Post by Graveyardbride on Apr 30, 2021 14:25:36 GMT -5
Recent Dark Shadows Deaths
Recently, three Dark Shadows actors died within weeks of each other. Christopher Pennock (above), who played several roles on the popular daytime soap opera, died February 12 following a diagnosis of melanoma. Born June 7, 1944, he was 76-years-old. Pennock first appeared as Jeb Hawkes in episode 935, broadcast January 30, 1970. Later, he was cast in the roles of Cyrus Longworth in a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type storyline, Sebastian Shaw and Gabriel Collins. He revived his Gabriel Collins role in the 1971 movie, Night of Dark Shadows, with David Selby and Lara Parker.
Geoffrey Scott (born February 22, 1943), who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, died February 23 at the age of 79. On Dark Shadows, he played the part of Schuyler, “Sky” Rumson, a rich publisher who owned an island near Collinsport. Rumson, secretly in league with the Leviathans, married Angelique Bouchard, appeared in 13 episodes. Among his portrayals following Dark Shadows, was that of “Mark Jennings” on Dynasty.
Robert Rodan (born January 30, 1938), who played the Frankenstein-esque role of Adam in a 1968 storyline, died of heart failure March 25 at his home in Oregon. He was 83. Rodan appeared in 82 episodes.
In addition to the actors, Malcolm Marmorstein, (August 9, 1928), a Dark Shadows writer, died November 21, 2020, at the age of 92. According to Marmorstein, when contemplating the introduction of a vampire, he told Dan Curtis, “We have to pretend we’re doing a vampire for the very first time. Let’s get a young, blond guy, because our audiences are very young. They’ll fall in love with him.” Jonathan Frid, as everyone knows, was neither blond nor particularly young, but everyone fell in love with him nonetheless. According to Marmorstein, his advice to Frid was: “Don’t act. Be a nice man, as you are. This is your family in the house, and you’ve got to be charming for them.”
Despite his longtime interest in vampires, Marmorstein was not at all impressed by the 2012 Tim Burton-Johnny Depp Dark Shadows remake. “I was shocked to see, at the beginning of the movie, Barnabas killing seven or eight innocent people, who weren’t even trying to harm him,” he commented in an interview at the time. “Barnabas would never do that. And I saw no reason whatsoever for the movie to be set in 1972. For nothing, I would have told them not to do that.”
Sources: Greg Evans, Deadline, November 24, 2020, and February 17 & 29, 2021; Ellise Shafer, Variety, March 2, 2021; and Dark Shadows.
