The 'Why-Can't-Anything-Ever-Be-Simple?' Dept.
FredHerrring
Dominic Chianese and whether or not he has a Dark Shadows connection. Someone
pointed out that a press release biography of Mr. Chianese lists Dark Shadows
as one of his television credits.
IIRC, the conclusion reached at the time was that Mr. Chianese had definitely
not participated in the daytime Dark Shadows series, but no one was sure
whether or not he had appeared in the 1991 night time remake of Dark Shadows.
I figured the most direct method of finding out was to ask Dominic Chianese
himself. I passed the question along to him through someone who knows him, but
who doesn't see him very often, and who graciously agreed to ask him the next
time they saw each other.
That "next time" took place recently and I'm told that Mr. Chianese was very
pleased by the question about his Dark Shadows involvement. He said that yes,
he had appeared in the nighttime remake of Dark Shadows rather than the daytime
version. When asked about his role on the show he said that he played the
boss, or maybe the father, of Abe Vigoda!
That certainly complicates things further. Abe Vigoda isn't in the remake, as
far as I know. I've heard there was some footage shot for but not telecast as
part of the remake. Is anyone familiar enough with this unused footage to know
if Abe Vigoda or Dominic Chianese is in it?
Abe Vigoda did play two roles in the original series, but neither character had
an on-camera boss or father. (Ezra Braithwaite did talk about his father, but
said that he died in 1901.)
It occurs to me Mr. Chianese could be confusing Dark Shadows with some other
project in which he worked with Abe Vigoda. They've worked together several
times, but I think I've figured out which credit Mr. Chianese is confusing with
Dark Shadows. In May of 1984, he and Abe Vigoda appeared together on the TV
horror anthology "Tales From The Dark Side" in the episode "A Choice of
Dreams." Mr. Chianese reportedly did play Abe Vigoda's father in this episode.
Dark Side / Dark Shadows seems like an easy mistake to make. I suppose he
*could* still have been somehow involved in one of the Dark Shadows series, but
I think it's just more likely that his "Tales From The Dark Side" role is what
prompted the incorrect entry in the press releases and official biographies
that credit him with an appearance on Dark Shadows. (But if he says he was on
Dark Shadows, I certainly don’t want to disagree with “Uncle Junior.”)
If anyone has any alternate resolutions or suggestions for this mystery, please
do post them!
BTW, As if this weren't confusing enough already, Dominic Chianese is also
listed as one of the cast members of the upcoming "Welcome To Collinwood"
movie, which has nothing to do with Dark Shadows, but whose title will
undoubtedly cause DS-related confusion for decades to come. For details on
this movie, see
http://www.upcomingmovies.com/welcometocollinwood.html
Jonafan
the final product, he might not realize it.
"FredHerrring" <fredhe...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:20020318025143...@mb-fw.news.cs.com...
FredHerrring
>From: "Jonafan" nob...@nowhere.org
>Perhaps his part in the DS mini-series was edited out. If he never watched
>the final product, he might not realize it.
>
Yes, thanks, Jonafan, I think that's a possibility worth considering, too.
Just because he confused "Dark Side" and "Dark Shadows" when he was asked about
Dark Shadows, doesn't necessarily mean he couldn't have been in both of them.
Maybe he is in that unaired footage for the 1991 show!