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"There's a lot of things we deserve but never get. And there's things we get but don't deserve." - Willie Loomis

Willie Loomis Gallery
Willie Loomis
Production Information
Portrayed by

James Hall
John Karlen

First appearance

199

Last appearance

1106

Episode count

117

Audio appearances

Return to Collinwood
The House of Despair
The Book of Temptation
The Christmas Presence
The Rage Beneath
Kingdom of the Dead
Echoes of Insanity
The Night Whispers
Bloodlust
Bloodline

Biographical Information
Name

William Hollingshead Loomis

Also known as

Willie

Age

37 (1970)

Date of birth

1933

Origin

Brooklyn, New York

Profession

Con Man/ Thrall/ Servant

Family members

Unnamed father (deceased)
Unnamed mother (deceased)

We have 5 images of Dark Shadows Willie Loomis

William “Willie” Hollingshead Loomis (born 1933) was a young, unscrupulous con artist that arrived in Collinsport in 1967 with his friend, Jason McGuire. Life changed drastically for Willie, however, after coming into contact with the vampire known as Barnabas Collins.

(In parallel time, he was known as William Loomis.)

Childhood[]

Willie Loomis was born in 1933, in the suburbs of Brooklyn, New York. He had a volatile relationship with his mother and, according to Jason, carried his security blanket till he was 19 years old (207). By his late teens, Willie became a delinquent, having been sent to prison, multiple times. (237)

Arrival to Collinsport[]

In the early 1960s, Willie developed close ties with an unscrupulous con artist named Jason McGuire. They traveled the world getting up to various (and illegal) shenanigans. During their time together, they ran scam’s in every port they landed in, including Singapore and Jamaica. After Jamaica, their luck ran out, and the two soon went broke.

0207

Willie threatening to fight Burke in the Blue Whale

Arriving on boat in the town of Collinsport, Maine, Willie originally stayed in a motel for a few weeks. Willie frequently got himself into trouble because of his belligerent nature and affinity for harassment. Joe Haskell, Burke Devlin and Maggie Evans were particularly subject to his behavior (203, 204, 207). He was involved with Jason's scheme to blackmail reclusive matriarch of the estate, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

Jason eventually convinced Elizabeth to let Willie stay at Collinwood. Liz wanted nothing to do with the violent young man, but Jason forced her to consent (203). Almost immediately, Willie began harassing Elizabeth’s daughter, Carolyn, and the governess, Vicki. Carolyn was even forced to threaten Willie with a gun in order to protect herself (204). Burke Devlin volunteered to usher Willie out of town, but Willie had no intention of leaving. The two finally came to blows at the Blue Whale, and Burke slapped him down to the floor (205, 207).

During his stay at Collinwood, Willie took notice of a portrait of a Collins ancestor named Barnabas Collins (205). The image of Barnabas showed him wearing fine jewelry, and Willie began to wonder what may have become of the antique gems. The Collins family housekeeper, Sarah Johnson, told Willie a legend about an ancestor named Naomi Collins, who was allegedly buried in the Collins family mausoleum with all of her jewelry (211). This sparked Willie’s interest greatly, and he enacted a scheme to acquire the Collins family jewels for himself without alerting his "good friend", Jason McGuire (209).

The Vampire[]

0210

Willie opening Barnabas’ coffin in 1967

In 1967, Willie broke into the Collins family mausoleum. In an effort to disinter the remains of Naomi Collins, he inadvertently discovered a secret room in the rear of the crypt. Inside was a single coffin wrapped in large, heavy chains. Willie removed the chains and opened the coffin. Rather than a cache of jewelry, however, Willie found the vampire Barnabas Collins (210). Barnabas attacked Willie and made him his unwilling servant. Willie eventually made his way to the Blue Whale, gravely ill. Jason dragged him back to Collinwood, where his condition worsened as a result of having large quantities of blood drained from his body (215-216). Willie's traumatic experience left him deeply remorseful, and he offered genuine apologies to Burke, Carolyn, and Vicki (215, 216, 220).

After a falling out with Jason, Willie then moved into the Old House with Barnabas. Barnabas then began to force Willie to bring a calf for him to feed on. (220, 224)

Barnabas began to obsess over Maggie Evans (221). Willie tried to prevent Barnabas from kidnapping Maggie by anonymously tipping Vicki about her whereabouts, but Barnabas suspected Willie’s betrayal and beat him brutally with his cane (230). Barnabas soon succeeded in kidnapping her and made her believe she was his long-lost love, Josette (235). She soon remembered who she was and attempted to stab Barnabas in his coffin, but Willie, under the influence of Barnabas, stopped her (250). While in the basement alone by Barnabas' coffin, she again tried to stake him, but he awakened and stopped her. Willie intervened before the enraged Barnabas could kill Maggie, declaring that Barnabas would have to kill him first. Barnabas chose to instead lock her in a cell (251). Willie eventually discovered that Barnabas planned to do away with Maggie, and in an attempt to free her from her doom, he put poison in a glass of milk and told her she could choose it as a less violent death (260).

When Maggie escaped from Barnabas and was sent to Windcliff Sanitarium, Willie (along with the rest of Collinsport), believed her to be dead and he felt responsible (264).

With the help of Sarah Collins' ghost, Maggie escaped from Windcliff and returned to Collinsport (294). Barnabas became afraid that she might remember what happened to her, despite Julia Hoffman's assurances (296, 322). When Maggie and her father, Sam Evans, decided to pretend that Maggie's memory was returning in order to trap the kidnapper, Barnabas became desperate and told Willie of his plans to kill Maggie (321). Not wanting Maggie to die, he went to her house to warn her about Barnabas. In trying to get into her bedroom, he inadvertently sprung the trap meant for the kidnapper, was shot five times in the back, and fell into a coma (322).

Barnabas and Julia decided to use Willie as the scapegoat for Maggie's kidnapping, and planted evidence to convince Sherriff Patterson of his guilt (328). Barnabas planned to kill Willie, but when Willie awoke, he had gone insane and was sent to Windcliff (329). He later returned from Windcliff, but as a result of the trauma, he remained unhinged (483). Willie also developed a hatred for Joe Haskell, because Joe was Maggie's boyfriend (497, 514).

Despite his trauma, he eventually proved himself invaluable to Barnabas, going to great lengths to protect his secret. Julia had released Willie from Windcliff under the condition that he resume working as Barnabas’s servant, with his cooperation ensured by their threats to have him recommitted as ‘a patient without cure’ (484, 494, 500, 560). Despite this treatment, Willie began to consider Barnabas and Julia Hoffman his friends, bravely facing various dangers with them despite his fears, such as releasing Barnabas after he had been immured by the ghost of Trask, despite his terror of the spirit (516).

Willie’s internment in Windcliff and the general belief that he was Maggie’s kidnapper made him a target for rumors, and he became known as ‘Mad Willie Loomis’ by the townsfolk (The House of Despair, The Christmas Presence). The people of Collinsport had never forgotten the reputation Willie had earned when he’d first come to town, but Willie didn’t blame them because he believed it was what he deserved (Kingdom of the Dead).

When Maggie Evans finally (and permanently) regained the lost memories of her abduction (Kingdom of the Dead), Barnabas demanded that Willie decide once and for all where his loyalties lay. Despite fearing Barnabas's retribution, Willie chose to protect Maggie. He then for the first time confronted Barnabas about their past, telling him that it had been impossible for them to truly be friends because Willie was his slave.

Relationships[]

Little is known of his relationship with Jason before coming to Collinsport.

Due to mental and physical abuse by Barnabas at the Old House, Willie's personality changed and he became a much more sensitive person. Eventually they came to respect each other despite their torturous past.

After his release from Windcliff, Willie met and fell in love with a girl named Roxanne. Very little is known about her. Although they were engaged to be married, the relationship ended shortly after his return to Collinwood.

Maggie Evans was among the few to believe that Willie hadn't been her kidnapper, and in the years preceding and during the Big Finish Audio Dramas, she and Willie developed a close friendship.

In later years, according to the Big Finish Audio Dramas, he marries Jessica Griffin.

Trivia[]

  • Willie had a fondness for foreign cigarettes (216).
  • Although he kept it a secret, his middle name was Hollingshead (972).
  • His first name was originally scripted as Chris.
  • Bruises easily...clearly. (230
  • His ancestor from the 18th century is supposedly Alfred Loomis, since they have the same name (Bloodline Episode Twelve).

Appearances[]

199, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206207208, 209, 210211, 215216217219220221222224230, 232234237238239243245247248250251253254255, 256258260264274275276277278279280282286287, 289291293300301304305310311312314316319320, 321322328, 329483484485493494497498500502503506, 514515516522531536537540, 552560561562564566, 570574582583584587588589590593598599616621, 666667696956957, 970, 971, 9721099110011051106

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