Barbara Blackburn as Carolyn Stoddard
Carolyn Stoddard was the flirty daughter of Collinwood matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. In 1991, she became a victim of vampire Barnabas Collins, becoming his eyes and ears (and occasionally hands) in the outside world.
Biography[]
Carolyn Stoddard lived at Collinwood and helped the family raise her cousin David. Carolyn was eager for a governess to arrive at Collinwood to provide more help, but joked that she pitied Victoria Winters because of David's disturbing pranks. Carolyn boasted to have tried everything but "a whip and a chair," to improve the boy's behavior herself, and added that she hoped Victoria would make that effort. Carolyn greeted Victoria as a friend and began calling her "Vicki." She offered Victoria the use of her horse, also named Carolyn, to unwind the governess after David tormented her (1).
Carolyn accompanied her mother to the hospital to see her cousin Daphne Collins, who had been attacked under mysterious circumstances. Carolyn was unaware that Barnabas Collins, an ancestor from the 18th century, had been released into the 20th century and had attacked Daphne. Carolyn witnessed the results of another attack when a couple at a roadhouse in town was attacked. Carolyn had been dancing and drinking at the same bar and stayed with the crowd to watch the police take the bodies away. She recognized the dead man as a rude stranger who had flirted with her in the bar earlier that evening (1).
Barnabas Collins arrived at Collinwood and presented himself as a cousin from England. Carolyn was particularly taken with Barnabas' resemblance to the portrait of the 18th century Barnabas Collins. She informed Barnabas of David's friend Sarah, a little girl the child claimed lived at the Old House on the property (1).
Carolyn stayed by Daphne's side as she recovered at Collinwood (2), and following Daphne's death, she did the same for Joe Haskell (2, 3). She later visited Joe at his boat and attempted to seduce the fisherman, but he resisted her advances for the afternoon (5).
The next day, and at her mother's request, Carolyn visited the Old House on the day of the Collins costume party to make sure that Barnabas was attending. She found, instead, that he had aged to a two-hundred-year-old man. Barnabas attacked her and forced Carolyn under his control (5). When she returned to Collinwood, Carolyn did not even take notice of David when he jumped out from behind some laundry to frighten her. Carolyn assisted Barnabas in tormenting Dr. Julia Hoffman, and the two visibly conspired against the doctor during the costume party. Carolyn also ignored Joe that evening, confusing the man she had attempted to seduce the previous day (6).
As the party died down, the remaining guests played with a Quja board and attempted to learn the identity of the vampire. Carolyn, to protect Barnabas, hurled herself at the game board and disrupted the entire evening, shouting her shock that the group was taking the game seriously (6). That night, Barnabas fed from her again, as he would continue to do with regularity (6, 8, 10).
The next day, Carolyn went into the village with Joe and demanded that he buy her an old apothecary case from an antique shop. Carolyn tried to use the poison to murder Julia Hoffman by putting some in a cup of tea and serving it to the doctor. Her plans were ruined when David refused to allow Julia to drink the poisoned tea. Carolyn angrily escorted David to his room, and David commented that she had been acting unusual lately. That night, Barnabas attempted to have Carolyn stab Julia while she slept, but Julia was prepared and used a dummy in her bed to fool Carolyn. She found the tell-tale fang marks on Carolyn's neck (6).
When a séance was held to contact David's friend Sarah, Carolyn seemed unable to functionally participate in the ritual. Barnabas had to prod her to place her hands on the table (6).
Joe eventually discovered the marks on Carolyn's neck and followed her to Eagle Hill Cemetery, where he witnessed Barnabas attack her (10).
Notes[]
- Barbara Blackburn is credited as a regular for the entire series, but she only appears in the first ten episodes. Her 1790 character, Millicent Collins, also appears for the last time in Episode 10.