The original Dark Shadows was a Gothic soap opera that originally aired on ABC TV weekdays, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show was about the Collins family of Collinsport, Maine.
The series struggled early on and was nearly cancelled when series creator Dan Curtis who had always wanted to make a Vampire film decided to introduce a vampire into the series. It was then that interest in the show really grew. The show would go on to explore stories that would feature ghosts, vampires, witches and much more.
The show really became popular when Barnabas Collins, a vampire released from his coffin by the town's bad boy Willie Loomis appears in Collinsport desiring to reconnect with his modern family while residing in the old house.The show featured a group of actors that played many different roles, and some characters such as Burke Devlin’s was played by two different actors.
Dark Shadows episodes were filmed live, and often you can see mistakes and or flubbed lines. Actors could often be seen looking for cue cards or the teleprompter or sometimes would simply ad lib their lines. The show had a minimal budget and they did not do retakes. Everything was rehearsed prior to filming and then shot live.
Despite its imperfections the show achieved a Gothic presence not only from story-lines derived from classic literature, but maybe more so from great camera cutaways, great direction and an even better music score from Robert Cobert who seemed to deliver the perfect music for this series. The actors forgetting lines and reading from a teleprompter or background noises or the occasional microphone in view only endeared its fans to this series even more.
The original run of the show lasted for nearly five years, and 1,225 episodes from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. Afterwards it ran in syndication occasionally in the years that followed. In fact it has never really gone away. You can buy the complete series on DVD or purchase each episode on Amazon.
For the die-hard fans willing to travel you can attend the annual Dark Shadows Festivals that are held in LA and New York alternating years. For more information and to stay up to date on the latest sign up for their newsletter and mailing list at Dark Shadows Festival.
Lastly I would like to recommend that the entire series and revival series can be viewed for free at Dark Shadows Original Series all 1225 episodes.
The main cast consisted of this group of actors.
- Joan Bennett
- Grayson Hall
- John Karlen
- Jonathan Frid
- Nancy Barrett
- Alexandra Moltke
- Louis Edmonds
- Kathryn Leigh Scott
- David Henesy
- Mitchell Ryan
- Lara Parker
- David Selby
- Kate Jackson
- Thayer David
*Here are a couple of links to former Dark Shadows actresses websites. There you'll find some more up to date happenings with them.
Kathryn Leigh Scott - https://kathrynleighscott.com/
