Interview: Jonathan Frid
A vintage Ron Barry interview from 1968

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Jonathan Frid's 1968 appearance on Ron Barry's radio chat show was something of a milestone for the actor; It was to be the first broadcast interview Frid had ever given, having been extremely wary of the medium.  Enjoy some highlights from that historical programme:

"I have been in this business since 1946, which I guess is about 20 years.  I haven't been consistently professional since then.  I served my apprenticeship in Pennsylvania in Milford, in a Summer Stock company there and later went down to New Jersey.  After that I went back and got my degree at the university in Hamilton Ontario--a BA."

"I toured Ontario in the winter of '48, in a touring company of The Drunkard, in which I played the bartender.  When we played in Hamilton, there was a big sign on top of the theatre reading 'Welcome home Jonathan Frid', and all I'd done was play a bartender, for about two minutes!"

"I then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England. I didn't complete my course there because I got a bit anxious and went into repertory theatre in Kent and another company in Cornwall.  I went over there to get a classical training and discovered that Canadians, because they are British subjects, are able to work without a permit.  To the English, the Canadians sounded a lot like Americans, so we Canadians used to nab a lot of roles in any play or musical that had an American character in it. And I had a great problem with that, because I'd gone there for classical training and discovered that the quickest way to make some money was to go after these American parts. After I had de-Canadianised my voice for the Royal Academy, I had to get it all back again!  At this stage in my career, I would like to teach, and I've avoided it so far because I didn't want to think I was doing it because I hadn't made a success of acting.  I think that too many people think of teaching that way, and it's very unfair, because it's a profession that isn't honoured nearly enough.

Frid then went on to explain the sequence of events that led to his casting as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows: "I had just arrived home from a national tour of Hostile Witness.  Having just entered my apartment, I hadn't even dropped my bags when the 'phone rang.  It was my agent who said 'They're looking for a vampire for a soap opera called Dark Shadows.' And I thought, 'Well there's one for the books!'  I didn't actually have an audition, merely an interview. Every time I go [to audition] for a role, I'm always very aware of how I 'look' to producers. However, I saw all these sinister-looking people who had come to read.  I looked at one person and instantly thought he would get it--he looked marvellous.  So I was interviewed and went home, never thinking another thing about it.  A day later, I was called in again and that was it, I got the role!  An AFTRA strike came along, with actors and announcers and so-on, so all work ceased for about three weeks, and that gave me a lot of tension because I had to wait so long to get started.  Meanwhile, I had planned to go west and get a teaching job, or do that along with some work in Hollywood, such as television or film.  Twice I had been stopped by these jobs, and I thought the role on Dark Shadows would go on for about three or four weeks.  And then, the phenomenon began, the role caught on, the mail started to flood in."

Frid also explained his approach to portraying Barnabas: "In real life, I find that monsters are people. We are all monsters to one another at some time or other.  You catch a friend not telling the truth, or you are suddenly suspicious of them, you all of a sudden see a new glow in their faces--a new look.  Now that's what I call a monster.  Anyway, my face, my voice reflected my emotions of nervousness and tension; I could have done anything at that moment.  I think that this is what established the character that first day.  I had a whole scene in the Old House, where Barnabas recalls everything in his life.  A lot of that storyline was written afterwards, based on what I did that day when I saw Josette's portrait and all the things that were in my life 175 years ago.  I played all this nostalgia!  That came off beautifully, so the writers went on those tangents and developed it.  They carried on with that yearning for Josette. Barnabas' yearning for all the old things.  It worked!"