Angelique: RIP Laura Parker

At the end of Chapter 1, “Alleys and Shadows,” in my serialized novel Dancing at The Royal Jade, nine-year-old Libby Billings sneaks to watch Dark Shadows, a show I was not allowed to watch either. That’s probably not 100% true. I was prone to nightmares as a child so even though I was fascinated by the show and my parents weren't all that strict about what I watched, my fears kept me from tuning in. It was creepy, y’all.

In my story, Libby’s interest in the show has more to do with being able to join in conversations about it with her peers. She doesn’t want to be left out. In the show she tries to watch, there’s a portrait of a woman named Angelique, the witch who was always at odds with Barnabas, a man she cursed to lived forever as a vampire. The fights between Angelique and Barnabas were the most popular elements of the show.

At the age of 84, the actress Lara Parker who played Angelique died on Thursday, October 12, 2023, which coincided with when I first began publishing my novel chapters on Substack.

Something Parker once said in an interview validated my fears and fascinations with the show and its characters. She said , “I can remember standing on the subway when school got out and seeing 200 or 300 kids all waiting to take the train. They would see me and start screaming and run to the other end of the platform! They were so terrified because I was so evil.”

Can you imagine—as just a child—being thought of as so wicked that other kids ran from you? No wonder I was afraid to watch her!

After her acting career, Parker went on to earn a master’s in creative writing and wrote four Dark Shadows novels: Angelique’s Descent (1998), The Salem Branch (2006), Wolf Moon Rising (2013), and Heiress of Collinwood (2016).

Here’s a closer peak at that portrait Libby glimpsed without permission.

Additional Resources:

• The Hollywood Reporter

• Los Angeles Times

• Dark Shadows: Angelique Curses Barnabas

See how this post relates to my novel Dancing at The Royal Jade by checking out Chapter 1: "Alleys and Shadows."

A previous version of this post first appeared on my Substack publication.