Daniel Collins is fictional character that appeared on the 1960s
ABC daytime soap opera ''
Dark Shadows
''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspor ...
''. Initially the character was played by child actor David Henesy during a storyline that has become informally known as the "1795 Flashback". In 1970, the character returned (now an adult) for the "1840 Flashback" storyline, this time played by stage actor
Louis Edmonds
Louis Stirling Edmonds (September 24, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was an American actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was best known for his roles in ''Dark Shadows'' and ''All My Children''.
Edmonds appeared in the musical '' Ernest in Love'' i ...
.
Biography
Daniel Collins was born 1785, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, to Theodore and Constance Collins, and spent the first ten or so years of his life there. In the winter of 1795, he and his older sister Millicent Collins were invited to the town of
Collinsport, Maine
Collinsport is the fictional setting of '' Dark Shadows'', the 1960s Dan Curtis Productions Gothic horror soap opera.
Fictional location
In the series, Collinsport is a small, coastal fishing village located in Hancock County in the U.S. state ...
and to the estate of
Collinwood
Collinwood is a historical area in the northeast part of Cleveland, Ohio. Originally a village in Euclid Township, it was annexed by the city in 1910. Collinwood grew around the rail yards of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (now C ...
, to attend the planned wedding of their cousin
Barnabas Collins
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial ''Dark Shadows'', which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, origin ...
and his then fiancee, Josette DuPres.
Daniel and his sister, Millicent, were heirs in their own right to a large portion of the Collins Family fortune (as the only surviving members of the New York branch of the Collins family). Joshua Collins had hoped to consolidate this fortune by arranging a marriage between Millicent and his younger brother, Jeremiah, but neither Jeremiah nor Millicent had any interest in such an alliance. Millicent secretly married naval captain Lt. Nathan Forbes after she had given her share of the fortune to Daniel to prove that Forbes was not after her money. Forbes arranged to become Daniel's guardian and then drove Millicent insane (not a terribly difficult task) and hired an assassin to kill Daniel. Forbes was killed by
Barnabas Collins
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial ''Dark Shadows'', which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, origin ...
and Joshua took Daniel in as his heir since Millicent never recovered her sanity. Since Joshua's wife,
Naomi, and their children, Barnabas and Sarah were all dead (or undead), Daniel became the sole heir to the Collins Family fortune.
As an adult in the 1800s, Daniel married a woman named Harriet and became the patriarch of Collinwood. He had two sons,
Quentin
Quentin is a French male given name from the Latin first name ''Quintinus'', diminutive form of ''Quintus'', that means "the fifth".Albert Dauzat, ''Noms et prénoms de France'', Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Th� ...
and Gabriel Collins. Controlling over the Collins estate had made Daniel have more pride, and he became an arrogant and vulgar man abusing his wife Harriet and Gabriel, though he always loved Quentin seeing him as the future successor to the Collins’ estate. Daniel often thought little of Gabriel, and considered him “dead” when he was crippled in an accident, this abuse made Gabriel despise Daniel. In 1830, Harriet died from a mysterious fall from Widow's Hill. It was said that the fact Daniel had murdered her was the "most well known family secret". Daniel, plagued by the guilt of killing Harriet began a long slide into senility and dementia. He often believed Harriet was haunting him and could appear anywhere in Collinwood except for the Tower Room, where Daniel had strangled her before throwing her body off the cliff.
In late 1840, the Collins family was set upon by the spirit of centuries old
warlock
A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft.
Etymology and terminology
The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicat ...
named Judah Zachery. Although dead, the head of Judah Zachery contained the warlock's
malevolent spirit
In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or cr ...
, and whoever took possession of the head became Judah's unwilling slave. The head passed through several hands but ultimately came into the possession of a seaman named Gerard Stiles (a friend of Quentin Collins). Zachery took complete possession of Stiles and used the younger man’s personality and charm to insinuate his way into the Collins family fortune.
Gerard framed Quentin for two murders and various acts of
Satanism and convinced Daniel to alter his will leaving the Collins estate to Gerard rather than Quentin. Daniel's mental stability was greatly traumatized by the event and his health took a turn for the worse. Compounding the ailing Daniel's stress was the appearance of a woman named Valerie Collins. Valerie was in fact the reincarnated
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...
Angelique who had terrorized Collinsport nearly fifty years earlier. Daniel recalled Angelique from his childhood memories and the shock of seeing her still alive and youthful drove him over the edge of sanity.
In the end, it was actually Daniel's second son, Gabriel, who ended his life. Upon learning that Daniel had changed his will to disinherit Quentin for practicing witchcraft, he assumed that Daniel left him the entire fortune. Gabriel assaulted his father inducing a seizure which ultimately claimed his life. But Gabriel later discovered that the family fortune was to be left to Gerard Stiles as guardian of Quentin's son Tad Collins, until Tad turned 21; and sole heir should Tad die before then, or be taken from Collinwood by his mother.
Parallel Time
In 1970, the series writers began a storyline which focused on alternate realities. The character of
Barnabas Collins
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial ''Dark Shadows'', which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, origin ...
discovered that the entrance to a specific room at Collinwood led into a parallel dimension where characters and events played out in similar form to their mainstream counterparts. In this parallel time, David Henesy played another character named Daniel Collins. This character was the counterpart to David Collins, but was the son of Quentin and Angelique Collins.
Revival Series
In 1991
Dan Curtis Productions revived the ''Dark Shadows'' series as a one-hour night time soap opera for
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
. The series re-imagined the "1795 Flashback" storyline and cast child actor
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances ...
in the role of Daniel Collins. Levitt also played Daniel's modern day descendant David Collins throughout the series. This version of Daniel Collins also made cameo appearances in Dark Shadows comic book limited series by
Innovation Comics
Innovation Publishing (also known as Innovation Books and the Innovative Corporation) was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising ...
.
See also
*
List of ''Dark Shadows'' characters
References
''Dark Shadows'' website
External links
David Henesy biography at IMDBLouis Edmonds biography at IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Daniel
Dark Shadows characters
Television characters introduced in 1968
Male characters in television
Fictional characters from New York City
Fictional people from the 18th-century