Back in the 1980s, Blog of Dark Shadows editor Ed Gross had an opportunity to sit down with the late Grayson Hall to discuss Dark Shadows. Unfortunately my younger self did not ask all the questions that my older self would have liked, and if I had an opportunity to use a Delorean to travel back in time I would in order to provide a list of questions (that’s right, there are no other historical wrongs that I would set right, just that one – definitely need to get out more). Still, what follows is an excerpt from that interview.
BLOG OF DS: The first question that comes to mind is how you came to be involved with Dark Shadows in the first place.
GRAYSON HALL: It was the summer. I remember Sam and Matthew, our son, went to Ohio to see Sam’s family. Something kept me here [in New York], I don’t know what, but I came in the house and peeled my clothes off. I was lying in the air-conditioned splendor of the bedroom and my agent called me. He said, “Would you like to do a soap? It’s a thirteen week contract. You’ll be a doctor, the vampire will find you out and you’ll be killed and that’s the end of that.” I said, “Great, a soap would be great.” What happened is that I played this doctor filled with all these technical things that I had to talk about, and to make it not so dry I made a decision all by myself that I would be in love with Barnabas.
BLOG OF DS: So that wasn’t in the original conception of the character?
GRAYSON HALL: It wasn’t written. I just kind of looked at him longingly. It just made it more interesting for me as a subtext. I don’t know if you know anything about subtext. It’s like you’re talking to me and there’s a whole thought process going through your mind about your next question. It’s like when you’re playing a character. So I decided that instead of being a serious dedicated doctor, I would be a serious dedicated doctor in love with a patient; a patient who happened to be a vampire.”
David Cooper
March 27, 2012
Where’s the rest of this interview? Nothing else came up, atleast not with my Dial Up. Is there more? to be continued or on another page? I love this so far and left me wanting more sir, can I have some more please? Was this done on the phone and HOW did you contact her to begin with and why did she agree to the interview since she was often elusive and seemed to wanna put DS behind her sometimes?
Ed Gross
March 27, 2012
Sorry, David, that is the excerpt. My interview with her isn’t that long, so I’ll tease another excerpt soon. As to how it happened: back in the ’80s Sam Hall said he’d do an interview. I went to his and Grayson’s condo on 7th Avenue (I believe) and sat with him for about two hours. At the end of the conversation, I asked him if he’d speak to Grayson for me and his response was, “Usually she won’t do it. But I’ll tell her you’re very nice and polite, and we’ll see what we can do.” A week later, I was back in the apartment talking to Grayson. It was all VERY cool.
RJ
March 27, 2012
Did you see this–Matt Hall’s blog about that summer?
http://msbhall.wordpress.com/
Matt Hall
March 27, 2012
Okay, I just talked to Sam, and while we could well have been in Ohio when the DS news came, neither of us remember it that way. Of course, at this point, I’m an old fart and he’s even older. In truth, we went to Ohio at Christmas and in summer most years, so it simply wouldn’t have stood out in my mind, other than that I liked Carrollton quite a bit. The emotional core of that summer was Merriewold, as I recently posted on the blog.
But if mom says we were in Ohio, I am certainly not going to argue. Arguing with my mother was a futile gesture…you don’t argue with forces of nature. Ohio it no doubt was, at least for a few days before we hustled back and made other arrangements.
M
Matt Hall
March 27, 2012
PS that Lugosi poster was in the studio, as I remember it in the large, rather bare rehearsal space on the second floor. It had a blackboard, as well, and folding chairs around two long folding tables. That’s where the read-throughs happened in the mornings.
M
Kit Forbes
March 28, 2012
Can’t wait to see the next part. ^_^
Here’s another example great of Dark Shadows influencing future generation shows–the female doctor helping her unrequited vampire love search for a cure was revisited in Forever Knight.
Ronny G
March 28, 2012
Hi Edward! I have the Dark Shadows Tribute book that you wrote that contains the full interview with Grayson. I really appreciate the interviews you did with Grayson and Alexandra Moltke. I want to thank you for conducting them because interviews with those particular actresses are hard to find.
I also have some other fanzines that published more interviews with Grayson. I think it was the World of DS that did a tribute issue to Grayson after she passed away.
RJ
March 28, 2012
I hope folks are aware of the Grayson Hall biography.
visit graysonhall.net
lon
March 28, 2012
I had the good fortune of finding out Grayson Hall’s home phone number back in the day and decided to call. I was a kid and was a nervous wreck, my heart was beating out of my chest. Would she pick up the phone? Dr. Julia Hoffman, Magda, the grand Countess duPres on the other line!!! I was in panic mood. The phone and rang and the party on the other line said hello and I introduced myself.
Miss Hall, the legend herself answered. In her wrapsy voice she said “hello” and I introduced myself. I told her I was working on a school project and if it would be possible to ask her a few questions… She hestitated and then said sure… I gasped and introduced myself to her and proceeded.
I asked her a few basic questions about her career and she gallantly answered them. I then asked her if she were anything like the character Dr. Julia Hoffman she played on Dark Shadows…? She chuckled and we then we both laughed and replied, “hell no, Julia is a scatterbrain. We both laughed and i will cherish my Grayson Hall memories forever. Must’ve been around 12 years old and it was a fine moment in my life. Ms. Hall graciously sent me her autograph on an index card I have framed in my office decades later. I will be forever grateful to this great actress and lady.
Matt Hall
March 28, 2012
I don’t remember you, but I remember that happening every once in a while. When people were nice, mom would be nice, if she wasn’t feeling busy or pressed for time. We had some people who were kind of creepy, though, which always bordered on scary. That set us on guard against the nice ones– you never really knew who was who.
M
Lon Ellis Cohen
March 29, 2012
Hi Matt
I guess I always remained a little mystery, even to my friends back then. I adored your late Mother since the days of “Night of the Iguana”, I thought she was a great actress and of course so underatted. I adored seeing her later on the daytime soap “One Life to Live” what a surprise and great performance. When I learned of her death, I was crushed. I purchased other dvds to see her work. I felt like a family member passed. Thanks for your blog, I have really enjoyed reading your wonderful memories. Kind regards to you and your wonderful dad.
Lon
Kerry Johnson
April 5, 2012
Hi, Matt:
I apologize for contacting you this way, but it seems as appropriate as any other, I guess. I’m writing to ask you some information about the inspiration for the Barnabas/Josette/Angelique story. I wonder if your dad or Dan Curtis ever mentioned Jean Rhys’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea, which came out in 1966, as even partly inspiring it. The Caribbean connection interests me in particular. Wide Sargasso Sea, as you may know, is Rhys’s revision of Jane Eyre, which I know did serve as a basis for some of the DS story. Rhys’s main character is a Creole heiress named Antoinette (later, Bertha Mason in JE.) Antoinette’s mother is a Martiniquan Creole named Annette. I’m writing a paper for the Popular Cultura Association (for next week!) on the function of the Caribbean as the source of the monstrous in DS, and if there is a connection between DS and WSS, it would be very useful to know. Thanks for your time. Kerry Johnson, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Merrimack College, N. Andover, MA