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R.I.P. I recently saw him in Le Rouge aux Lèvres and Racing with the Moon.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 12:37 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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John Karlen spent 10 years doing guest shots on numerous television shows before landing a recurring role in a series. It was in the ABC daytime Gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows”. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy “Collins” family of Collinsport, Maine, where a number of supernatural occurrences take place.
John Karlen in “Dark Shadows”
The series became popular when vampire “Barnabas Collins” (Jonathan Frid) appeared ten months into its run. “Dark Shadows” also featured ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles. As actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor.
Dennis Patrick and John Karlen in “Dark Shadows”
Between 1967 and 1971, John Karlen played four different characters on the show: “Willie Loomis” (after James Hall had played the character for 7 episodes), “Carl Collins,” “Desmond Collins,” and “Kendrick Young.” In all, Karlen appeared in 180 episodes.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 10:57 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Dan Curtis, the creator and executive producer of “Dark Shadows,” made his feature film producing and directing debut with 1970’s HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. Curtis originally intended to edit together footage from the TV series into a feature-length film, but this concept was quickly abandoned in favor of an original story. In the film, vampire “Barnabas Collins” (Jonathan Frid) is accidentally released from his centuries-long confinement at his family's estate of Collinwood in Maine. He targets his clueless descendants who live there now and pursues “Maggie Evans” (Kathryn Leigh Scott), the incarnation of his lost love.
Nine cast members were temporarily written out of the television series so that they would be available to film this feature during March-May of 1970. John Karlen, who in the film played “Willie Loomis,” the handyman of Collinwood, missed 21 episodes of the series.
John Karlen in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS
The Collinwood scenes were filmed at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York. The Lyndhurst Estate also housed Spratt Mansion, which had been used as the exterior of the "Old House" on the series, but was destroyed by a fire the year before HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was shot. Robert Cobert’s score for the film was released by Rhino in 1996. The film turned a nice profit, grossing $5.6 million.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 11:32 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Still playing with the vampires, John Karlen went to Europe to co-star with Delphine Seyrig in the Belgian-French-German co-production “Les Lèvres Rouges” (“Red Lips”). When Gemini Releasing and Maron Films acquired the picture for distribution in the U.S., it was retitled DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. The film was cut by approximately 12 minutes to obtain an R-rating in the U.S.
The 1971 film finds young couple “Valerie” (Canadian actress Danielle Ouimet) and “Stefan” (Karlen) honeymooning at a seaside hotel during the off season. There they encounter the Hungarian “Countess Bathory” (Seyrig) and her companion “Ilona” (Andrea Rau) who are the only other visitors to the hotel. The Countess tells the couple of her ancestor's blood-soaked activities, but she is actually the perpetrator in question, living on through the ages and retaining a youthful appearance. The Countess becomes passionately obsessed with Valerie, and slowly woos her away from her husband, who in turn is seduced by Ilona.
John Karlen and Delphine Seyrig in DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS
The film was shot entirely in English, even though the majority of the cast was French, German and Flemish. As opposed to most European "genre" films from the 70s, here none of the actors were post-dubbed by others. They can all be heard with their own voices (resulting in some accents), notably Delphine Seyrig's deep, smoky voice and Andrea Rau's and Paul Esser's German accents.
In 2007, director Harry Kümel revealed in an interview that initially, Delphine Seyrig, being a well-renowned icon of sophisticated European cinema, wasn't too eager to take the part of the Countess Bathory when he sent her the script. Seyrig's boyfriend, famous French director Alain Resnais, was a big fan of graphic novels and when he imagined Kümel's material and idea of the film to be something of a graphic novel, he enthusiastically convinced Seyrig to take the offer. Kümel said that, at that time, he and his co-writers thought Seyrig's consent was "too good to be true".
During filming, Kümel hit actress Danielle Ouimet during a dispute. John Karlen was so infuriated by this behavior that he punched Kümel in the face. The atmosphere on the set was understandably tense afterwards. François De Roubaix’s score was released by Butler Records and Music on Vinyl in 2018.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 12:29 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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“Dark Shadows” was just days away from airing its final episode when production began on the feature NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS on 29 March 1971. Most of the cast of the film also appeared in the television series. However, only Lara Parker, David Selby and James Storm, who portrayed “Angelique,” “Quentin Collins” and “Gerard Styles” respectively, maintained their original character names. Despite the re-using of character names, the story lines of the television characters were changed in the film. This was in keeping with the original series, which had actors playing multiple characters, and had plot sequences set in varying centuries and alternate realities.
In the television series, as well as 1970’s HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (see above), which was the first feature film to be based on the television series, the vampire “Barnabas Collins,” played by Jonathan Frid, was a prominent character. This film was originally intended to be a sequel to HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, but Frid turned down the role as he feared being typecast as Barnabas. So, "Dark Shadows" creators Dan Curtis and Sam Hall wrote a new story which starred Quentin Collins and was based on the "parallel time" saga of the show (an alternate version of the story). Thus, although the two feature films were based on the same source, their plots are unrelated.
In NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, painter “Quentin Collins” (David Selby) and his wife “Tracy” (Kate Jackson) move to Collinwood, an estate he has inherited but never seen. They have invited their close friends, Gothic mystery novelists “Alex and Claire Jenkins” (John Karlen and Nancy Barrett), to live rent-free in the gatehouse. Soon, however, Quentin becomes uneasy about visions he begins to have: a woman hanged from a nearby tree and a little servant girl looking out the window.
Nancy Barrett and John Karlen in NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS
Reviews differ as to the duration of the film, with various reviewers reporting running times from 94 to 97 minutes. The film’s copyright record lists the duration as 93 minutes. Under orders from M-G-M studio heads, director-producer Dan Curtis cut 32 minutes from his original 129-minute film. Expecting a [GP] rating, M-G-M made prints of a version of the film lasting 97 minutes in order to meet a scheduled 4 August 1971 New England opening date. However, the film was submitted to the MPAA several times before it received the [GP] rating, each time with additional scenes of a violent or sexual nature trimmed out, until the length was 93-and-a-half minutes.
Although instructions were sent to distribution centers to excise the offending scenes from the prints they had received, only some of the centers fully complied, resulting in several versions being shown simultaneously. The 93-and-a-half minute version was the one released commercially on video. In August 1999, film historian Darren Gross located much of the missing picture footage, in hopes of restoring it to 129 minutes, but the sound for the missing footage was never located.
The 1971 film was shot in 6 weeks on a budget of $900,000. Although not as popular as the first film, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS still returned a healthy profit, grossing $4.2 million. Robert Cobert’s score was released by Rhino in 1996. The piano solo "Joanna" from “Dark Shadows” was adapted by Cobert into the love theme for the film.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 1:05 PM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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John Karlen spent 10 years doing guest shots on numerous television shows before landing a recurring role in a series. It was in the ABC daytime Gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows”. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy “Collins” family of Collinsport, Maine, where a number of supernatural occurrences take place.
John Karlen in “Dark Shadows”
The series became popular when vampire “Barnabas Collins” (Jonathan Frid) appeared ten months into its run. “Dark Shadows” also featured ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles. As actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor.
Dennis Patrick and John Karlen in “Dark Shadows”
Between 1967 and 1971, John Karlen played four different characters on the show: “Willie Loomis” (after James Hall had played the character for 7 episodes), “Carl Collins,” “Desmond Collins,” and “Kendrick Young.” In all, Karlen appeared in 180 episodes.
And some actors played more than one character, such as Dennis Patrick (pictured as Jason McGuire with Karlen as Loomis) who played McGuire and Paul Stoddard.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 2:05 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Dan Curtis produced and directed the made-for-television film MELVIN PURVIS: G-MAN from a script co-written by John Milius. The film was a breezy, fictional account of the dogged pursuit by cigar-chomping lawman Purvis (Dale Robertson) of notorious public enemy Machine Gun Kelly (Harris Yulin) throughout Mississippi in 1933. John Karlen played one of Kelly’s gang, “Tony Redecci,” in the film. Robert Cobert provided the unreleased score.
John Karlen in MELVIN PURVIS: G-MAN
Most of the film was shot in the area around Nicolaus, California, which according to Curtis was “a carbon copy’ of the actual locale of the story. Nicolaus was dotted with still-used architecture from the 1920s and 1930s, flat farmland, wooded areas, and the Sacramento River, which doubled for the Mississippi.
The film aired on ABC on 9 April 1974. American International released the picture as a feature film in foreign markets in 1975, under the title THE LEGEND OF MACHINE GUN KELLY.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2020 - 2:55 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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One of Karen Black's most well-remembered films was the 1975 made-for-television picture TRILOGY OF TERROR--particularly the final segment about a devil doll that comes to life. Black played four different roles in the film's three segments, all of which were based on stories by Richard Matheson.
In the second of the tales, “Millicent and Therese,” spinster “Millicent” (Black) attempts to enlist the help of her therapist (George Gaynes), to rein in the sordid lifestyle of her sister--the blond, sultry and more than slightly slutty “Therese” (also Black). She even informs one of Therese's boyfriends, “Thomas Amman” (John Karlen), about her sister’s nasty little penchant for incest, nymphomania, Satanism and murder.
Dan Curtis produced and directed the film, which aired on ABC on 4 March 1975. The main theme from Robert Cobert’s score appeared on the 2000 Varese Sarabande Cobert compilation CD “The Night Stalker and Other Classic Thrillers.”
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Posted: |
Jan 27, 2020 - 1:17 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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When producer Barney Rosenzweig learned in the early 1980s that there had never been a female buddy film, he sought to make one--a comedy initially titled “Newman & Redford” (before changing the title for legal reasons). Barbara Corday and Barbara Avedon wrote the script, but no studio wanted to make the film, so Corday considered taking it to television. Rosenzweig took the script, removed the main plot (leaving only the characters), and took it to all networks, but only CBS picked it up, as the made-for-television police film CAGNEY & LACEY.
In that film, which aired on CBS on 8 October 1981, Loretta Swit was “Det. Christine Cagney” and Tyne Daly was “Det. Mary Beth Lacey.” The film was directed by Ted Post and scored by Mark Snow. CBS picked up the concept for a series as a midseason replacement in the Spring of 1982, but the producers of the television show “M*A*S*H” would not release Loretta Swit to appear in the show, so she was replaced by Meg Foster. John Karlen was also hired to play Mary Beth Lacey’s husband “Harvey Lacey.” After the six Spring episodes had aired, and the show was picked up for a regular season in the Fall of 1982, Foster was replaced with Sharon Gless because CBS deemed Foster too aggressive and too likely to be perceived as a lesbian by the viewers.
Tyne Daley and John Karlen in “Cagney & Lacey”
Sharon Gless and John Karlen in “Cagney & Lacey”
The show went on to run for six additional seasons, through May 1988. John Karlen was in all 124 episodes and was nominated for an Emmy Award three years in a row (1985-87) as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 1985, Karlen lost to Edward James Olmos for “Miami Vice.” In 1986, he won the Emmy, beating out contenders such as John Hillerman for ‘Magnum P.I.” and “Ed Begley, Jr. for “St. Elsewhere.” And in 1987, Karlen lost to John Hillerman.
John Karlen in “Cagney & Lacey”
The cast of “Cagney & Lacey”:
Top row: Carl Lumbly, John Karlen, Al Waxman, Sidney Clute, and Martin Kove
Bottom Row: Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless
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