NEWSJonathan Frid, 'Dark Shadows' Actor, Dies at 87
April 20 2012, Published 1:07 p.m. ET
Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, most known for playing Barnabas Collins in the vampire soap opera Dark Shadows, has passed away at the age of 87.
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According to Time, he died of natural causes in a hospital in Ontario. Jim Pierson, friend and spokesperson, said, "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."
In a spooky coincidence, Jonathan has a cameo role in the movie, Dark Shadows, which will be released next month. He'll meet Johnny Depp's character in a party scene along with two other actors from the 1960s show.
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Jim mentioned his friend never wanted to be in the limelight and instead, just wanted to be a working actor, "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."
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Essentially, before there was Twilight, True Blood and even Buffy, there was Dark Shadows. He added, "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."
