50 Greatest Soap Actors: #49 Jonathan Frid

NAME: Jonathan Frid
RANK: 49
SOAP ROLES: Barnabas Collins, DARK SHADOWS (1967-1971); Dr. Field, AS THE WORLD TURNS (1964-1966)

AWARDS:
1971 Golden Laurel Award nomination for Star of Tomorrow, Male

COMMENTS FROM THE PANEL:
Alan Carter: Talk about being known for and stereotyped by a role. It's not like DARK SHADOWS lasted 40 years or that Frid played the role all that long, but there was something about him and the show that made us, literally, run home from school to watch. Do kids run home to watch soaps these days? No, they have DVRs and Hulu and cell phones and the internet. But I imagine if Frid was around on DARK SHADOWS, they'd still be running.

Roger Newcomb: Jonathan Frid became a pop culture icon in a role that was only supposed to last a few weeks. He didn't debut until the 211th episode of DARK SHADOWS but his Barnabas helped catapult into the sensation it would become. Here's hoping that Frid makes a cameo in the new Johnny Depp Dark Shadows movie that will go into production sometime this year.