Lara Parker, an actress known for her scene-stealing performance as Angelique Bouchard Collins on Dark Shadows, has passed away at the age of 84. The news of Parker’s passing was publicly announced by producer Jim Pierson of Dan Curtis Productions, on behalf of Parker’s family. Parker passed away in her sleep following a battle with cancer on Thursday, October 12, in Los Angeles, California.
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“I’m heartbroken, as all of us are who knew and loved her,” Kathryn Leigh Scott, who co-starred on Dark Shadows with Parker, said in a statement. “She graced our lives with her beauty, talent and friendship, and we are all richer for having had her in our lives.”
Parker was born Mary Lamar Rickey on October 27, 1938 in Knoxville, Tennessee. She received her Bachelor Arts from Rhodes College and Masters of Arts in speech and drama from the University of Iowa. After deciding to move to New York to become an actress, she was cast on Dark Shadows in a matter of days. She made her onscreen debut in the early days of the soap opera’s run in 1967, portraying Angelique, the witch who cursed vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Parker would be a part of Dark Shadows across its run, portraying different alternate versions of Angelique up until the show’s cancellation in 1971. She also reprised her role in two of the franchise’s feature films — House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows.
“Looking back historically, Angelique was one of the earliest strong women characters portrayed on television,” Parker told Den of Geek in a 2016 interview. “She was really the first “Bitch Witch” that became so popular later. But at the time I wasn’t aware of being any kind of social figure. I just felt that I had a good part and I was happy to have a job and go to work and be an actress. It’s a gift. But I certainly didn’t see myself in the larger sense of being any kind of a social influence. I think it’s rare to pick up on that in the moment. I think only looking back I see that I was actually fortunate to be, in a small sense, one of the movers and shakers in the women’s movement.”
In addition to Dark Shadows, Parker made appearances on television shows like Kung Fu, The F.B.I., One Life to Live, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. Around the same time, Parker made appearances in films like Brian De Palma’s Hi, Mom!, as well as John G. Avildsen’s Oscar-winning film Save the Tiger. She also made appearances in a Broadway production of Woman is My Idea, and Off-Broadway productions of Lulu and A Gun Play.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Parker’s work included Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Washington: Behind Closed Doors. She also portrayed Laura Banner, the deceased wife of Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby), in the 1977 pilot of The Incredible Hulk. Parker continued acting into the 1990s, appearing in Manimal, Highway to Heaven, Capitol, and Jessica Novak.
Following her retirement from acting, Parker pivoted to being a high school English teacher. She also wrote four novels set in the Dark Shadows universe — 1998’s Angelique’s Descent, 2006’s Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch, 2013’s Dark Shadows: Wolf Moon Rising, and 2016’s Heiress of Collinwood. She also made a cameo appearance in Tim Burton’s 2012 Dark Shadows reboot, and went on to reunite with some of her original co-stars in two Doctor Mabuse movies. She will posthumously appear in The Great Nick D, which was shot earlier this year.
Our thoughts are with Parker’s family, friends, and fans at this time.
