Character
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of f…
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Barnabas Collins
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Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette.
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, originally played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, was introduced in an attempt to resurrect the show's flagging ratings, and was originally to have only a brief 13-week run. He was retained due to his popularity and the program's quick spike in ratings, and virtually became the star of the show.
A defining feature of Barnabas' character development is his gradual but persistent transformation from a sinister, frightening creature of the night into the show's protagonist, who selflessly, heroically and repeatedly risks his "life" to save the Collins family from catastrophe.
In the 1991 NBC revival version of Dark Shadows, British actor Ben Cross played the role of Barnabas Collins. Alec Newman played the part in the unreleased 2004 pilot film. In the recent series of audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions, beginning in 2006, Barnabas is portrayed by Andrew Collins, while Frid returned to portray the role a final time in 2010 in the audio drama The Night Whispers. The role is played by Johnny Depp in director Tim Burton's 2012 film, Dark Shadows.
Barnabas Collins was the main character in most of the 32 Dark Shadows paperback novels written by Marilyn Ross (a pseudonym of Canadian author W.E.D. Ross) from the late 1960s to the early '70s. Ross wrote hundreds of novels in several genres and under various pseudonyms.
TV Guide named Barnabas Collins #8 in its 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) was born in 1770, as the son of Joshua Collins (Louis Edmonds) and Naomi Collins (Joan Bennett), in Collinsport, Maine. Barnabas developed close ties with his uncle Jeremiah Collins (Anthony George). During the flashback, Barnabas intended to marry an heiress from Martinique named Josette du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott), but had a brief affair with Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker), Josette's maidservant.
On Angelique's arrival in Collinsport for the wedding in 1795, Barnabas was determined not to resume his affair. The spurned Angelique Bouchard, a practitioner of witchcraft, used a number of spells to manipulate Barnabas and his family and force his agreement to marry her. Barnabas discovered Angelique's duplicity, and shot her. With what she believed to be her dying words, she took revenge on Barnabas by summoning a vampire bat from hell to attack him. Barnabas fell extremely ill and died. Angelique survived and attempted to rescind the curse, but was unsuccessful.
Barnabas shortly thereafter rose as a vampire, and soon strangled Angelique. Barnabas later frightened his aunt Abigail (Clarice Blackburn) to death, and left the hatefully fanatic witch-hunter Reverend Gregory Trask (Jerry Lacy) entombed alive in the Old House basement. His sister Sarah Collins (Sharon Smythe) died of pneumonia after a cold night spent hiding in the woods from her deceased brother. Adding to Barnabas' grief, his mother Naomi committed suicide after discovering his secret. Barnabas blamed Angelique for the deaths of both Sarah and Naomi, and also blamed Lt. Nathan Forbes (Joel Crothers), who had told Naomi about him. Barnabas strangled Forbes, and attempted to transform Josette into a vampire. Josette was willing, if not fully cognizant of what this would entail, until Angelique revealed a vision of what she would become. Fleeing from Barnabas, Josette leapt off the cliffs of Widow's Hill to her death.
Unable to bear what he had become, Barnabas Collins asked his father, Joshua, to destroy him. Joshua Collins was unable to slay his son, and ordered servant Ben Stokes (Thayer David) to nail a cross to the inside lid of Barnabas' coffin and to wrap chains on its outside, forever imprisoning the vampire in a secret room of the family mausoleum at Eagle's Hill Cemetery.
In 1967, while searching the Collins family crypt for their rumored lost jewels, Willie Loomis (John Karlen) stumbled upon the chained coffin in which Barnabas slept. Believing the coffin to contain the Collins family riches, Willie inadvertently released the vampire. Barnabas attacked Willie and turned him into his unwilling servant.
Barnabas Collins introduced himself to the modern Collins family as a cousin from England, a hard-working businessman never seen during the day. The family accepted this story, despite having never heard of him, because of his resemblance to the portrait of the ancestral Barnabas which hung in Collinwood. The thirsty Barnabas made victims of several Collinsport residents. He was particularly taken with waitress Maggie Evans (Scott), who resembled his long-lost love, Josette. Barnabas was told by David Collins (David Henesy) that Josette's spirit still haunted the Collinwood estate, where it periodically helped and protected others, including young David. Barnabas Collins kidnapped Maggie, hypnotized her to believe that she was Josette, and planned to make her his vampire bride. Maggie escaped with help from the ghost of Sarah Collins, but the emotional distress of being kidnapped caused Maggie to regress to a childlike mentality and to forget all that had happened. Barnabas Collins then targeted David's governess, Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) as a potential consort. He tried to seduce her away from her fiancé Burke Devlin (George), and then to bite her. The ghost of Sarah appeared repeatedly throughout and warned Barnabas, who was tormented by a feeling of responsibility for her death, away from evil deeds.
Maggie was sent to Wyndcliff Sanitarium, where Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) tried to get her to remember what happened and to identify her kidnapper. Julia found that the answer lay somewhere at Collinwood, and discovered who and what Barnabas was. Julia fell in love with Barnabas and attempted to cure him, and hypnotized Maggie to for
Source: Barnabas Collins (CC BY-SA)
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