Lara Parker dead at 84: ABC soap opera star best known for vengeful witch role on Dark Shadows dies at Los Angeles home
LARA Parker, an actress known for her role on the ABC soap opera Dark Shadows, has died at age 84.
The thespian played Angelique Bouchard, a witch who was the love interest of protagonist Barnabas Collins, a vampire.
Parker died in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Thursday, her daughter Caitlin told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Tennessee native got an audition with Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis just days after arriving in New York City in 1967.
In the show, Angelique was a servant girl whom Barnabas seduced and abandoned in 1795.
But the character played by Jonathan Frid didn't realize she was a witch.
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Angelique cursed the man to an eternal life as a vampire, kicking off a major plotline in the second year of the show, which took place in several different time periods.
"He just dallied with her and then dismissed her, and she was not to be dismissed," Parker said in an interview for a Dark Shadows home release tape.
"I played her as somebody who was much more of a tragic figure, who was desperately, desperately in love," Parker told Den of Geek in 2016.
"Her heart was broken. That’s much more sympathetic than just being a mean old witch.
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"I felt that her acts were acts of desperation, not acts of evil."
The actress is also remembered for her roles in the 1973 drama film Save the Tiger and the 1975 horror flick Race With the Devil.
After leaving the film industry to get a creative writing degree, she penned four Dark Shadows novels: 1998's Angelique’s Descent, 2006’s The Salem Branch, 2013’s Wolf Moon Rising, and 2016's Heiress of Collinwood.
Tributes for the star quickly poured in on social media.
"If only you'd been as immortal as Angelique," one user said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"We met actress and writer Lara Parker at an event a couple of years ago, and she was incredibly warm and gracious," another user said.
"I’m sorry to hear about her passing."
A different X poster said their "childhood is officially over" with her death.
In addition to her daughter Caitlin, Parker is survived by her husband Jim Hawkins, her sons Rick and Andy, her grandson Wesley, and her dog Pearl.
