Dark Shadows - John Karlen Interview 04

[@ellierfromthebronx4531]

May John Karlen rest in peace..we lost him yesterday, January 22nd, 2020....

[@ethelhoose1196]

May he Rip

[@yadayada9581]

One of the strongest cast members the show ever had, and one of my personal favorites. He seemed to have excellent chemistry with nearly everyone in the entire cast. His scenes with Dennis Patrick and Jonathan Frid were fantastic. Willie had some of the best scenes in the entire show; skulking around Collinwood harassing Victoria and Carolyn, his fight with Burke Devlin at the Blue whale, those scenes with him and the portrait, opening Barnabas's coffin, and so on. Great actor.

[@hollyb6885]

yadayada 95 I completely agree. John was my favorite actor in the series

[@marilynwillett804]

Everybody else --even the kids were a little uppity, but never Willie.

[@jaynebills7319]

John karlen, you beautiful man May you Rest in Peace You did not know me but I knew you as a wonderful actor on my Tv set. I shall miss you ❤

[@donschwellenbach5461]

I loved Willie, and he was quite handsome then, very cool looking

[@pedinurse1]

i love the contradiction of his loyalty to Barnabas and a desire to protect Maggie, he was willing to die for her, he became a changed man and became noble through adversity

[@sandrarepash6451]

My Dear John Karlen: You are so much larger than life than you realize. The two most fondly remembered characters from the Dark Shadows vampire storyline are Barnabas Collins and Willie Loomis. ❤❤ Ask anyone if they remember DS and the first thing they say is Barnabas Collins and Willie Loomis. There's a really good explanation for that. You were both fantastic.

[@jerseygirlforever8722]

I loved Willie! He was the best! Great actor n great scenes. He had the best scenes really. He was a cutie. Too! He had the biggest heart

[@jeanettesmith765]

John Karlen was my favorite Dark Shadows character! I hope he realized how much he was loved.

[@Barnabas45]

God I miss this guy! R.I.P. Willie...

[@ellierfromthebronx4531]

I loved John Karlen's Willie Loomis. No one can top him! And he was great as Harvey Lacy on Cagney and Lacy... If you haven't seen it already, catch him in the movie "In a Child's Name".

[@greenfaerie61537]

RIP JOHN KARLEN ❤🦇🥀

[@belfiore_18]

So true. What a cast! Nancy was/is phenomenal. I agree.

[@thewanderingamerican5412]

I studied acting in college. I had scholarship to study acting in London, including at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-On-Avon....loved Shakespeare. John Karlen's acting on Dark Shadows is some of the VERY BEST acting I've ever seen in my life. Way beyond anything he did in Cagney and Lacey. His acting in DS deserved an Academy Award. Truly.

[@paulascott5701]

You are absolutely right! I put Karlen's acting ability up against ANYBODY'S. He was the real deal.

[@jojoheartspaypay]

Great voice, great character, simply everything. He is missed

[@sherryparkman7635]

DARK SHADOWS 💯 PERCENT GOLD STANDARD OF SERIES TV.😆😍😃😎

[@66collinwood]

Great interview with Johnny!

[@kat-tw9fu]

He was one of Dark Shadow’s best actors. RIP, John

[@marilynwillett804]

Willie was the lowest man on the totem pole in D.S. lol--no respect from anyone, not even Jason, and yet---he had been a good friend to Jason apparently and still cried when Barn killed Jason. He cried when the bat bit Barn and Barn died [for awhile] Willie hated himself when he thought Maggie had died, even to the point of irritating Barnabas, so my point is; Willie had the biggest heart --he didn't even want Barnabas to hurt dr. Hoffman the first night she was there. Willie was humble, and his boss knew it.

[@11redlions]

what a good actor, he was so real, its like he wasnt acting.

[@hollyb6885]

I completely agree. John Karlen's scenes are my favorites. I was so disappointed that he wasn't part of the 1795 time line. I kept waiting for him to show up in a role there. That was the only thing I didn't like about that story line.

[@blozier2006]

@@hollyb6885 though, to be fair, I don't think he was even on the show when they went to 1795. I think that overlapped with when he was on "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" on CBS.

[@hollyb6885]

Bryce Lozier I think you’re right but I sure missed him during the 1795 episodes.

[@Barbarian857]

Yes! Nancy Barrett! I love you more now. My Willie❤

[@videoinformer]

My favorite place in the character development of Willie Loomis was when his conscience couldn't handle the terrible things Barnabas was doing, and he began to resist and sneak behind Barnabas' back. The psychological complexity brought out great acting from John Karlen. Writing him out at the peak of his performance (coma) was a huge mistake., I think. He was great! As for "Crazy Carl", John Karlen was spot-on in characterizing this short-lived character who couldn't get murdered fast enough. "Pansy, Pansy, Oh, my Pansy!", he ran around exclaiming incessantly until he was permanently silenced by Barnabas. He's right to emphasize repeatedly the wonderful acting of Nancy Barrett, when she was given parts in which she could be expressive. She showed this after she as Carolyn Stoddard was bitten and made Barnabas' thrall. And her possession by the spirit of Pansy Faye was better than the "real" Pansy Faye, and far better than her role as the unpossessed Charity Trask.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

"They were firing someone" ... yeah, the original Willie Loomis was a real creeper! The week they made the switch, Willie Loomis became a much deeper character.

[@sherryparkman7635]

TALENTED MAN. R.I.P. !!!

[@donnaemmons5144]

He's not dead...lol...

[@ellierfromthebronx4531]

He's not dead...suffered a couple of strokes, but he's still with us.

[@ellierfromthebronx4531]

Unfortunately, he IS dead now...yesterday, January 22nd, 2020...rest in peace, Mr. Karlen.

[@stevenbrown1225]

The black and white episodes are so much more enjoyable for me. The old colored videotapes were just kind of garish the way they recorded colors. It was still a new tech. The b/w shows seem so much more atmospheric and the sets dont look quite so bad. Willie was may favorite character after Angelique. (hubba hubba) Man! I'm old!

[@hrh-xj4fh]

One of the few of the cast who can actuatally act!!

[@philipmonihan8222]

Anyone else notice how, whenever they jumped timelines, they always set John here up with Nancy Barrett?

[@Historian212]

Did he say that Dan Curtis didn’t like Jonathan Frid?

[@Marcel_Audubon]

yep

[@darlenedeluca725]

I always loved Dark Shadows N the cast tyvm !