Trivia for
"Dark Shadows" (1966) More at IMDbPro »

• For more than a year and a half the characters of "Dark Shadows" used almost every possible phrase to refer to Barnabas Collins ("He's not alive!" "He's one of the undead." "He walks at night but he ain't alive.") It wasn't until the 410th episode that the word "vampire" was actually used on the show.
  
  
• Ranked #19 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!" (30 May 2004 issue).
  
  
• Jonathan Frid didn't pose for the famous portrait of him that hung in Collinwood. The line producer, Robert Costello, did. The face was left blank until the actor was hired. The portrait was the last image ever shown on the last episode.
  
  
• The first time Jonathan Frid had to bite a victim, he had to rush to the set in a matter of seconds. He only had a matter of seconds to put his fangs in; they wound up going in upside down and he chewed them to bits.
  
  
• The interior of the Collinswood mansion was actually built in a studio in New York City. The exterior was a real house, but it wasn't in Maine-it was in Newport, Rhode Island.
  
  
• Kathryn Leigh Scott was one of the first people hired for the show. A screen test was shot of her wearing a filmy, ghostlike costume-and it was later used on the air, with the explanation that she was the ghost of Josette Collins. They didn't let it die there. When Barnabas was introduced, it was further explained that Josette was his long-lost love, and Scott played that part when the storyline jumped back to the year 1795. They had her coming and going, so to speak.
  
  
• Josette's music box. Barnabas gave this to her as token of his love, and somehow, through the centuries, he always manages to have it on hand when he falls in love again (usually with someone he sees as Josette's incarnation).
  
  
• The portrait of Angelique was invested with certain powers, and when something happened to her, it faded and cracked. When her life was restored, the portrait was restored.
  
  
• Quentin Collins' portrait was the ultimate: they were doing Dorian Grey. He didn't age, the portrait did; and any injuries he suffered happened to the portrait instead.
  
  
• The character of Quentin Collins was created at the request of Jonathan Frid, who asked that a second villain be brought in to lighten his work load.
  
  
• The role of Dr. Julia Hoffman, played by Grayson Hall, was only supposed to last a few weeks, but Hall's husband, Sam Hall, was a head writer for the show and eventually made a star out of the character.
  
  
• The role of Dr. Julia Hoffman was actually originally supposed to be "Julian" Hoffman, and portrayed by a man. In the first episode in which this character is mentioned (before she appeared on-screen), Dr. Hoffman is specifically referred to as a "he" and "one of the finest men I know." Before the role was cast however, a character description was typed up and the name "Julian" became "Julia" because of a typo. Producer Dan Curtis decided to change the gender on a whim, only after he noticed the typo.
  
  
• Despite their low-budget look, the special effects were very costly for a daytime soap opera. In order to keep within the budget, producer Dan Curtis decreed that no more than five characters could appear in a single episode (this was occasionally relaxed for sweeps-week episodes in which major plot twists took place).
  
  
• Since the show was canceled rather suddenly, viewers never learned Barnabas' fate. But according to one of the writers, here's what they had planned - Barnabas was going to marry his doctor, Julia Hoffman, and move to Asia, where she would eventually discover a cure for his vampirism.
  
  
• The portrait of Barnabas was usually in the foyer at Collinwood, and the camera would pan mysteriously to it when something ominous was about to happen (accompainied by eerie music)
  
  
• Thayer David holds the record for playing the most characters in this series. He portrayed Matthew Morgan #2, Ben Stokes (in 1795), Prof. Timothy Eliot Stokes, Sandor Rakosi (in 1898), Count Petofi (also in 1898), Stokes (Parrallel Time), aged Prof. Stokes (1995), aged Ben Stokes (1840), aged Ben Stokes (Parrallel Time, 1840).
  
  

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