Did
you always want to be an actor?
I think my interest in acting began through the Church of
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I had quite a voice, so they had me
sing in the choir. I did solo work and led the procession,
holding the great crucifix. It occurred to me many years later,
when ABC Television sent me down to Baton Rouge for a publicity
tour, that the church has been the beginning of it all. I
was very much a performer in the church - the congregation
was the audience, the crucifixes were like costume. Everything
there could be translated into theatre, and so I think that's
where it started for me, completely unknowingly.
When
did you make the transition to playing characters?
My earliest roles came to me when I was in college. I played
Petrucio in The Taming of the Shrew and Edgar in King
Lear. There was also this marvellous play no one's ever
heard of, Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw. I
played Hotchkiss, a wonderful role, though all the parts in
that play are good. I've certainly had my share of good luck
with parts.
How
did you move from the stage to television work?
Did I move into television? [Laughs] You are never
aware of anything that's going on while you are in the process
of doing it. None of us were aware that we were moving into
television. We theatre actors were available talent, and so
they began to use us in the Sunday morning Biblical stories.
As it became more rewarding, the producers would adapt American
and English writers to film - that's when it began to take
off, and we would float gently to the top, from time to time.
But we didn't move into it - it absorbed us, I suppose you
might say.
Dark
Shadows was your first major starring television role...
Looking back, I think that Dark Shadows didn't really
fit into my career, because I'd had no career to speak of.
I was very happy when Dan Curtis asked me to be in it. I said,
"I'd love to, but there's only one hitch. I've committed
myself to making a movie in Jamaica, Come Spy With Me."
Dan said, "What are the filming dates?" I told him
and he replied, "Perfect! Then you can come and work
for me!" I was lucky there was no conflict and I didn't
have to give up one for the other.
So
Dan chose me, and I moved into Dark Shadows!
Approaching it initially, purely for my own benefit, it seemed
to me like we were making a movie. I was playing at being
a movie star with dear Joan Bennett (Elizabeth) and we became
great friends. And I had fun thinking of myself as a movie
actor on Dark Shadows. I hope I'm not letting out a
secret by saying that.
As
one of the original cast, what did you think of the switch
to supernatural stories?
It was a new experience and I realised we were taking off
in a different direction. The only problem was that they began
to concentrate on creating these illusions - they might cut
your hand off, and you'd see the hand floating by, and things
like that. That took time to set up, in terms of the cameras,
and it turned out that the camera people were getting more
rehearsal time than the actors! We began to get a little snotty
about that, but we remedied it by going up to our dressing
rooms and running the scenes ourselves.
Do
you remember the union strikes that disrupted production on
the show in 1967?
I'd actually forgotten about those. We were asked to cross
the picket lines and we had seen everyone else to do it, from
coal miners to laundry ladies, so we joined in and did it
too. We were soon told that we would be fined, but our attitude
was very much, "Shoot at this old grey head, but spare
your country's flag!" [Laughs] Subsequently we actually
were not fined, so it was a happy ending after all.
Were
you influenced by any other actors on the show?
We really didn't have time on the show to be influenced by
other people, but I suppose that anyone who learned their
lines and gave a good performance I would have respect for.
Nancy Barrett (Carolyn) certainly did that. She played wonderful,
varied roles, much like we all did. We were mostly just a
nice family group.
What
did you make of your own wonderful, varied parts on the show?
Joshua and Edward stick out mostly in my mind. Roger was close
to playing my own age, but it was nice to get an opportunity
to try my hand at character acting. The storylines were so
good by that point, and I'd been trained in a lot of costume
work at college, so it came very naturally to me, this eighteenth
century business.
I
was very comfortable and at ease in the costumes, when most
American actors don't even know what to do with their hands!
I don't know what I sound like, but I consider myself
an American actor. We always seem to put our hands in our
pockets - it fascinates me, which I think is why I see so
much on television nowadays!
I
think that my characters came from the scripts primarily.
There's a lizard we have in the South that camouflages itself
by taking on the colours of the piece of wood or leaf it happens
to be on, and that in a sense is what acting is. You change
colour - find a different voice, assume a different stance
- and you can fool a lot of people by doing that.
What
was the most rewarding aspect of Dark Shadows?
The most rewarding thing Dark Shadows gave me was money!
[Laughs] I had never had five years of continual employment,
and it gave me a salary unlike anything I'd ever had before.
And then there were the friendships I had with the company.
I was very close to Joan Bennett, and I enjoyed working with
Jonathan Frid, who played Barnabas, and little Nancy Barrett,
who I still see from time to time.
What
do you remember of making the first Dark Shadows movie?
House of Dark Shadows was different. We were
actually making a movie, then. It had always been my way to
work as if I was in a movie, and then suddenly there we were
doing that, making our movie - though it wasn't too different
from the series. Of course, as soon as we got the film out
of the way, it was back to making the soap opera.
After
Dark Shadows, you found fame on daytime's All My Children…
Yes, on All My Children I was deliriously happy. I
loved the work and, when I was first on, they had wonderful
situations for me. There were many splendid people within
that company whom I'm still friends with.
You
recently collaborated with writer Craig Hamrick on a biography,
Big Lou…
The book I can't really speak for, I think. That question
should be answered by Craig Hamrick, who wrote and organised
it all. He first interviewed me, and then got the idea of
speaking to various other people whom I'd worked with. From
my point of view, it was very easy to just spout ideas and
have him put it together. Craig writes very well, and I think
for most people it was amusing.
So,
who is Louis Edmonds nowadays?
An old fool now [laughs]! Not so, earlier on, I certainly
hope. Today, I'm a retired actor. I'm lucky because here at
my home I'm fairly close to New York City, yet I'm in a fairly
secluded area out here in Long Island. I grew up near the
earth - my grandfather was a real farmer who raised cherry
and apple orchards. Every summer, my parents would send me
up there. It was a great education about life and I learned
a lot. I think that now we acknowledge the genetic transference
of hair colour and god-knows-what, I am beginning to believe
that my love of the garden came from my grandfather - it certainly
occupies most of my time nowadays.
Signing
off, do you have any message for the UK fans of Dark Shadows?
I didn't even realise it was available in England!
I actually have a few friends in London, whom I've known for
many years. As for the fans, I hope they enjoy Dark Shadows
and are amused by it, just as we are by their exports.
Interview
by Guy Haines and Stuart Manning
Back
