 |
|
| Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (2012) | |
|---|---|
| Production Information | |
| Portrayed by | |
| Appearance | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Name |
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard |
| Origin |
Collinsport, Maine, USA |
| Profession |
Mistress of Collinwood, owner of Collinwood Canning Company |
| Species |
Human |
| Family |
Roger Collins (brother) |
| We have 117 images of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (2012) | |
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is the formidable matriarch of the Collins family in 1972. She is portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer.
Biography
By the time of 1972, Elizabeth is dealing with the continued decay of the Collins Canning Company, severe financial problems, her rebellious daughter Carolyn, her basically-useless brother Roger, and her young nephew David, who believes he can communicate with the spirit of his late mother. Concerned that David is unable to cope with his mother's sudden death, Elizabeth hires a live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman, to stay with them for a month and help David accept his mother's passing. Dr. Hoffman ends up staying for three years.
After a string of David's governesses quit, Elizabeth accepts the application of Victoria Winters. During the interview, Elizabeth asks Victoria questions about the president, the Vietnam war, and feminism. She is pleased with Victoria's artfully oblique answers and welcomes her to the family, possibly indicating that Elizabeth is wary of adding someone to the household who is overly opinionated on such subjects.
One evening, she catches Carolyn and David talking to a strange pale man who has barged into their home as if he owns the place. Understandably suspicious, she orders the children to get away from him before taking him to her office. Thinking him to be yet another conman claiming to be able to free the Collinses from their so-called "family curse" in exchange for a large sum of money, she surreptitiously holds a dagger-like letter opener behind her back, just in case. However, the man instead claims to be Barnabas Collins, an ancestor born in the eighteenth century. Of course, Elizabeth is extremely doubtful. But she is forced to admit that no one knows how exactly Barnabas died and is impressed that the man knows about various secret compartments in the manor. But she is at last convinced that Barnabas is who he says he is when he unlocks a secret passageway that she herself never knew about. She is amazed to find that it leads to a sizable treasure trove, which Barnabas assures her he intends to use to restore the Collins family fortunes.
However, if Barnabas is truly her ancestor, he must be over two hundred years old. And indeed, he explains that he is no longer human; he has been cursed with vampirism. He is greatly greived by his situation, and assures her with the utmost sincerity that he will not harm anyone in the Collins family. Stunned with disbelief, Elizabeth is nonetheless unable to deny the truth of his statements, nor the fact that he possesses knowledge that only the real Barnabas Collins would know. She accepts him into the family on one condition: both the hidden wealth and his vampirism are to remain secrets between the two of them.
Elizabeth introduces Barnabas to the other residents of Collinwood as a distant relative from England. Yet at Barnabas's first meal with the family, it becomes clear that Elizabeth is far more concerned that he his with keeping his curse a secret. Whenever he says something odd, such as claiming that the touch of silver would burn him, Elizabeth must quickly think up a rational explanation.
To Elizabeth's distaste, Collinwood is soon visited by Angie Bouchard, the owner of Angel Bay Seafood, the very company that is driving the Collins out of business. Angie claims she is visiting on behalf of the town to welcome their newest resident, Barnabas, who soon comes down to the foyer to meet their visitor. After meeting privately with Angie, an alarmed Barnabas informs Elizabeth that Angie is none other than Angelique, the witch who cursed him into being a vampire in the first place.
Hypnotized by the family's resident psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman, Barnabas confesses both his vampirism and Elizabeth's knowledge of it. Confronted by a horrified and half-inebriated Julia, Elizabeth is able to persuade the doctor not to go to the authorities. She asks her to show loyalty to the Collins family, but more importantly manages to appeal to her scientific curiosity, suggesting that as a scientist Julia should find Barnabas "fascinating." This (along with her own mistakes in judgment) proves a fateful decision for Julia.
When the family fishing business is restored through Barnabas' efforts, Elizabeth is depicted proudly posing with other family members for photographers at the cannery's reopening. When she learns from Barnabas that the rival fishing business in Collinsport, Angel Bay, has in fact prospered to the Collins' detriment through the same witchcraft that cursed Barnabas with vampirism, she urges him, "Fight on, Barnabas, fight on!"
In the climactic battle between the witch Angelique Bouchard and the Collins clan, the family business is burned and the conflict moves to Collinwood, with Angelique at the head of an angry mob of townspeople. Elizabeth comes to Barnabas' aid against his longtime nemesis with a shotgun and repeatedly blasts "Angie," but to minimal effect. In retaliation, Angelique uses her magical abilities to bring Collinwood itself into the attack against Elizabeth and the others. Portraits leak blood, banisters become serpents, and carved images spring to life against the Collinses.
In the course of this special-effects-laden domestic battle, which ends with Collinwood aflame but Angelique ultimately defeated, Elizabeth is horrified to learn that her daughter Carolyn has also been cursed by Angelique, as a werewolf, and that her deceased sister-in-law (David's mother), Laura Collins, also had been killed as a result of Angelique's curse on the family.
As Collinwood burns behind the family in Elizabeth's final scene in the film, she is asked what the family will do now. She proclaims, "We'll do what we have always done ... We will endure."
Trivia
- Two of Elizabeth's hobbies are alluded to in the film: Macrame and badminton. In at least one scene, she wears macrame earrings, and two of the smaller secret rooms built off the drawing room are revealed to serve as storage for her finished macrame projects and her badminton racquets and gear.
- In a previous motion picture, Wolf, Michelle Pfeiffer played a werewolf. She was also a big fan of the original series.