Jonathan Frid
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| Jonathan Frid | |
| Born | John Herbert Frid December 2, 1924 Hamilton, Ontario Canada |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Actor |
| Official website | |
John Herbert Frid (born December 2, 1924, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) is a theater, television and movie actor. He was educated at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and later earned an M.F.A. in Directing from the Yale School of Drama in 1957. While at Yale he notably starred in the premiere of William Snyder's play A True And Special Friend in 1956.[1]
The classically trained Frid spent thirty years in his preferred field of theater, starring in the first productions at the famed Williamstown Theater and in many other stage productions in Canada, England and the United States occasionally working in television. Frid is best known for the role of vampire Barnabas Collins on the first incarnation of the gothic U.S. cult television serial Dark Shadows. He went on to star in the movie "House of Dark Shadows." During the run of the series, Frid starred in "Dial M For Murder." Immediately after Dark Shadows ended in 1971, Frid starred as Thomas Becket in "Murder in the Cathedral" and "Wait Until Dark."
In 1973 Frid appeared in the TV movie The Devil's Daughter starring Shelley Winters, and the following year starred in Oliver Stone's directorial debut, Seizure (aka Queen of Evil). He took time off from acting and lived in Canada before returning to the theater in 1978.
Frid began performing readings at Dark Shadows fan conventions in the 1980s, and while developing ideas for what would be three critically-acclaimed one-man shows, Frid took on the role of Jonathan Brewster in the Broadway revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace." The play went on a national tour breaking box-office recordings which gave Frid the opportunity to appear on dozens of radio and talk shows to talk about his reader's theater shows and his long stage career.
In 1994, Frid "retired" and moved from New York City to his native Canada where he continued to do one-man shows for charity in Canada and across the border in the United States. In 2000, he co-starred in "Mass Appeal" which enjoyed a successful, limited run in Hamilton and the Stirling Theater Festival in Canada.
Frid now hosts his official website which has video and audio recordings of various performances including forays into Shakespeare. He has started to release DVDs of past stage performances of his one-man shows.
Frid has returned to the Dark Shadows conventions - New York in August 2007 and Burbank, CA in July 2008.
He currently lives in Ancaster, Ontario.
