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WILLIAM
MARSHALL The star of Blacula, William Marshall was born in Gary Indiana on August 19, 1924. Trained in Shakespeare and grand opera, he was a stage veteran by the time he had his first screen role, a bravura star turn in Lydia Bailey as Haitian revolutionary King Dick. He would not duplicate that recognition until years later, when he would achieve a different kind of fame for Blacula and its’ sequel, Scream, Blacula, Scream. Until then he was stuck playing genies, jungle natives and gladiators. He also did some T.V., including a great Star Trek episode as Dr. Richard Daystrom, a brilliant but unbalanced scientist who designs the Ultimate Computer by imprinting it with his own personality. Kirk talks the computer into destroying itself, of course. As Manuwalde/Blacula, his great presence and dignity gave those silly movies more impact than they would have had with a less imposing actor. He does seem much too regal for the exploitation movies he appears in, but that’s part of his charm. Around the early 1970s he was in Honky and the infamous Abby, an unabashed Exorcist rip-off that Warner Bros. sued to get pulled out of the theaters. He returned to Shakespeare in 1981’s Othello, and tore it up as usual. To please his grandchildren, he took over the role of The King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse from 1987-91. Already an incredibly subversive show to begin with, the presence of freakin’ Blacula on Saturday morning pleased many trash film fans to no end! William Marshall last appeared in Dinosaur Valley Girls. That was apparently enough for him, and he has now retired from acting. Blacula is dead. Long live Blacula! by Hysteric Eric
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