"I thought I had arrived," says Lara Parker with a smile. "I had an apartment in New York, a charge account at Saks, and a part on a TV show!"
In 1967, only a few short weeks after moving to the Big Apple, Parker was cast as Angelique, the lovelorn witch on Dark Shadows. It was this jealous practitioner of the Dark Arts who cursed Barnabas Collins to live an eternity without love, which he would do as one of the undead, a vampire. For the next four years, Barnabas and Angelique traveled through the centuries, tormenting each other in daytime TV's first co-dependent love/hate relationship.
"At first, I didn't like the role," Parker recalls. "Angelique was the bad girl from the wrong side of the tracks. I wanted to play the heroine, who got to wear the pretty gowns."
But she soon realized that her deliciously over-the-top character was the one the audience loved, and she came to relish Angelique's evil ways. Dark Shadows was a late-1960s pop culture phenomenon, and during its run, Parker was a bona fide celebrity, complete with her own fan club, mail from Christian groups warning her to "repent" ("It's amazing how real the show was to them," she says with a laugh) and a personal invitation from Johnny Carson to appear on The Tonight Show.
When Dark Shadows ended its network run in 1971, Parker joined her castmates for a big screen swansong, Night of Dark Shadows, then headed West. She went to Hollywood, certain that stardom was imminent. "I worked a lot, made some nice money, bought a house, but I never became a star."
By 1990, she was too old to be an ingŽnue, too young to be a Grandma. For Lara Parker, acting became a thing of the past. But she was still beloved by fans of Dark Shadows. Like Angelique, the show refused to die. Reruns popped up on PBS stations and the SciFi Channel. Dark Shadows became the first and only daytime drama to enjoy home video releases on VHS and DVD. At annual Dark Shadows fan gatherings, Parker was still a celebrity.
After acting, she discovered a new love, writing. She went back to school, earned her teaching certificate, and taught English in the Los Angeles school system, often recognized by her students' astonished parents. The kids asked her questions about Dark Shadows, and story ideas began to float in her head.
In 1998, Harper Collins published her first novel, Dark Shadows: Angelique's Descent. The book showed how durable Dark Shadows remains: its print runs sold out.
This weekend, Parker comes to San Francisco, promoting her second novel, Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch. Published by horror specialists Tor Books, it reveals more of Angelique's 17th-century origins, only touched upon in the TV series. On Friday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m., she'll meet and greet fans at The Booksmith, 1644 Haight St., SF. She will read from The Salem Branch and discuss her varied careers.
Hardcore Shadows fans may be a bit surprised by Parker's work. The TV series had its feet planted firmly in the Victorian era, but in Parker's prose, characters have sex! She is greatly enjoying this second career, and is also writing several screenplays outside of the Dark Shadows universe. She doesn't rule out a return to acting, and recently recorded several Dark Shadows audio dramas for release on CD by Big Finish Productions. But for the moment, it's Lara Parker, novelist, who graces us with her talent.