Barnabas Collins

Barnabas Collins
Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins.
Dark Shadows
Portrayed by	Jonathan Frid (1967-1971) Ben Cross (1991) Alec Newman (2004) Johnny Depp (2012)
First appearance	March 22, 1967
Last appearance	March 22, 1991
Profile
Species	Vampire
Gender	Male
Relationships Parents Naomi Collins (mother) Joshua Collins (father) Sibling(s) Sarah Collins (sister) Spouse(s) Angelique Bouchard Romances Josette du Pres (fiancee); Victoria Winters; Rachel Drummond (1897); Lady Hampshire - Kitty Soames (1897); Roxanne Drew (1970 Parallel Time and 1840) Aunts and uncles Abigail Collins (aunt) Laura Stockbridge Collins (aunt) Jeremiah Collins (uncle) First cousins Millicent Collins Daniel Collins

Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, one of the feature characters in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Originally played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, Barnabas Collins is a 200-year-old vampire who is in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character of Barnabas Collins was introduced to the serial in a last-effort attempt to resurrect the flagging ratings. The role of Barnabas Collins was originally intended to be a brief one, to run but a mere 13 weeks, but the popularity of the character and the quick spike in ratings resulted in his continuing on and becoming virtually the star of the show.

One of the most defining features of Barnabas's character development is his very gradual but persistent transformation from a frightening creature of the night into the show's main protagonist, one who selflessly and heroically risks his life time and time again to save the Collins family from catastrophe.

In the 1991 NBC revival series 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 he was portrayed by Andrew Collins. He will be played by Johnny Depp in the 2012 film by director Tim Burton.

Barnabas Collins's origin

Barnabas Collins was a member of the late 18th century-era Collins family, from the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine. He was the son of Joshua Collins (Louis Edmonds) and Naomi Collins (Joan Bennett). In 1795, he intended to marry an heiress from Martinique named Josette du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott), although he also had a brief affair with Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker), Josette's maidservant.

Upon Angelique's arrival in Collinsport for the wedding, Barnabas was determined not to resume his affair. Spurned, Angelique, a practitioner of witchcraft, used a number of spells to manipulate Barnabas and family, culminating in his agreement to marry her.

When Barnabas discovered Angelique's duplicity, he 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.

Shortly thereafter, Barnabas rose as a vampire. He immediately strangled to death Angelique, the only witness to his rising from his coffin. (In death she became a succubus^{[citation needed]}.) Later, he frightened his aunt Abigail Collins (Clarice Blackburn) to death, and entombed alive the hatefully fanatic witch-hunter Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy) in the Old House basement. Sarah saw her deceased brother roaming Collinwood and hid from him in the cold dark woods all night; because of this she contracted pneumonia and died. To add to Barnabas's grief, his mother Naomi Collins committed suicide after discovering her son's secret. Barnabas blamed Angelique for the deaths of both his sister and his mother. He also blamed Lt. Nathan Forbes (Joel Crothers) because he told Naomi about him. Barnabas strangled Forbes to death. Barnabas also attempted to transform Josette into a vampire. At first, she was willing, if not quite fully cognizant of what this would entail. But then Angelique (who had become far more powerful after her death) revealed to her a vision of what she would become. Fleeing from Barnabas, Josette leapt to her death off the cliffs of Widow's Hill (in a later episode in the series where Barnabas confronted Angelique, he told her he would never forgive her for bringing about the deaths of Sarah, Josette and Naomi).

Unable to bear what he had become, Barnabas asked his father, Joshua Collins, to destroy him. However, Joshua was unable to slay his son, and so he ordered Barnabas’s devoted servant, Ben Stokes (Thayer David), to nail a cross to the inside lid of Barnabas's coffin and to wrap chains on its outside, forever imprisoning the vampire in the secret room of the family mausoleum at Eagle's Hill Cemetery.

The return of Barnabas Collins

In 1967, Willie Loomis (John Karlen) was foraging in the Collins family crypt at the cemetery for the family's rumored "lost jewels." He stumbled upon the chained coffin in which Barnabas slept. Believing the coffin to contain the lost riches of the Collins family, Willie accidentally released the vampire. Barnabas attacked Willie and turned him into his unwilling servant.

Barnabas 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, (even though they’d never heard of him before), because of his "uncanny resemblance" to the portrait of the ancestral Barnabas (although they were really one and the same) which hung in the foyer near the front door in Collinwood. Thirsty for new blood, Barnabas made victims of several Collinsport residents. He was particularly taken with waitress Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), who resembled his long-lost love, Josette. Barnabas was told by Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke), that Josette's spirit still haunted the Collinwood estate, where it periodically helped and protected others (such as young David Collins (David Henesy), to whom Vicki was governess). Barnabas kidnapped Maggie, and hypnotized her into believing she really was Josette, and planned to make her his vampire bride. Maggie escaped (with help from the ghost of little Sarah Collins), but not unscathed. The emotional distress of being kidnapped caused Maggie to regress to a child-like mentality, and to forget all that happened to her. Barnabas then targeted Vicki as his next potential vampire consort. He opted to use alternate methods though, first trying to seduce her away from her fiancé Burke Devlin (Anthony George) before biting her. While this was happening, the ghost of Sarah appeared repeatedly, tormenting Barnabas (who felt indirectly responsible for her death) and warning him not to do evil deeds.

Meanwhile, Maggie was sent to Wyndcliff Sanitarium, where Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) tried to make her remember what happened, as well as to identify her kidnapper. Dr. Hoffman soon found out that the answer lay somewhere at Collinwood. She then discovered who and what Barnabas was. Julia fell in love with him, however, and attempted to cure him (as well as protect him by hypnotizing Maggie again, this time into forgetting everything Barnabas had tried to do to her). Barnabas initially distrusted Julia, and when her medical cure failed, he viewed her as a risk—she would be able to expose his true nature. He attempted to kill her, or drive her mad so that no one would believe accusations of vampirism from her. Ultimately, though, Barnabas realized he needed an ally and eventually became rehabilitated to the point that they became friends. Even though the romantic relationship Julia desired never happened on-screen, she became Barnabas's chief confidante and helped him many times, even risking time travel to aid her afflicted friend over the next several years. Barnabas, too, became genuinely devoted to Julia and would often go to extraordinary lengths to protect her or to rescue her when she ran afoul of his enemies, such as Angelique (who often treated Julia as a romantic rival because she could not understand the connection between Barnabas and Julia).

Barnabas's women

Throughout the show, Barnabas had interest in many different women including Maggie Evans, Victoria Winters and Roxanne Drew. His great love was his fiancee from 1795, Josette du Pres. He wanted these women to share his vampire existence, and for Maggie and Victoria, he wanted them to assume the guise of Josette. Throughout the show his closest ally and friend was Dr. Julia Hoffman, who was quietly in love with him and supported his attempts to find happiness. Barnabas's feelings for Julia were complex, evolving from initial fear and distrust to deep affection, devotion and protection, and at one point Barnabas admitted to Willie Loomis that he cared for Julia more than he appeared to.

Other appearances

In 1970, MGM released the film House of Dark Shadows. The story centers on the releasing of Barnabas Collins from his coffin by Willie Loomis. Unlike Frid's original portrayal of Barnabas in the show, the Barnabas featured in the film was more true to the typical evil vampire. By the end of the film, he had killed half of the Collins family. Finally, Barnabas himself is killed by Jeff Clark (now depicted as Maggie's boyfriend) and a dying Willie Loomis, when Barnabas tries to make Maggie Evans his vampire bride.

Personality

Barnabas often blamed his moments of cruelty on his transformation into one of the Undead or "nosferatu," but throughout the series, other characters revealed that Barnabas was not always the reluctant victim that he saw himself. His sexual dalliance with the obsessed Angelique, in spite of his claim of being in love with Josette, set in motion many of tragedies in his life. Jealousy and wounded male pride caused him to fatally wound his uncle in a duel after Jeremiah's elopement with Josette. He attempted to back out of his agreement to marry Angelique, after she cured his sister of her illness. And the moment he had proof that Angelique was a witch, he attempted to murder her, in spite of the fact that they were newly married, causing a furious Angelique to lay her curse upon him. While in a drunken stupor Ben Stokes admitted that Barnabas, prior to his change "...weren't no good then, neither!" When the vampire tried to kill his own father to silence his cries for help, an astonished Joshua Collins exclaimed: "You would kill even me! You must have always had so much hatred in you. No one could be filled with it so quickly!" And while many of his flip-flopping infatuations with nubile young women could be attributed to his vampire curse and the need to find a vampire bride, his romantic choices during his periods as a human were equally immature and baffling. In later interviews, Jonathan Frid admitted this was all part of the character's success, "...the lies he told to himself."

Powers

Barnabas's abilities mimic those of the classic vampire Dracula—these include extra strength, hypnotism, the ability to transform into a bat and disappear and reappear at will. However, Barnabas has also been known to use sorcery. In an early storyline, he attempted to drive Julia mad by conjuring up the spirit of her dead colleague Dave Woodard. In 1795, he briefly resurrected Josette DuPres (who, in the 20th century, would later wander the halls of the Collins mansion in order to warn the family of approaching danger) and he used visions to lure the Rev. Trask into a fatal trap. Although these seemingly magical abilities were never explained, they made Barnabas a deadly protagonist.

Notes

Jonathan Frid first appeared as Barnabas Collins in episode #210 in 1967. However, the character's hand was briefly seen in the climax to episode #209, prior to Frid's introduction. Regular Dark Shadows nonspeaking artiste Timothy Gordon (uncredited) provided the hand, which was first seen choking the character of Willie Loomis.

In a 1971 TV Guide article, Dark Shadows head-writer, Sam Hall, discussed the outline the show's finale would have taken had it not been canceled sooner than was anticipated. Among other things, the outlined plans involved Barnabas, a vampire once again, becoming mysteriously ill. Julia deducing that his illness was due to his unique connection to Adam, would travel to Singapore to treat Adam and there fall seriously ill herself. Barnabas, well again, would come to her and, at long last, declare his love and ask her to become his wife. Knowing that Angelique would never allow Julia to live, they would remain in the Far East after their marriage, and Julia would permanently cure Barnabas of his vampirism.

Relationships

• Josette du Pres
• Angelique Bouchard Collins
• Victoria Winters
• Maggie Evans
• Sarah Collins
• Roxanne Drew
• Dr. Julia Hoffman
• Quentin Collins
• Willie Loomis

References

• DarkShadows.com - Jonathan Frid

THE DARK SHADOWS COMPANION, edited by Kathryn Leigh Scott, Pomegranate Press, 1990(?)

Further reading

• Ashley, Amanda. After Sundown. Zebra Books, 2003. p. 130. ISBN 0821775286
• Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press, 1995. p. 137. ISBN 0226032019
• Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Witch Hill. Tor/Forge, 2000. p. 58. ISBN 0312872836
• Chamberlin, John Edward. COME BACK TO ME MY LANGUAGE: Poetry and the West Indies. University of Illinois Press, 1993. p. 190. ISBN 0252062973
• Clifton, Chas S. Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca And Contemporary Paganism in America. Rowman Altamira, 2006. p. 101. ISBN 0759102023
• Clute, John and Grant, John. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. St. Martin's Press, 1999. p 823. ISBN 0312198698
• Hamrick, Craig. Barnabas & Company: The Cast of the TV Classic Dark Shadows. iUniverse, 2003. p. 22. ISBN 0595290299
• Jones, Stephen. The Essential Monster Movie Guide: A Century of Creature Features on Film, TV and Video. Watson-Guptill, 2000. p. 99. ISBN 0823079368
• Krensky, Stephen. Vampires. Lerner Publications, 2007. p. 48. ISBN 0822558912
• Mann, Jeff. Edge. Haworth Press, 2003. p. 19. ISBN 1560234296
• Mansour, David. From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia Of The Late 20th Century. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005. p. 109. ISBN 0740751182
• Massey, Brandon R. Dark Corner. Kensington Books, 2004. p. 64. ISBN 0758202490
• McNally, Raymond T. and Florescu, Radu R. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires. Houghton Mifflin Books, 1994. p. 270. ISBN 0395657830
• Mitchell, Charles P. The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography. Greenwood Press, 2001. p 220. ISBN 0313316414
• Nowlan, Alden. Double Exposure. Brunswick Press, 1978. p. 127. ISBN 0887900968
• Parker, Lara. Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch. Tor/Forge, 2006. ISBN 0765304570
• Pope, Dan. In the Cherry Tree. Picador, 2003. p. 81. ISBN 0312422369
• Pringles, David. Imaginary People: A Who's who of fictional characters: from the Eighteenth Century to the ... Scolar Press; Ashgate Pub, 1996. p. 51. ISBN 1859281621
• Riccardo, Martin V. Vampires Unearthed: The Complete Multi-media Vampire and Dracula Bibliography. Garland Publishing, Incorporated, 1983. p. 19. ISBN 0824091280
• Senn, Bryan and Johnson, John. Fantastic Cinema Subject Guide: A Topical Index to 2500 Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Films. McFarland & Co, 1992. p. 551. ISBN 089950681X
• South, James B. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: fear and trembling in Sunnydale. Open Court Publishing, 2003. p. 318. ISBN 0812695313
• South, Malcolm. Mythical and Fabulous Creatures: A Source Book and Research Guide. Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 260. ISBN 0313243387
• Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Ed. Allen, Brooke. Spark Publishing/SparkNotes, 2004. p. xxviii. ISBN 1593081146
• Sullivan, Jack. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Viking, 1986. p. 422. ISBN 0670809020
• Terrance, Vincent. The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1979. A. S. Barnes & Company, 1979.
• Worland, Rick. The Horror Film: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing, 2006. p. 93. ISBN 1405139021

External links

• Barnabas Collins at CollinWiki
• Dark Shadows website
• Dark Shadows Online
• Collinwood.net
• Dark Shadows at TV.com
• Official Jonathan Frid Website