Whether playing
the Bride of Frankenstein's distant cousin Eve, or peering
psychotically through Crazy Jenny's
bird's nest hairdo, Marie Wallace brought life to some
of Dark Shadows' most outlandish characters. We chat
to her about life on the show, insanity chiq, and her work
since.
What
did you work on before Dark Shadows?
It's funny now that I am mostly known for Dark Shadows,
as I'd done a lot of stuff before. I had done five Broadway
shows by then, beginning with Gypsy, alongside Ethel
Merman. Then I did The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr,
The Right Honourable Gentlemen, then Nobody Loves
an Albatross, with Robert Preston, and Charity,
with Gwen Verden. So that was about 1966, then in '68 I began
on Dark Shadows.
On
to Dark Shadows… What did you make of Eve?
I loved the character of Eve - she was so different from how
I am. I've been lucky that in most of my career I have played
totally opposite people from myself, and I strive for that,
because so many people get typecast. Dark Shadows proves
it, because I played three totally different roles.
Were
you familiar with the show when joined the cast?
I
went in not knowing Dark Shadows at all. In fact, I
was up in New Hampshire doing a play, when my agent called
and said,"Would you like to audition for Dark Shadows?"
I said, "What's that?" [laughs] So I really didn't
know what they'd been doing. What I felt is that basically
everybody, except the really straight characters like Maggie,
everyone was really over the top, as far as I could see! And
the most successful were the people who had a lot of theatrical
experience. For me, it just fit right in with my theatre.
When I went into Somerset, my next soap opera, it was
much more realistic and I had to really bring everything I
did down.
Eve
came at a time when the show was becoming more and more bizarre…
Well,
as soon as you introduce a vampire and you try to say it's
reality, it's crazy! It's not reality, so you had vampires
and myself, made from old bones that Willie found in a mausoleum!
I mean, look how I woke up - I'm there in a diaphanous gown,
high heels, and gorgeously combed hair! I have a mate who
grunts, "I want mate!" yet I can speak perfectly!
So where was the reality? There is none! You just had to make
it real to yourself as you were playing it.
Compared
to Eve, did your next role as 'Crazy' Jenny Collins offer
more pathos?
It
was funny, because even though you could go all out with a
crazy character, I approached that in a very realistic manner
because to me she was totally vulnerable, a very soft, sad
kind of person. I could identify that and go deep down into
myself and so to me, in many ways, it was real. And then,
because I was crazy, I had the freedom to go anywhere I wanted
to.
Did
you have much input in Jenny's dishevelled look?
[Laughs]
Yes! A lot of it was my input. I decided I would tease my
hair out, then I made little pin-curls, which we used in general
on the period stories, but they were bigger ones. I made little
ones all around my face and, when I took them off, I didn't
comb them out. My hair was about shoulder-length at the time,
so I teased that up, as if I hadn't combed it in years. Jenny
had this very nice nursemaid, Beth, who we assume would have
combed my hair, but again, there goes reality on Dark Shadows!
My other idea was to put false lower lashes on my eyes, which
I think is the thing that really made me look crazy. They
always put on top lashes on, which people don't really use
any more. Back then, everyone used them, so I thought it would
make my eyes look really big and crazy!
By
comparison to Jenny, Megan Todd seemed positively suburban…
Megan
was a very straight character, the girl next door. It was
very funny, because beforehand Dan Curtis had said, "Get
Marie Wallace for it." Gordon Russell, the writer, kept
saying, "No, she's wrong for it - she's too big, too
theatrical." Of course Dan always did have the upper
hand, so I did get to do it! About six weeks into Megan, I
was sharing a cab with Gordon and he told me, "I have
to admit, I didn't think you should play this role, but I
have to say now, you're wonderful." So that was very
nice.
So
was it a challenge playing a more grounded character?
No,
not really. We were approaching everything like theatre, playing
it as close to that way as you could, but television was naturally
more restricted. On television, you couldn't move much, even
if you were angry, because the camera would miss you! So you
were angry, but would move rather slowly, even though you
had the intensity. But I was very happy when they turned Megan
into a vampire, because she was no longer a straight character.
You're
notorious as the person who didn't appear in the movie
House of Dark Shadows…
Yes,
I was supposed to be in it, but I had no real idea of what
was planned for me. For instance, I was supposed to play a
fourth character in Dark Shadows. They called my agent
who told then that I had a contract to Somerset for three
years. The director Henry Kaplan even called me, saying, "Marie,
we want you for this part." I said, "Henry, I have
a contract!"
We
never had contracts on Dark Shadows - they would just
call the agent, make a verbal agreement, and that was it.
It was the same with the movie. I was cast in a role, but
never got a script. Dan's office called and said: "Your
shoot dates are next week." I looked at my schedule and
said: "I'm shooting for Somerset, can you change
the schedule?" because I certainly couldn't get Somerset
changed. And so they couldn't reschedule, and that was that.
How
do the reactions from Dark Shadows viewers compare
with those from Somerset?
The reactions have always been similar. There are a few people
who still remember Somerset 30 years on, including
some of the Dark Shadows fans. It's similar if they
remember, but it doesn't have the same sort of cult following.
What
was it like being directed by Jonathan Frid in The Lion
in Winter?
It was wonderful and we were allowed to stay in the Governor's
mansion in Georgia, which was quite an honour. We stayed there
for seven weeks and Jonathan was such fun to be with. He had
not directed very much before, but he did a great job, having
asked the producer for me specifically for the role.
How's
it been revisiting the show at the Festival conventions in
recent years?
I
find it a lot of fun and enjoy seeing the fans - what's bad
about that? Everyone's fun and enjoyable, though it's hard
work sometimes, especially when the autograph lines last four
or five hours. But I always stay till the bitter end of those,
for the very last person in that line.
The
Festival's brought the show full circle, by producing the
Return to Collinwood sequel. What's that been like?
It's
been interesting and it was the highlight of that convention.
It's well written by Jamison Selby, David Selby's son. It's
right in keeping with Dark Shadows from the prologue
onwards.
Tell
us about Marci X…
Marci X is my latest movie, with Damon Wayans and Lisa
Kudrow. Myself, and about 12 other actresses in my type, were
cast as high-class women at a dinner auction, bidding for
Damon Wayans. It's a funny movie, but it wasn't a real part,
just a cameo. We worked for three long, long days and we probably
appear for about a minute. The movie pretty much insults everyone
[laughs]! Catholics, Protestants, Jews, blacks, whites…
whatever you can find, it will insult!
Do
you still do theatre?
Not
any more. I did it for a very long time and I still have an
agent who calls me about roles, but I always say I don't want
to go out of town. The most filming I'll usually do is a commercial,
but I'm really a full-blown photographer now and simply too
busy. I don't want to break that momentum. It's like when
I worked with Jackie Gleason in Sly Fox. He had said,
"I will never do a show again. I made the mistake of
opening the script and I couldn't resist it." It would
need to be a situation like that for me nowadays.
Interview
by Jay Keaveny and Stuart Manning
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