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Elizabeth Collins Stoddard Gallery
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
Production Information
Portrayed by

Joan Bennett

First appearance

1

Last appearance

1198

Episode count

264

Biographical Information
Name

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

Also known as

Liz

Age

32 (1949)
54 (1971)

Date of birth

February 28, 1917

Year of death

2003

Origin

Maine, New England, USA

Profession

Owner of Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery
Mistress of Collinwood

Family members

Carolyn Stoddard (Daughter)
Victoria Winters (Daughter)
Jamison Collins (Father)
Catherine Collins (Mother)
Roger Collins (Brother)
Paul Stoddard (Husband)
David Collins (Nephew, uncle)

We have 9 images of Dark Shadows Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
This article is about the matriarch of the Collins Family in main time band. For her equivalent in Parallel Time, see Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (PT).

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (b. Feb. 28, 1917 (267) was the matriarch of the Collins family in the 1960s and owner of Collinwood and the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery. She was the mother of Carolyn Stoddard.


Biography[]

Childhood[]

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was born on February 28, 1917, to Jamison and Catherine Collins (267). Her mother died when Elizabeth was eight, while giving birth to Roger in 1925 (A Collinwood Christmas). . When she turned eighteen, she received an emerald pin by her great grandmother (208). In the early 1940s, Elizabeth hired a young Bill Malloy to work as a deckhand to on one of her father's boats , she later became his friend (19, 50)

Marriage to Paul[]

In the 1940s, Elizabeth Collins meet a con artist, Paul Stoddard and two later got married (84). Through Paul, she met his friend, Jason McGuire.

Her father, Jamison Collins (643), died in the mid-1940s and Elizabeth cried for days (17). In July 16, 1946 her daughter Carolyn Stoddard was born (267

271b

Elizabeth Knocking Paul Stoddard unconscious in 1949.

In 1949, Elizabeth attacked her husband Paul Stoddard with a poker, Jason McGuire told her he was dead, and buried his body in the basement, but actually he really fled with him. The two would later lose contact in Hong Kong.

Interim Years[]

In the following years, Elizabeth became a recluse, remaining at the  house until he returned (271). The same day, Elizabeth fired the entire staff of servants at Collinwood—maids, chauffeur, gardener—and brought on Matthew Morgan, a cannery worker, to be the sole caretaker and do all of the heavy work around the house (6).

In 1957, Roger testified against Burke Devlin in court sending him to prison. Afterwards, Roger agreed to leave Collinsport and Elizabeth sent him money every month in return. Despite promising never to come back, Roger returned to live at Collinwood ten years later with his son David (10).

Elizabeth was very fond of David and saw him as the heir apparent to the family business. When his mother Laura returned, she was reluctant to let him go with her (134, 135).

Business and  finances[]

Elizabeth retained ownership of the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery in the early 1960's (8). Ned Calder managed the business for fifteen years  when he decided to resign. His resignation came immediately following Elizabeth's rejection of his offer of marriage (39, 44). She told him she hoped she would never see him again and he moved away to Portland to work at another job (39). Elizabeth had hoped that Roger would take over as manager, but instead Bill Malloy, a friend of hers for over twenty-five years, was promoted to fill the position (8, 44, 50). 

Liz made all of the important decisions with the business, speaking with Malloy every morning (8). He also came up to see her at Collinwood once a week (1). 

The east wing of Collinwood was closed off around 1916, and most of the house fell into disuse (2). Elizabeth successfully petitioned to have the property tax reduced due to most of the house being closed. The house was more of a liability than an asset and by 1967, it was the only Collins-owned property without a mortgage (42).

John Harris in Bangor managed all of the family banking. He and Elizabeth knew each other for a long time, though she hadn't met with him at all from 1963 until 1967. The creation of the trust fund made money very tight as Elizabeth had tied up most of her assets to purchase Roger's side of the company. This was a weakness that Burke Devlin had planned to exploit (44).

The Collins legal affairs were handled by Garner and Garner, a Bangor law firm headed up by Richard Garner and Frank Garner (92, 94).

Victoria Winters[]

In 1966, Elizabeth hired Victoria Winters from New York to come and be a governess and companion for David (1). She told Carolyn that she brought Vicki there to give her (Carolyn) a chance to get married and leave Collinwood (8).

Victoria was extremely curious about why she was chosen to tutor David, but Elizabeth was very vague about it, merely saying someone recommended her (6). Eventually, Liz forced Roger to play along and tell Vicki that an anonymous donor to the Hammond Foundling Home had recommended her (25).

Return of Jason McGuire[]

0197a

In 1967, Jason McGuire returned to Collinwood and began blackmailing Elizabeth over the murder of her husband. Eventually he tried to force her to marry him, but she first attempted suicide, on the night before her wedding (269), and then at the ceremony, she broke down and told the whole story to everyone, including the police (270). It was then revealed that Elizabeth did not kill Paul Stoddard that night, but only knocked him unconscious. Jason claimed he and Paul split the money Paul was trying to steal from Liz and they told her Jason buried Paul in the basement. The only person to which she confided the "homicide" was Vicki Winters, a few days before the wedding (259), but she kept the secret, as asked of her.

Later, when Paul returned to Collinsport, he claimed that Jason blackmailed him about stealing from Liz and took all the money himself. Liz could not find out which one was telling the truth. 

The Spell[]

On top of everything that Mrs. Stoddard was dealing with, the vengeful witch Angelique Bouchard Collins, who had married Barnabas Collins long ago, was hexing, killing, and terrorizing people and making people see things, the most unforgettable being her spell spoken right into a sherry one day that Mrs. Collins drank which makes Mrs. Collins continually think of and dream of her death for a long period of time.

The curse that Cassandra placed on Elizabeth ends after Carolyn was almost killed by the werewolf, Chris Jennings. The origin of the curse is also explained in that, Barnabas, Julia, and Carolyn finally know the truth. (672)

Final Fate[]

In 1971, Elizabeth found Barnabas Collins, Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Professor T. Eliot Stokes in the drawing room after their return from the year 1840. Changed by the trio's adventure in the past, Elizabeth had no memory of the hauntings by Gerard Stiles and Daphne Harridge. She chided the group for being late to the opening of a new Historical Center, at which Roger Collins was speaking that evening. Elizabeth offered to drive her friends to the event, and commented that it had been a peaceul, enjoyable winter (1198).

Elizabeth continued to manage the Collins business for David to inherit, In 2003, when she died she had a will, which revealed that Victoria Winters was her illegitimate daughter. 

Appearances[]

1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37*, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 63, 64, 65, 66, 70, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 91, 93, 96, 97, 98, 104, 105, 107, 108, 111, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 127, 129, 130, 132, 134, 135, 140, 143, 144, 146, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 158, 160, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 203, 205, 206, 208, 210, 211, 212, 213, 216, 218, 220, 223, 224, 228, 238, 242, 243, 244, 246, 249, 252, 254, 257, 259, 262, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 275, 277, 278, 280, 281, 282, 287, 298, 300, 301, 302, 324, 325, 326, 327, 330, 331, 335, 337, 338, 339, 344, 345, 348, 350, 351, 354, 356, 364, 365, 461, 463, 467, 471, 473, 474, 491, 495, 501, 502, 504, 506, 513, 514, 516, 519, 520, 569, 570, 571, 576, 577, 603, 604, 610, 614, 617, 624, 625, 626, 629, 637, 638, 639, 641, 642, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652/653, 655, 671, 672, 679, 680, 681, 685, 686, 689, 691, 692, 767, 694, 891, 894/895, 899, 902, 903, 904, 906, 907, 908, 910, 911, 913/914, 916, 917, 918, 929, 936, 941, 945, 946, 952, 956, 958, 963, 966, 968, 969, 970, 971, 972, 976, 977, 980, 1007, 1071, 1073, 1074, 1080, 1086, 1088, 1089, 1094, 1095, 1198

*Sobbing is heard, but Elizabeth is not seen.
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