Barnabas Collins has risen from the grave once more via the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Tim Burton's film adaptation of �Dark Shadows, and so has spirited argument over who created the tortured vampire back in the 1960s.��Johnny Depp's interpretation of the fanged fan favorite originated by Jonathan Frid may have been D.O.A. at the box office, but, 45 years after Collins debuted on the gothic ABC soap opera and became a cult icon, the squabbling over his invention just won't die.
Alas, one of the writers is not around to make his case. �A 2009�Variety�obituary for Ron Sproat, who wrote for�Dark Shadows�from November 1966 to February 1969, credits him with creating Barnabas, and in a 2008 interview with the blog Strange Paradise, another writer for the show, Joe Caldwell, said that the show's executive producer Dan Curtis personally asked him and Sproat to develop the character.
Enter former Dark Shadows writer Malcolm Marmorstein, who insists that Curtis gave him the task of creating Collins. Marmorstein, who is credited with writing the episode in which Barnabas? arm first shoots out of his coffin, joined the daytime serial in December 1966 after working as head writer of the successful NBC soap, The Doctors. He says Dark Shadows was in danger of cancellation, and he �recommended that adding a supernatural element to the series would boost ratings. Specifically, he suggested to Curtis that the character of Laura Collins be turned into a phoenix, who every 100 years would die by fire and then be reborn.
The phoenix concept debuted on December 21, 1966 and ratings soon improved. �A few months later, Marmorstein says, Curtis asked him to work a vampire into the storyline.
?I told Dan, ?Absolutely, but we need different ground rules.…
Daisy Fuentes Dania Ramirez Danica Patrick Daniella Alonso Danneel Harris Deanna Russo Denise Richards Desiree Dymond
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