead monster’s unwilling slave and, eventually, loyal friend.

Planned as a short-term last-chance plot, the vampire storyline, starring Jonathan Frid as the fanged Barnabas Collins, turned the failing soap into a phenomenon, providing the fledgling ABC daytime line-up with its first hit. Karlen would remain with the series until its end in 1971, playing, as did most of the ensemble, multiple characters in various centuries and parallel universes.

Karlen reprised the Igor-like Willie for the bloody 1970 big-screen adaptation House of Dark Shadows, and a nice-guy victim character in 1971’s ghostly Night of Dark Shadows.

Prior to Dark Shadows (which currently streams on Amazon Prime), Karlen had small roles in ’50s anthology series, ’60s primetime episodic series and daytime soaps, but the Loomis role pegged him for horror through much of the early ’70s. Film and TV credits from the era include Daughters of Darkness, Night of Terror, The Sixth Sense, Night Gallery, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Wide World of Mystery and Trilogy of Terror.

By the end of the decade and into the next, guest shots on non-chillers began to stack up: Medical Center, Hawaii Five-O, The Waltons, The Streets of San Francisco, All in the Family, Police Story, Charlie’s Angels, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Hill Street Blues and The Winds of War, to name a sampling.

But his real second act came with CBS’ 1982-88 female buddy cop drama Cagney & Lacey: As Harvey Lacey, devoted, stay-at-home husband to Tyne Daly’s Det. Mary Beth Lacey, Karlen was Emmy-nominated three times (1985, ’86 and ’87), winning the Outstanding Supporting Actor trophy in ’86. He reprised the role in several stand-alone TV movies during the 1990s, including 1996’s Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions, his last major credit.

Also in the ’90s he recurred in Murder, She Wrote and Mad About You (as father to Helen Hunt’s lead character).

Karlen is survived by son Adam and former wife Betty.

Leonard Goldberg Dies: Veteran Film & TV Exec And ‘Blue Bloods’ & ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Creator Was 85

In partnership with Aaron Spelling, Goldberg was behind a string of hit TV series including Charlie’s Angels, Hart to Hart, The Rookies, Starsky & Hutch, Fantasy Island, Family and S.W.A.T. He won the NAACP Image Award for Television Producer of the Year for LAPD drama The Rookies.

Classic ABC series that bowed during his tenure include The Mod Squad, That Girl and Marcus Welby, M.D. He also was a pioneer of the made-for-TV format in the 1970s.

“Television will always be here,” Goldberg said in a 2004 interview for the Television Academy Foundation. “It is the most powerful medium I’ve known of since the first time I saw it and why I switched from advertising to television. And when it’s used for all of its good, it’s fabulous.”

Goldberg also produced many feature films, including Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and had an EP credits on this year’s Charlie’s Angels reboot from Elizabeth Banks. Other feature credits include Unknown (2011), Double Jeopardy (1999), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), SpaceCamp (1986), WarGames (1983), All Night Long (1981) and Little League comedy sequel The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977).

The many 20th Century Fox hits released during his run as president include Broadcast News, Big, Die Hard, Wall Street and Working Girl.

“Unlike the engineer who builds a bridge to span a specific space or the lawyer who deals with the finite laws of our society,” Goldberg once said, “we, in the entertainment industry provide only flickering images on a television or movie screen. All we are bound by is our imagination, our creativity and our passion.”

Goldberg shared three Outstanding Drama Series Emmy noms for Family, which aired on ABC from 1976-80, and won an Emmy for the drama special Something About Amelia in 1984. He received a motion picture Showmanship Award from the Publicists Guild in 1984, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame two years later and was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2007.

Born on January 24, 1934, in New York, Goldberg began his broadcasting career with ABC’s research department. He moved over to NBC a year later, advancing to the position of Supervisor of Special Projects. He then joined Batten, Barton, Durstine Osborne Advertising but returned to the ABC Network as Director of New York Program Development, and quickly rose to become VP Daytime Programming.

During his tenure at ABC Daytime, Goldberg introduced such memorable shows as The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game and Dark Shadows. A year later, he was named Head of All Programming for ABC, a position he held for the next three years. It was during this period that he developed and introduced the new primetime format — Movies Made Directly for Television — which immediately became a favorite with viewers everywhere and which still provides some of the medium’s most innovative and stimulating shows. Among those ABC telefilms with John Travolta starrer The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

Under the aegis of his Mandy Films, Goldberg produced Something About Amelia, the 1984 ABC telefilm starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson. The highest-rated two-hour movie of its season, and one of the highest-rated ever for television, it reached as many as 70 million viewers. Amelia was internationally acclaimed for the frank and sensitive handling of the subject of incest.

Goldberg is survived by his wife Wendy Howard Goldberg, daughter Amanda Goldberg Raskind, sons Richard Mirisch and John Mirisch, their spouses and five grandchildren.

Dark Shadows Sequel Series Resurrection in the Works at The CW

The re-imagined show will be a modern-day continuation of the strange, terrifying, and sexy saga of the Collins family of Collinsport, Maine — a mysterious, influential, publicity-shy group hiding a ghastly secret: For the past 400 years, they’ve lived under a curse that bedevils their blue blood with every imaginable supernatural creature and horror. The intention here is to harken back to the original, which was so popular it actually saw Shakespearean actor Jonathan Frid become as popular in the teen magazines as the young heartthrobs of the moment, for his role as the vampire Barnabas Collins.

As a kid, Perry ran home from school to catch the gothic soap — it aired each weekday after school — and for the past two years had been aggressively pursuing the rights.

Said Perry: “As a first-generation fan, it’s been a dream of mine to give Dark Shadows the Star Trek treatment since way back in the ’80s when Next Generation was announced, so I’m beyond thrilled and humbled to be entrusted with this resurrection. And while I could never hope to fill Dan Curtis’ very large shoes, I do aspire to carry them a little farther into the future. I also want to reassure the fans of the original that this version will treat the show’s mythology with the same reverence given to Star Trek, but will also make the show accessible for audiences who aren’t yet familiar with the macabre world of the Collinses. My plan is to take as few liberties as possible with the Dark Shadows canon, while bearing in mind a quote from a 1970s episode delivered by the inimitable Oscar-nominee Grayson Hall as Dr. Julia Hoffman: ‘The Collins family history is not particularly famous for its accuracy.’”

Curtis’ daughters Tracy and Cathy Curtis brought the iconic property to Amasia’s Mercer, with the hope of revitalizing and introducing their father’s legacy to a new generation. The two Tracys met when they worked together on CBS’s hit drama, Madam Secretary, where Mercer was a producer and Curtis was an editor. “I knew Tracy was a die-hard fan of my father’s work and would protect his vision by bringing on someone who understood how special this property is,” Tracy Curtis said. “My expectations were surpassed when she introduced us to Mark and I heard his incredible take. I felt my father was watching from above and smiling down on us. Tracy and I couldn’t be happier to have Mark take viewers back to Collinwood. Mark has opened up our father’s universe with fresh storylines and new characters that will delight original fans even as they thrill younger viewers.”

Mercer added, “Mark’s talent, unique take, and absolute fanboy love for Dark Shadows made him our ideal showrunner.” Helfant, also a first-generation fan, said, “We were thrilled to be in a competitive situation with the pitch for DSR. Gaye Hirsch and her team have a stellar track record with smart genre programming, so The CW makes total sense for this new incarnation of the godfather of horror TV.”

Amasia Entertainment is in pre-production on John Patrick Shanley’s Irish romance feature film, Wild Mountain Thyme, starring Emily Blunt, Jon Hamm, Jamie Dornan and Christopher Walken. Their Sundance thriller, Them That Follow starring Olivia Colman, Walton Goggins, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert and Jim Gaffigan, is currently in theaters. The company is also developing a film from the Emil Ferris graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, and has at CBS Studios an untitled Hartley Voss (Orange is the New Black) created political drama with Ted Humphrey the show runner.

Curtis himself took a couple of cracks at reviving Dark Shadows in a 1995 series and 2005 telepic, and Tim Burton directed a campy feature on the subject.

Soap Opera Audiobook News

(Order Here) Despite warnings from the townspeople, Victoria Winters accepts the offer to come to the strange Collinwood as Governess. For some curious reason, she feels the secret of her past may be uncovered in the bleak manor high on Widow's Hill.

From the Moment she arrives, Victoria becomes the target of someone in the house determined to destroy her. As the wind moans and the rain lashes around the isolated Collinwood, Victoria, without friends in the manor, feels death close in on her - a choking, frightening death.

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman, narrated by Judith Light (ex-Karen, OLTL). Releases September 15.

(Order Here) From the New York Times best-selling author of The Dovekeepers and The Marriage of Opposites comes Alice Hoffman's darkly magical story of in a heartbreaking time of war when men became monsters, children navigated a world without parents, and women were willing to sacrifice everything for those they loved.

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy (ex-Doris, GL).

(Order Here)

"Orlagh Cassidy narrates Blake's beautifully written multigenerational story of love and lies with consummate skill. Elegant and clear, distant yet passionate, she helps listeners discover the quirks in characters' personalities and explore their motives, both evident and hidden." -AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

How To Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir by Kate Mulgrew, narrated by Kate Mulgrew(ex-Mary, Ryan’s Hope).

(Order Here)

In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of Orange Is the New Black and best-selling author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter's love for her parents.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mr. Rogers by Fred Rogers, Luke Flowers, narrated by John Lithgow and Kate Mulgrew (ex-Mary, Ryan’s Hope).

(Order Here) For the first time ever, 75 beloved songs from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and The Children's Corner are collected in this charming treasury, sure to be cherished by generations of children as well as the millions of adults who grew up with Mister Rogers. The audiobook includes the iconic song "Won't You Be My Neighbor", music and lyrics by Fred Rogers.

Denise Nickerson Dies: ‘Willy Wonka’, ‘Dark Shadows’ Actress Was 62

Nickerson’s son Josh Nickerson posted news of his mother’s death on Facebook after keeping friends and fans apprised of her health issues. Denise Nickerson was a longtime attendee at fan conventions for both Wonka and Dark Shadows.

“She’s gone,” Nickerson’s family posted on Facebook.

Born in New York City in 1957, Nickerson began acting on shows including The Doctors and Flipper before landing her breakthrough role in 1968 as little Amy Jennings on Dan Curtis’ gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. Teamed with young David Henesy, the two child actors were at the center of a wildly popular storyline inspired by Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, in which the kids were haunted and eventually possessed by a ghost named Quentin Collins (David Selby, in his own breakthrough role).

Nickerson, along with the rest of the cast, was soon appearing on covers of teenybopper magazines, with fans waiting outside ABC’s Hells Kitchen studio each day for autographs.

But the soap’s outsize popularity vanished as quickly as it arrived, and upon its cancellation in 1971 Nickerson soon found herself one of the few cast members to land a role that would prove as durable in memory and pop culture as the Collins family curse.

But first there was a flop – and a big one: Nickerson played the title role in 1971’s Lolita, My Love, a notorious stage musical failure by John Barry and My Fair Lady’s Alan Jay Lerner, based on the Nabokov novel. Co-starring John Neville, Dorothy Loudon, and The Boys In The Band‘s Leonard Frey, Lolita, My Love played pre-Broadway engagements in Philadelphia and Boston, ravaged by critics and closing before hitting New York. With a reported loss of $900,000, Lolita, My Love would quickly enter the annals of infamous Broadway flops.

Fortunately for Nickerson, then 13, a better booking soon followed when she was cast as Violet Beauregarde, the gum-chewing mean girl of 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Giving star Gene Wilder’s exasperated Wonka plenty to play against, Nickerson stole some gum (and each of her scenes), paying a hefty price: As her skin turns purple, she swells to the size of a giant, round blueberry. As she’s rolled to the “juicing room” by the Oompa-Loompas, Nickerson’s ready-to-blow Violet has become the film’s most memorable villain and kids movie cautionary tale.

A few roles followed – Search For Tomorrow, The Brady Bunch, Allison in The Electric Company, in Michael Ritchie’s Smile. Nickerson would later say in interviews that she auditioned for the role of the possessed Regan in 1973’s The Exorcist but her parents thought the material too disturbing. After appearing in Don Weis’ 1978 film Zero To Sixty opposite Darren McGavin and Sylvia Miles (who died last month), Nickerson retired from acting to pursue a nursing career.

Nostalgia conventions and cast reunions kept her in touch with fans of both Willy Wonka and Dark Shadows, and last summer her son Josh shared news on social media that Nickerson had suffered a severe stroke. Her health deteriorated throughout the year, and, according to a Go Fund Me page set up by her son to pay death expenses, she had recently been in a “coma-like state” after suffering a seizure and pneumonia. She was removed from life-support Wednesday.

Nickerson is survived by her son Josh Nickerson and daughter-in-law Jasmine.

Eddie Jones Dies: ‘Lois & Clark’ Regular, Theater Veteran Was 84

Jones was a longtime member of Los Angeles’ Interact Theatre Company, which confirmed the news of his death.

“An actor of keen wit and sharp instinct, when Eddie was on stage, you couldn’t take your eyes off him,” the group said on its website. “When he was off-stage, his broad, bright smile would light up the room.”

Jones’ film credits included Seabiscuit in 2003 and Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal the next year. Other movies included A League of Their Own, The Grifters, Cadillac Man, The Rocketeer and Sneakers.

On TV, he appeared as a series regular on Sci Fi Channel’s The Invisible Man as well as in Dark Shadows and The Equalizer, along with numerous guest roles on the likes of Judging Amy, Matlock and Cheers. He was maybe best known though for playing adoptive father to Dean Cain’s Superman on Lois & Clark, which ran for four seasons from 1993-1997. More recently, he guest starred on an HBO’s Veep and NBC’s Aquarius.

Interact Theatre Company said Jones, who was married to Anita Khanzadian Jones, also appeared in more than 250 plays including on Broadway playing George Sikowski in That Championship Season and Sheriff McKinstry in Devour the Snow. He also co-headlined a national tour with of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf as Nick, with Nancy Kelly as Martha.

My Sundays Spent Chatting With Actor Jonathan Frid and Remembering DARK SHADOWS

Susan Sullivan on The Real O'Neals

Guest starring Matt Oberg as VP Murray, Ramona Young as Allison, Susan Sullivan as Victoria Murray, Jeremy Lawson as Jesus, Elizabeth Pan as Mrs. Adler – Wong, Keong Sim as Mr, Adler – Wong, Andrea Rosen as Savannah Kincade and Roxana Ortega as Sherry.

“The Real O’Neals” stars Martha Plimpton as Eileen, Jay R. Ferguson as Pat, Noah Galvin as Kenny, Matt Shively as Jimmy, Bebe Wood as Shannon and Mary Hollis Inboden as Aunt Jodi.

“The Real Secrets” story by Stacy Traub, written by Casey Johnson and David Windsor directed by Todd Holland. Executive producers of the series are Casey Johnson, David Windsor, Stacy Traub, Dan Savage, Brian Pines, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Dan McDermott and Todd Holland. The series is produced by ABC Studios.

Alice Drummond Dies; Veteran Character Actress Was 88

Born in 1928 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Drummond was a 1950 graduate of Pembroke College (now Brown University). She began her acting career following a move to New York with her husband, Paul Drummond whom she married in 1951. (The couple divorced in 1976). A regular on Broadway in the 1960s and 1970s, Drummond was nominated for a Tony for her performance in Murray Schisgal’s The Chinese.

Drummond also held a slew of memorable and sometimes iconic character roles on film and television. Among them, in the 1960s she appeared on the supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, in the role of Nurse Jackson; as a New York City librarian in the beginning of the original Ghostbusters; and as a a patient in the 1990 Robin Williams film Awakenings. She was a regular on the CBS soap Where the Heart Is, appearing on the show until it ended its run in 1973, and later appeared briefly on As the World Turns, another CBS soap.

Among many television guest spots, she appeared on Spin City, Boston Legal, Ed, Law & Order, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and Grace Under Fire.

Her most recent film appearance was in the family comedy Furry Vengeance in 2010.

An original cast member and an original fan talk 'Dark Shadows' at 50

"My mom. She'd love to do that. I don’t even need to ask her."

And so, two women whose lives were changed by one of the oddest shows ever broadcast met at the Mohn Broadcast Center this week.

At its peak, 20-million people tuned in every weekday afternoon. Mason saw the promos on ABC and knew she had to rush home from school to see it. "It was just different, and I was different. I was not a normal, cheerleader, rah-rah. I was weird." Scott says it wasn't just schoolkids watching. "A wide audience. Professors, nurses, housewives." And the show's short length and airtime made a difference: "People could take an afternoon coffee break at 3:30 or 4pm."

What drew them in? Both women agree: It wasn't a traditional soap opera about who is sleeping with who; nor was it a scary vampire story. It was an old fashioned Gothic romance, often based on classics of literature, like Jane Eyre. "Of all of the incarnations of these vampire stories, what so many people miss, and what (creator) Dan Curtis totally got, is that so much of this hinges on romance. It's not the gore and the horror. That's not the story. The central theme of Dark Shadows is that love triangle and unrequited love."

And for a young actor, it was perfect. "We were like a repertory company," Scott says. "There were about twenty of us on the show, and we all played different characters. I played four, and the thing is that Dan Curtis trusted the audience -- including 13-year-old Susan Mason -- not to get confused. Instead of hiring different actors to play different roles, we all got to play in different time periods."

Make sure to listen to the audio to hear a wonderful conversation between star and fan, and the tune of a music box that played a critical role in the series.

Next Saturday's "Dark Shadows" event at the Hollywood Women's Club includes actors Scott, Lara Parker, John Karlen, Roger Davis, Nancy Barrett, James Storm, and Lisa Richards, as well as composer Roger Cobert. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for kids, and they're available at the door on online.

Castle's Susan Sullivan Lands a Mother of a Role on ABC's The Real O'Neals

TVLine has learned exclusively that Sullivan is set to guest-star on a Season 2 episode of The Real O’Neals, as the mother of the politically correct Vice Principal Murray (played by Matt Oberg).

In addition to her eight-season run as Castle‘s Martha Rodgers, Sullivan’s TV credits include The Nine, Dharma & Greg and Falcon Crest. Earlier this summer, Castle‘s aforementioned Nathan Fillion booked an arc on Modern Family, while Jon Huertas joined NBC’s This Is Us and Stana Katic’s indie film The Sister Cities landed a Lifetime premiere date.

The Real O’Neals opens Season 2 on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 9:30/8:30c, where it will now air between Fresh Off the Boat and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Rebecca Staab Joins Alison Sweeney In New Hallmark Project

Kathryn Leigh Scott Celebrates Dark Shadows’ 50th Anniversary

Kathryn Leigh Scott chuckles fondly as she recalls her Dark Shadows’ experiences. “It was my first job. Oh I was scared to death that first day. But, you know, we went on to do 1,225 episodes of the series, and it’s still a cult favorite.” She would play four roles on the show, but would be best known for her major roles as wise-cracking waitress Maggie Evans and Barnabas Collins’ (played by the late Jonathan Frid) love interest Josette duPres.

Scott believes that it was the early interaction between her character and Jonathan Frid’s iconic love-driven vampire that sealed their onscreen fate. “Interestingly enough, the very first appearance that he [Barnabas Collins] made was in the diner. And we had a wonderful scene together. And I think the creator of our show Dan Curtis saw the chemistry between us. And that inspired him to create the romance between the vampire and Maggie Evans who became the long lost love Josette duPres in the 1790s for the 200-year-old vampire. So those were my two major roles on the series and I loved both.”

While some actors can be quick to dodge their early associations, Scott’s love and respect for her first series has continued for half a century. Says the actress who has appeared in feature films like The Great Gatsby and other television series including Dallas, The Goldbergs and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “I really think that Dark Shadows was hugely innovative. It was certainly not like any other soap opera at the time. And I do think that Dark Shadows is also the granddaddy of all of these contemporary vampire and paranormal stories—everything from Penny Dreadful to The Twilight Saga to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

I can’t help but think that it was a kinder and gentler time for vampires and actors back then. These days you don’t hear of an actor landing four roles in one series. Scott won’t argue with that. “The Dark Shadows actors functioned as a small little repertory company. And we never worried about being killed off in the series because we always came back as a new character. The network execs thought that Dan Curtis was crazy—that the viewers would get confused. But, you know, it turned out to be one of the best and most innovative things that Dark Shadows did. And it was great for a young actor.”

Scott, also an author and publisher, is looking forward to celebrating Dark Shadows with her friends and fans. She’ll be bringing along her Dark Shadows-inspired books as well as her latest book, Last Dance at the Savoy—a heartfelt memoir and resource guide inspired by her own painful journey caring for her beloved husband Geoff who died of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurological disease. “This book is about caregiving, but it’s also about life and love,” explains Scott who will be auctioning off some of her favorite Dark Shadows’ memorabilia to benefit CurePSP.

And Scott must have had a sixth sense about Dark Shadows inspiring a never-ending movement, because she’s held onto a treasure trove of Collinwood collectibles. “I’ve been going through all of these things. I mean I really do wonder sometimes if I saved everything. I’ve got costume pieces. I’ve got my very first script. I’ve even got the fangs that legendary makeup artist Dick Smith made for me when Jonathan bit me in the neck.” And she’s got some Jonathan Frid post-haircut clippings she collected after he told her she might want to grab a few. Scott laughs as she tells the story and shares his silly suggestion, “You better put those in an envelope and save them. They’ll be valuable one day.”

No word as to whether those clippings will be on the auction block, but Barnabas Collins would likely approve if they were. After all, in the end, Barnabas was all about risking his life to save others. What’s a few locks of hair for an important cause?

Listen to Nancy’s interview with Kathryn Leigh Scott on Whine At 9 and follow the podcast on Facebook.

Find out more about Dark Shadows 50th Anniversary Festivities.

Humbert Allen Astredo Dies: ‘Dark Shadows’ Actor Was 86

After performing for Joseph Papp’s free Shakespeare in the Park and in various Off-Broadway productions, Astredo joined Shadows in 1968 in his primary role Nicholas Blair, a demon-summoning warlock and foe of witch hunters. The role was at the center of a brief controversy in ’68 when real-life Christian groups protested a plotline in which Astredo’s character seemed to be gearing up for an encounter with Satan himself. The show’s writers — in what was either a real reaction or a publicity stunt — renamed the devil character Diablos and outfitted him in generic Grim Reaper garb.

Humbert served in the Korean War before studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, working in local L.A. theaters and establishing the classical theater company the Hollywood Center Theatre. He played Sergius in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Shaw’s Arms And The Man. He also performed with James Earl Jones in Othello. After Shadows, he toured nationally with both Langella and Martin Landau in Dracula. On Broadway he performed in Gore Vidal’s An Evening With Richard Nixon, Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs and the world tour of Little Foxes with Elizabeth Taylor.

Before retiring to Connecticut in the 1980s, he appeared on soaps Another World, The Edge Of Night, For Richer, For Poorer, Guiding Light, Love Of Life, Loving, One Life To Live, Somerset and Texas. He was predeceased by his daughter Jennifer.

‘Godfather’ star Abe Vigoda dies at 94

Vigoda’s career spans all the way back to 1949, when his first on-screen credit was in an episode of the TV series “Suspense.” He appeared on a number of shows after that before getting the role of Tessio in 1972’s “The Godfather.” He later appeared in the movie’s sequel, as well as a trio of video games, reprising his role.

Beyond his role in “The Godfather,” Vigoda appeared in films like “Look Who’s Talking,” “Prancer,” “Joe Versus the Volcano,” “Underworld” and “Goodburger.” He kept up his TV career as well, with guest starring roles on “Wings,” “The Norm Show” and “Law & Order.”

Throughout Conan O’Brien’s run as host of “Late Night,” Vigoda also played a recurring role as himself, often popping up in sketches. Following the news of Vigoda’s passing, O’Brien’s sidekick Andy Richter posted a tribute to Twitter.

His last on-screen role came in the form of 2014 romantic comedy “Sweet Destiny.”

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1921, Vigoda is survived by his daughter Carol.

Legendary character actor Abe Vigoda dead at 94

Daughter Carol Vigoda Fuchs said the veteran actor died in his sleep at her home in Woodland Park.

People magazine erroneously reported in 1982 that Vigoda had passed away, sparking the decades-long joke about his dead-or-alive condition.

Vigoda rolled with the running gag, since he was in good health despite his sickly, sunken-eyed look.

“This man was never sick,” Fuchs said.

Vigoda is best known for playing Sal Tessio, an old pal of Vito Corleone, in the 1972 mobster classic.

A generation of TV fans also knew Vigoda as dry, lethargic Detective Phil Fish on “Barney Miller.”

Abe Vigoda, Barney Miller's Crotchety Detective Fish, Dead at 94

Vigoda’s 60-plus years in television and movies netted him several memorable character roles, including that of Miller‘s world-weary senior detective (a role he reprised in a short-lived spinoff titled Fish).

The actor’s other notable TV performances include Santa Barbara, MacGyver, Murder She Wrote, Wings and Mad About You. He also was known for appearing in The Godfather and Look Who’s Talking.

His last TV gig was voicing a character in a 2013 episode of the animated series High School USA!

Since 1982, when People errantly reported on his passing, Vigoda has been the subject of premature obituaries and downright hoaxes.

Carol Vigoda, the actor’s daughter, said her father died of old age at her Woodland Park, N.J., home.

Abe Vigoda Dies: ‘The Godfather’ & ‘Barney Miller’ Actor Was 94

Vigoda began acting in New York theater and with small roles in television. The turning point in his career came in 1972 when Francis Ford Coppola cast him as Vito Corleone’s old friend-turned-traitor Sal Tessio in the Oscar-winning film The Godfather. He also appeared briefly in The Godfather Part II in a flashback sequence at the end of the film.

Vigoda went on to play the dilapidated Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the 1975-82 sitcom Barney Miller, a character known for his world-weary demeanor and persistent hemorrhoids. He also starred in its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to June 1978 on ABC. Before Barney Miller, he made a few appearances on the ABC soap Dark Shadows as Ezra Braithwaite and Otis Greene

Vigoda continued to work consistently in the ’80s and ’90s, with roles on Mike Hammer, Tales From The Darkside, MacGyver, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, Wings and soaps As the World Turns and Santa Barbara. He also played gangster Paul Castellano in NBC’s Witness To The Mob.

His most recent credit was 2014 in feature Sweet Destiny. His other films include Joe vs. The Volcano, North and Sugar Hill, among many others.

Abe Vigoda, sunken-eyed character actor, dead at 94

Vigoda's daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, told The Associated Press that Vigoda died Tuesday morning in his sleep at Fuchs' home in Woodland Park, New Jersey. The cause of death was old age. "This man was never sick," Fuchs said.

Vigoda worked in relative obscurity as a supporting actor in the New York theater and in television until Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the 1972 Oscar-winning "The Godfather." Vigoda played Sal Tessio, an old friend of Vito Corleone's (Marlon Brando) who hopes to take over the family after Vito's death by killing his son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). But Michael anticipates that Sal's suggestion for a "peace summit" among crime families is a setup and the escorts Sal thought were taking him to the meeting turn out to be his executioners.

"Tell Mike it was only business," Sal mutters to consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) as he's led away.

The great success of the film and "The Godfather Part II" made his face and voice, if not his name, recognizable to the general public and led to numerous roles, often as hoodlums.

But it was his comic turn in "Barney Miller," which starred Hal Linden and ran from 1975 to 1982, that brought Vigoda's greatest recognition.

He liked to tell the story of how he won the role of Detective Fish. An exercise enthusiast, Vigoda had just returned from a five-mile jog when his agent called and told him to report immediately to the office of Danny Arnold, who was producing a pilot for a police station comedy.

Arnold remarked that Vigoda looked tired, and the actor explained about his jog. "You know, you look like you might have hemorrhoids," Arnold said. "What are you — a doctor or a producer?" Vigoda asked. He was cast on the spot.

"The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows," a reference book, commented that Vigoda was the hit of "Barney Miller." ''Not only did he look incredible, he sounded and acted like every breath might be his last," it said. "Fish was always on the verge of retirement, and his worst day was when the station house toilet broke down."

Vigoda remained a regular on "Barney Miller" until 1977 when he took the character to his own series, "Fish." The storyline dealt with the detective's domestic life and his relations with five street kids that he and his wife took into their home.

The show lasted a season and a half. Vigoda continued making occasional guest appearances on "Barney Miller," quitting over billing and salary differences.

But he remained a popular character actor in films, including "Cannonball Run II," ''Look Who's Talking," ''Joe Versus the Volcano" and "North."

His resemblance to Boris Karloff led to his casting in the 1986 New York revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace," playing the role Karloff originated on the stage in the 1940s. (The murderous character in the black comedy is famously said by other characters to resemble Boris Karloff, a great joke back when the real Karloff was playing him.)

Born in New York City in 1921, Vigoda attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall. In the early 1950s, he appeared as straight man for the Jimmy Durante and Ed Wynn TV comedies.

For 30 years, he worked in the theater, acting in dozens of plays in such diverse characters as John of Gaunt in "Richard II" (his favorite role) and Abraham Lincoln in a short-lived Broadway comedy "Tough to Get Help."

Vigoda attributed his high percentage in winning roles to his performance in auditions. Instead of delivering the tired soliloquies that most actors performed, he wrote his own, about a circus barker. At a surprise 80th birthday party in New Jersey in 2001, he gave a spirited recital of the monologue to the delight of the 100 guests.

Reflecting on his delayed success, Vigoda once remarked: "When I was a young man, I was told success had to come in my youth. I found this to be a myth. My experiences have taught me that if you deeply believe in what you are doing, success can come at any age."

"Barney Miller" became his first steady acting job.

"I'm the same Abe Vigoda," he told an interviewer. "I have the same friends, but the difference now is that I can buy the things I never could afford before. I have never had a house before, so now I would like a house with a nice garden and a pool. Hollywood has been very kind to me."

He was married twice, most recently to Beatrice Schy, who died in 1992. He had his daughter with his first wife, Sonja Gohlke, who has also died. Vigoda is survived by his daughter, grandchildren Jamie, Paul and Steven, and a great-grandson.

Reruns of "Barney Miller" and repeated screenings of the two "Godfather" epics kept Vigoda in the public eye, and unlike some celebrities, he enjoyed being recognized. In 1997 he was shopping in Bloomingdale's in Manhattan when a salesman remarked: "You look like Abe Vigoda. But you can't be Abe Vigoda because he's dead." Vigoda often appeared on lists of living celebrities believed to have passed away.

John P. Connell Dies: Multi-Hyphenate Former SAG Board Member Was 91

Born in Philadelphia in 1924, Connell was a decorated World War II airman who received numerous decorations including five battle stars, serving as a radio operator and waist gunner aboard a B-24 as part of a crew that completed 43 missions during the war. Following his service, he attended the University of Missouri, graduating in 1950 with a degree in journalism, after which he moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting.

He soon appeared on Broadway in Time Limit and Uncle Willie, and with the National Company of Picnic. During the 1950s he appeared on numerous live television broadcasts and would go on to star as Dr. David Malone on the soap opera Young Doctor Malone, which ran on NBC from 1958 to 1963. He also appeared on shows like The Edge of Night, Love of Life, The Secret Storm and Dark Shadows.

As a film actor, he appeared in Three Days of the Condor, Family Business, and the cold war thriller Fail Safe, but would experience his greatest success later in the 1960s, when he began to work as a commercial voiceover actor. Over his long career in commericial voice work, he was the voice of Maxwell House Coffee, American Airlines, Xerox, Proctor & Gamble, Ford, Uniroyal, McDonald’s and, for 12 years, H&R Block; in New York City, he was for years the voice of Brooklyn Union Gas. He also narrated industrial films and documentaries, and in 1967 performed as the narrator in a special performance of Man of La Mancha for President Lyndon Johnson.

As a writer, Connell often collaborated with his wife, Mila, the two of them penning 100 scripts for Secret Storm. He also collaborated with his Man of La Mancha costar Richard Kiley on an adaptation of Brian Moore’s The Feast of Lupercal. Connell also wrote the off-Broadway one act plays The Only Way Out Is In and Who the Hell Is Rodney Chappel? , performed in 1969 under the umbrella title The Business of Show.

Connell was elected to several successive terms to the National Board of Directors of SAG, serving 13 years total. During this time he edited the Guild’s New York magazine, Reel. He also served as a councilor of the Episcopal Actors Guild, founding a Shakespeare-reading group made up of voiceover actors called the Come Hither Players.

He’s survived by his wife of 63 years, Mila, by his daughter Kathy Connell, who is executive producer of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, by his son John V. Connell, his son-in-law Daryl Anderson, and his granddaughter Tierney Anderson. In lieu of flowers, his family has requested that donations be sent to the Episcopal Actors Guild, the SAG Foundation or the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

Lela Swift dies at 96; TV director/producer worked with young James Dean

Swift rose from the secretarial pool at CBS in the 1940s to become a steady TV producer, despite predictions from others at the studio that her work behind the camera would probably be confined to cooking shows.

As a director or producer she worked on “Studio One,” “Suspense” and “The Web,” including an episode in which Dean was cast as a bellhop who solves a murder at an exclusive resort. She later spent years working on the gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows” and the long-running “Ryan’s Hope.”

Born Lillian Siwoff on Feb. 1, 1919, in New York City, she went to work for CBS at a time when it was undergoing a rapid expansion. She died Aug. 4, according to Starz Entertainment.

Swift, whose husband, Gilbert Schwartz, died earlier this year, is survived by two sons, Stuart Schwartz and Russell Schwartz; five grandchildren; and a brother, Seymour Siwoff.

Lela Swift Dies: Pioneering TV Director Was 96

Born Lela Siwoff on February 1, 1919, in New York City, she joined the then-nascent CBS in the early 1940s. She was assigned as a researcher to Dr. Peter Goldmark, who, as CBS’ chief engineer, developed the original technology for color television and the concept of video recording. As the network expanded nationwide, she cracked the boys club of TV directors, going on to helm for such shows as Studio One, Suspense, The Web, The Dupont Show Of The Week, The House On High Street, NBC’s The Purex Specials For Women and the farmland documentary Years Without Harvest.

In 1966, Swift joined producer Dan Curtis on the ABC gothic serial Dark Shadows. After a slow start, the show became a big hit; it ran five seasons and 1,225 episodes, and Swift directed nearly 600 of them and was a producer for the final seasons. In 1975, she helmed the first episode of the Alphabet network’s daytime drama Ryan’s Hope. It would run for 14 years, and Swift directed most of its hours, more than 825 in all.

She is survived by her brother, Seymour Siwoff; sons Russell Schwartz, SVP Business and Legal Affairs at Starz, and Stuart Schwartz, an Emmy-winning TV producer; their wives; and five grandchildren.

Elizabeth Wilson, Actress Who Appeared in The Graduate and 9 to 5, Dies at 94

Wilson passed away Saturday in New Haven, Conn., her friend, Elizabeth Morton, confirmed to The New York Times. Her nearly seven-decade career included multiple Tony and Emmy Awards nominations, and she even took home a Tony for her role in David Rabe's 1972 anti-war drama Sticks and Bones. She was also nominated for an Emmy for her role in NBC's miniseries Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder.

But she got her start on Broadway in 1953, when she appeared in Picnic. She would go on to return to the stage, nabbing roles in several plays including The Importance of Being Earnest, Threepenny Opera and You Can't Take It With You.

She also appeared on the silver screen throughout her career, appearing in Jane Fonda's classic 9 to 5 and Mike Nichols' The Graduate. She had scored the role of playing the mother to Dustin Hoffman's character, Benjamin Braddock. That was the first of four films she would go on to make with Nichols. She also played Ralph Fiennes' mother in Quiz Show as well as Christopher Lloyd's impostor in the 1991 version of The Addams Family.

Although she grew up to be a big star, she had once told Connecticut Magazine that she originally had no interest in obtaining fame; she just wanted to be an actress. "In the 1940s I was doing something called the Equity Library Theater in New York, when a movie company came to see the play I was in and offered me a contract," she told the magazine in 2012.

"But the deal was, my nose was too big and they wanted me to have surgery. My jaw was crooked, and I'd have to have that fixed, too. And they didn't like my name; it was too common. I was to change these things, and they'd sign me to a multiyear contract."

She continued, "I don't know how I managed to do this, but I said, ‘I don't think so.' Imagine! I can't believe I had the wisdom."

Ignoring that advice worked in her favor, as her career only took off from there.

Dark Shadows On DVD - Movie & TV Series

Jonathan Frid, actor in "Dark Shadows", dies at 87

Frid died Friday of natural causes in a hospital in his home town of Hamilton, Ontario, said Jim Pierson, a friend and spokesman for Dan Curtis Productions, the creator of "Dark Shadows."

Frid starred in the 1960s gothic-flavored soap opera about odd, supernatural goings-on at a family estate in Maine.

His death comes just weeks before a Tim Burton-directed version of Dark Shadows is due out next month starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Frid has a cameo role in the new movie in which he meets Depp's character in a party scene with two other original actors from the show.

Pierson said Burton and Depp were fans of Frid, who played a vulnerable vampire in one of the first sympathetic portrayal of the immortal creatures.

"Twenty million people saw the show at its peak in 1969. Kids ran home from school and housewives watched it. It had a huge pop culture impact," Pierson said.

Pierson said Frid, whose character was added in 1967, saved the show and stayed on until the end of its run in 1971. He said Frid was never into the fame and fortune and just wanted to be a working actor. He said he loved the drama and finding the flaws and the humanity in his characters.

"That's why he had this vampire that was very multidimensional. It really set the trend for all these other things that have been done with vampires over the last 40, 50 years," Pierson said. "Vampires were not in the vernacular. In 1967, there wasn't a pop culture of vampire stuff, so here he was in this mainstream network show that aired at 4 P.M. that really took off. And then he did the movie which was also a big hit."

Frid had been an accomplished stage actor before "Dark Shadows" made him famous. The show has lived on in reruns.

Stuart Manning, editor of the online "Dark Shadows News Page", said Frid brought a new dimension to the role of the vampire by injecting the role with depth and a sense of regret for his immortal existence.

"Now that idea has been taken many times since — 'Twilight' uses it, shows like 'True Blood,' 'Buffy' — which again I think shows the influence 'Dark Shadows' has had," said Manning, who worked with Frid as a writer on the 2010 "Dark Shadows" audio drama spinoff, "The Night Whispers."

The youngest of three sons, Frid served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. After graduating from Hamilton's McMaster University, he got a degree in directing at the Yale School of Drama and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Frid starred in various theater productions with illustrious actors including Katharine Hepburn. But it was his turn in "Dark Shadows" and its first feature film adaptation, "House of Dark Shadows," that made him a commercial success and kept him busy throughout his career with reunions, fan events and dramatic readings.

He lived in New York for several decades before moving back to Canada in the '90s. His other credits include the 1973 TV movie "The Devil's Daughter," co-starring Shelley Winters, and Oliver Stone's directorial debut, "Seizure." He also starred in the Broadway revival and national tour of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in the '80s.

Pierson said Frid been in declining health in recent months. At Frid's request, there was no funeral and there will be no memorial.

"He really was kind of a no-fuss guy," Pierson said.

Frid never married. He is survived by a nephew, Donald Frid.

Johnny Depp Remembers Dark Shadows' Jonathan Frid: "His Elegance and Grace Was an Inspiration

He took time out today to pay his respects to Jonathan Frid, the original Barnabas Collins from the Dark Shadows TV series, who died on April 13.

That was Friday the 13th, to be exact.

Depp called his predecessor, who has a cameo in Tim Burton's upcoming film, an "inspiration."

"Jonathan Frid was the reason I used to run home from school to watch Dark Shadows," Depp said in a statement obtained by E! News.

"His elegance and grace was an inspiration then and will continue to remain one forever more. When I had the honor to finally meet him, as he so generously passed the torch of Barnabas to me, he was as elegant and magical as I had always imagined. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. The world has lost a true original."

Kathryn Leigh Scott, who also starred on the original series and has a cameo in the film, wrote on her website that she is grateful to have known Frid as the "charismatic, entertaining, complex and plain-spoken man that he was."

"I won't ever forget the moment when the two Barnabas Collinses met, one in his late 80s and the other in his mid-40s, each with their wolf's head canes," she says of the day Frid met Depp on set.

"Jonathan took his time scrutinizing his successor's appearance. 'I see you've done the hair,' Jonathan said to Johnny Depp, 'but a few more spikes.' Depp, entirely in character, replied, 'Yes, we're doing things a bit differently.'"

Critics will weigh in on the new Dark Shadows, of course—but it may be the longtime Frid fans who have the last word on how well Depp and Burton honors the original Barnabas.

'Dark Shadows' actor Frid dead

Frid passed away on April 13 from natural causes at Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario.

The actor was best known for playing vampire Barnabus Collins in '60s supernatural TV soap opera Dark Shadows, which is the subject of an upcoming big screen remake directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp in the role made famous by Frid. The actor makes a cameo appearance in the film and it was fittingly his final screen role.

Other notable credits include roles in The Devil's Daughter and 1974 horror film Seizure.

Frid's former Dark Shadows co-star Kathryn Leigh Scott paid tribute to the actor on her official website, writing, "I am so grateful to have worked with Jonathan and to have known him as the charismatic, entertaining, complex and plain spoken man that he was. What fun we had working together! He was irascible, irreverent, funny, caring, lovable and thoroughly professional, and in the end became the whole reason why kids ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows."

Dark Shadows DVD Sets

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 6" "Dark Shadows: The Beginning — DVD Collection 6" — A four-disc set packs the final 31 episodes of the show's early days, before the horror soap hit its stride with the arrival of vampire Barnabas Collins. The set also includes a restored version of the first episode featuring Barnabas.

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 5"

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 4" The early days of the creepy soap opera about supernatural happenings surrounding the Collins homestead continue with 35 more episodes from 1966-67 in a four-disc set.

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 3" - Creepy life among the Collins family continues with more tales from the supernatural soap opera. The four-disc package has 35 episodes of the show from its early days, before vampire Barnabas Collins joined the cast and lifted the show to devoted cult status.

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 2" - A four-disc set

• Dark Shadows: The Beginning — Collection 1" — A four-disc set packs the first 35 episodes of the horror soap opera that debuted in 1966, centering on a family with a dark supernatural history. This era of the cult show features episodes before the debut of the series' eventual anchor, vampire Barnabas. Also see Dark Shadows: The Beginning Collection 2