Dark Shadows character profile: Stokes/Sandor/Petofi

Here's a versatile character if there ever was one. Another underrated actor who brought a variety of characters to Dark Shadows. Thayer David primarily played different versions of a man named Stokes and he was one of the strongest supporting characters on the show.

He was introduced in the 1795 story line that showcases the history of Barnabas Collins. We figured he may not have had a name, or at least not a last name, until they wrote his first scene. The first thing you see Ben doing is stoking a fire. Ben... Stokes?  It makes me smile. Ben is an uneducated servant of the Collins family. This story was the pivot point for transforming Barnabas from an evil villain to a tragic hero as it details how he was turned into a vampire through a series of unfortunate events. The character of Ben contributed strongly to Barnabas' new image as a good guy because he was loyal to him from beginning to end.  Barnabas didn't need to bite him to make him his slave after he was changed. Ben served him willingly out of friendship and admiration. Later on they would make Willy Loomis the same way, at least in the unaltered 1970 timeline.

Some video to display David's acting ability. You can believe he's only an ignorant servant from a simpler time. Naturally, with charisma like that, they couldn't just leave him when the story was over. But they put in a provision for that... you see, not only was Ben loyal to Barnabas, Barnabas was a kindly master who loved Ben and taught him to read and write. His diary of events was key in beginning this storyline.

When they returned to 1970, it wasn't long before you got to meet Ben's descendant - Timothy Eliot Stokes. A professor. From an ignorant servant, to an academic who specializes, of course, in the supernatural. It was so very fitting. When they brought Julia in, they quickly let her in on Barnabas's secret. I think they wanted another intellectual character that was never to know what Barnabas was, although it seems hard to believe he could never have guessed.

Scholarly and erudite, he's the polar opposite of Ben Stokes and he was caught up in several of the present day storylines including the Dream Curse and the plight of Adam (the Frankenstein story.) He was also needed to breach into the past again with his E-Ching wands after Quentin Collins was introduced. He had all of the answers and fixes and helped solve all the mysteries even though he was left shamefully in the dark about why his expertise was needed. You can see some of that resentment in his typically arrogant, but friendly manner as he interacts with the partners in crime, Barnabas and Julia.

But his characters weren't limited to the Stokes family. He spent a brief time in the transitional character of Sandor Rakosi. He and Grayson Hall got to don black wigs, darker skin, and indeterminate Eastern European accents as they played a gypsy couple that Barnabas presses into his service. Sandor is kind of a silly drunk and also a bitten servant, so he doesn't serve Barnabas willingly as Magda does. He doesn't play this role for very long, but it's memorable all the same. Both characters needed to be killed off quickly. Julia was to rejoin Barnabas in this timeline, while Sandor had to be scrapped to bring in the best villain they ever had on the show.

With the introduction of Count Petofi, Dark Shadows was at it's peak. Who knew having an old man in a curly wig with tinted glasses could be so profound and terrifying? The video isn't a good display of his villainy, but it just shows how David made each of his characters unique.  To distinguish from his Stokes characters, he makes his voice raspy when portraying Petofi. It was a nice effect.

He is a powerful worker of dark magic and has a magic severed hand that he is reunited with to give him unlimited powers. He possesses many of the characters and is cruel to his henchman.

He is nigh undefeatable and it takes all of the primary characters working in conjunction to overcome his threat. His death was also left vague and open ended, but they never brought him back. Maybe a mistake... or maybe not since they didn't know how to deal with original plotlines. The return of Petofi may have been a bomb.

He graced the two Dark Shadows television movies as well. He's one of best actors of the show. Here's to Stokes!