Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 16, 2023 15:39:28 GMT -5
‘Angelique’ Dies at Age 84
Lara Parker, known to Dark Shadows fans as “Angelique,” died Thursday, October 12. Born October 27, 1938, in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was just two weeks away from her 85th birthday.
Angelique made her first appearance on Dark Shadows in November 1967 as the maidservant of Josette DuPree in the 1795 flashback. Her last appearance was on January 27, 1971, during 1840/41 Parallel Time, wherein she is shot and killed by Lamar Trask as Barnabas confesses his love for her. After wrestling Trask for the gun, Barnabas looks upon her corpse, saying, “Your beautiful face, as if you were asleep. Am I never to see your eyes again? So often they looked at me with love, and I returned nothing but hatred. I was blinded by my fury that my rejection of you caused. And so throughout the years we battled and fought, and I never guessed that beneath my rage I felt a love as strong as yours.”
In addition to the witch Angelique, Ms. Parker also played the roles of Cassandra Collins, Valerie Collins, Miranda DuVal, Angelique Stokes Collins, Alexis Stokes and Catherine Harridge Collins.
“I’m heartbroken, as all of us are who knew and loved her,” Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) said when she announced her friend and co-star’s death. “She graced our lives with her beauty and talent, and we are all richer for having had her in our lives. Family meant more than anything to Lara, and they have wanted these few days since her passing to themselves. Rest in peace, my cherished friend.
“We met as ‘Josette’ and ‘Angelique’ on Dark Shadows ... that’s how many knew us, but we knew each other as friends and confidantes. For more than 50 years, our lives were intertwined through our mutual love of literature, writing and acting. While getting on with the ordinary stuff of life, we sought each other out for encouragement, support and a trusted sounding board. We could not have been more unalike, and therein lay the magic of our enduring friendship. My thoughts are with her family in this sad time of grief and remembrance.”
In 1994, 23 years after Dark Shadows ended, Angelique and Barnabas were reunited in the CBS prime time special 50 Years of Soaps. Later, the two appeared together at Dark Shadows festivals and both had cameo appearances in the 2012 Tim Burton Dark Shadows travesty starring Johnny Depp.
Lara Parker is survived by her husband, Jim Hawkins, and three children: Caitlin Hawkins, a daughter, and two sons, Rick and Andy, from her first marriage to Tom Parker.
Sources: Extra, October 12, 2023; Michael Maloney, SoapHub, October 16, 2023, and Dark Shadows News.
