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| Gabriel Collins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gabriel Collins | |
| Series: | Dark Shadows |
| Gender: | Male |
| Notability: | Supporting character |
| Location: | Collinwood, Collinsport, Maine |
| Relatives: | Daniel Collins (father); Harriet Collins (mother); Edith Collins (wife); Quentin Collins (brother) |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | 1811 |
| Died: | 1840 |
| First: | Episode 1110 |
| Actor: | Christopher Pennock |
Gabriel Collins was a supporting character and a featured antagonist on the daytime gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired on ABC from 1966 to 1971. He was introduced in episode 1110 as part of a storyline colloquially referred to as "1840 Flashback". He was played by actor Christopher Pennock.
Biography
Gabriel Collins was born in Collinsport, Maine in 1811. He was the second son of Daniel and Harriet Collins. As a child, Gabriel suffered from a severe accident that left him crippled. This accident, coupled with Gabriel's increasingly sour attitude, made him the less favored of the Collins children, and Daniel perceived him as weak and useless. As Gabriel grew older, he eventually recovered from his injuries, but maintained the charade of still being confined to a wheelchair in a vain effort to engender sympathy from his family members.
In 1840, Daniel Collins was stricken by madness perpetuated by a series of traumatic instances from his own youth. Gabriel knew that he didn't have long to live and tried to pressure his father into changing his will, leaving the Collins family fortune to himself, rather than his more accomplished brother, Quentin. When this tactic failed, Gabriel murdered his father and tried to pin it on Quentin. He later murdered his own wife, Edith, whom he correctly believed was carrying on an affair with another power player at Collinwood - Gerard Stiles.
Gabriel later discovered a portal into a parallel timeline located in the East Wing of the Collinwood estate. He believed that this doorway represented salvation for him and engaged upon a plot to steal the family's fortune and escape through parallel time. Gabriel kidnapped one of the house's staff members, Daphne Harridge, and forced her to tell him what she knew of the alternate world.
Ultimately, Gabriel's misdeeds came back to haunt him. The ghost of Daniel Collins tormented him, forcing Gabriel to flee in terror. While running upon an exterior balcony terrace, Gabriel lost his footing and fell to his death.
Notes & Trivia
- The character of Gabriel Collins was created by director Lela Swift and writer Sam Hall based on concepts developed by Art Wallace and Dan Curtis.
- Gabriel Collins made 35 appearances on Dark Shadows.
- In addition to Gabriel Collins, actor Christopher Pennock also played the characters of Jeb Hawkes, Sebastian Shaw, and the dual roles of Cyrus Longworth and John Yaeger (a Jekyll & Hyde pastiche).
- Actor Christopher Pennock also played a variation of the Gabriel Collins character in the 1971 feature film Night of Dark Shadows.