Lara Parker, ‘Dark Shadows’ actress, dead at 84

Lara Parker, who played the beautiful but vengeful Angelique Bouchard on the 1960s gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows,” died Thursday. She was 84.

>> Read more trending news

Parker died in her sleep at her home in Topanga Canyon, California, her daughter, Caitlin, told The Hollywood Reporter.

On “Dark Shadows,” Parker spent centuries in a love-hate relationship with lead character Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid, the entertainment news outlet reported.

She appeared in 268 episodes of “Dark Shadows” from 1967 to 1971, according to IMDb.com.

In 1967, Parker auditioned for the part of Angelique, a witch who would beguile and bedevil Barnabas Collins throughout the series. According to a storyline from The Hollywood Reporter, Collins seduced Angelique in 1795 and then abandoned her, not realizing she was a witch.

“He just dallied with her and then dismissed her, and she was not to be dismissed,” Parker said in an undated interview for a “Dark Shadows” home video release.

An enraged Angelique would damn Barnabas to enteral life as a vampire.

“I played her as somebody who was much more of a tragic figure, who was desperately, desperately in love,” Parker said in 2016. “And her heart was broken. That’s much more sympathetic than just being a mean old witch. I felt that her acts were acts of desperation, not acts of evil.”

Parker was born Mary Lamar Rickey on Oct. 27, 1938, in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She graduated from Central High School in Memphis and attended Vassar, where she roomed with Jane Fonda.

She graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, and at the age of 19 she served as an assistant to Wink Martindale on his WHBQ-TV show, “Dance Party,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. She later earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa.

Parker’s death was also reported in a Facebook post on Monday by fellow “Dark Shadows” actress Kathryn Leigh Scott.

“I have sad news . . . my beautiful, beloved friend Lara Parker passed away Thursday, October 12,” Scott wrote. “I’m heartbroken, as all of us are who knew and loved her. She graced our lives with her beauty and talent, and we are all richer for having had her in our lives. Family meant more than anything to Lara, and they have wanted these few days since her passing to themselves. Rest in peace, my cherished friend.”

Parker also acted on Broadway, appearing in the September 1968 production of “Woman Is My Idea,” a show that lasted five performances, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She also appeared in the 1970 film “Hi, Mom!”

The actress also appeared in two film versions of “Dark Shadows,” according to Soap Hub: 1971′s “The Night of Dark Shadows”; and in a cameo in the 2012 version of “Dark Shadows” that included Frid and Scott and starred Johnny Depp.

©2023 Cox Media Group