Message #263868

[Janelle MacDonald]

JOHN KARLEN

As Willie Loomis — the handyman who sets Barnabas free after 171 years trapped in a coffin — John Karlen exuded a youthful, James Dean vibe.

"But I was not a kid, I'll tell you the truth," Karlen said. "I had been through the mill already by the time I hit 'Dark Shadows.' I'd done a half-dozen Broadway plays and all that kind of stuff. I was in the Air Force for four years. I was a lot older than I looked."

Karlen considered "Dark Shadows" to be a career break.

"I was lucky enough to have been playing Willie," the actor said. "I was only on once or twice a week. I didn't have to carry the load that Barnabas or a couple of the other people had to carry."

Karlen reprised Willie in the film "House of Dark Shadows."

"The movie was fun," the actor said. "Again, not carrying the load, I always had time to relax, have a good time. It was just an enjoyable shoot. I can look back on myself in that film and I like whatever I did. It just fit right into the whole picture of what it was."