Quentin Collins is the name of several characters featured in the 1966–1971 ABC cult TV Gothic horror-soap opera Dark Shadows. Variations of the character have been played by actor David Selby.
Quentin I The first Quentin Collins (David Selby) is actually the third one shown in the TV series. This version of Quentin was first introduced in episode #1109 in a storyline commonly referred to as the "1840 flashback".
In the 1840 storyline, Quentin Collins was one of two brothers living at the Gothic mansion known as Collinwood Mansion in the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine. Born in 1808, as the favorite son of his mentally troubled father Daniel Collins (Louis Edmonds), Quentin was the head of the Collins Family, and stood to inherit the entire family fortune. This position brought him into frequent conflict with his scheming brother, Gabriel (Christopher Pennock). Quentin was married to a woman named Samantha Drew (Virginia Vestoff), with whom he had a son named Tad (David Henesy).
Around 1839, Quentin had an affair with Joanna Mills (Lee Beery). After he broke off with her, he took Tad on an ocean voyage, on which Quentin became close friends with a fellow passenger, Gerard Stiles (James Storm). His wife Samantha eventually discovered the affair and secretly murdered Joanna, making it look as if she had killed herself.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1970-10-28. Episode 1132
Quentin was interested in the study of witchcraft. He was not part of a coven, but was eventually framed by Gerard, who was possessed by the spirit of the 17th-century warlock Judah Zachery (Michael McGuire) and sentenced to execution. Quentin also fancied himself an amateur inventor and used his knowledge of the occult and supernatural powers to develop a device that he called his "Stairway Through Time". He persistently labored to build his staircase in a cellar room at Collinwood. It was Quentin's belief that ascending the staircase could open a dimensional portal through which individuals could view and even interact with the future. What Quentin never realized, however, was that his staircase also created a divergent parallel reality (This functioned as the genesis for several storylines which took place in parallel universes). Quentin's devotion towards his work gave Gerard the means by which to manipulate and ultimately betray him.
In early 1840, Quentin, Tad, and Gerard had been off at sea for several months. Gerard comes back to Collinwood with the news for Samantha, that her husband and son Tad had been lost at sea.
When Samantha thought that Quentin and Tad were dead, she began spending more and more time with Gerard. Over time, they fell in love, and he asked her to marry. On the day they got married, Quentin returned. He was shocked to discover that his wife had thought him dead, and had married his best friend.
While his wife decided whom she wanted, either him or Gerard; Quentin began having an affair with his son's governess, Daphne Harridge (Kate Jackson), the sister of Quentin's former lover, Joanna Mills.
Gerard meanwhile had fallen prey to the spirit of a disembodied warlock named Judah Zachary. Judah wanted revenge against the entire Collins family for sentencing him to death for witchcraft in the late 17th century. Judah's spirit took possession of Gerard Stiles and used him as a secret weapon against the Collins family.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1970-11-03. Episode 1137 Working alongside a disreputable mortician named Lamar Trask (Jerry Lacy), who was the son of the 1790s witch hunter Reverend Trask (no known first name; also played by Lacy), Gerard convinced the local authorities that Quentin was a Satanist and that he had used his knowledge of the dark arts to murder a young woman named Lorna Bell (Marilyn Joseph), as well as his own brother-in-law, Randall Drew (Gene Lindsey). Quentin was arrested on charges of Witchcraft and murder, and taken to jail.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1970-11-30. Episode 1156 When his ailing father Daniel heard the news concerning Quentin's arrest, he changed his will, leaving the entire Collins family fortune to Gerard.
Quentin was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death by beheading. However, with the aid of Valerie Collins, who was secretly the witch Angelique Bouchard in disguise (Lara Parker), and his cousins Desmond (John Karlen) and Barnabas (Jonathan Frid), Quentin escaped being beheaded. At the last minute, Gerard was shot. At the same moment, the head of Judah burned up in front of the judge in the case. With its destruction, Gerard was free from the possession and confessed that Quentin was innocent, admitting that Judah was responsible for all the deaths. After asking Quentin for forgiveness and receiving it, Gerard died in Quentin's arms. Quentin, having been cleared of all charges, eloped with Daphne. The two left Collinsport forever to make a new life for themselves.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1971-01-26. Episode 1197
Quentin II Quentin Collins was born in 1870, in Collinsport, Maine, and had three siblings; two brothers, the elder Edward (Louis Edmonds), the younger Carl (John Karlen), and older sister Judith Collins (Joan Bennett). He was the grandson of the matriarch of Collinwood, Edith Collins (Isabella Hoopes). He had loved two children like his own, his niece and nephew, Jamison (Henesy) and Nora (Denise Nickerson). This version of Quentin was the great-nephew of the first Quentin Collins and whose lineage includes several supporting characters peppered throughout the series, including his great-grandchildren Amy (Nickerson), Chris, and Tom Jennings (Don Briscoe).
This Quentin Collins originally appeared in December 1968 as an angry, silent, malevolent spirit haunting a closed-off set of rooms in the generally uninhabited west wing of Collinwood along with the ghost of his lover Beth Chavez (Terrayne Crawford).Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1968-12-16. Episode 646 Quentin's and Beth's spirits befriended the children David Collins (Henesy) and his friend and distant cousin, Amy Jennings. David strongly resembled Jamison Collins, of whom the living Quentin had been particularly fond. Eventually, they took possession of both children and used them to serve their own interests.
In an effort to save his family, the former vampire known as Barnabas Collins used the cosmological principles of the I Ching to communicate with Quentin's ghost, but instead his spirit was sent back in time to the year 1897 (unfortunately for Barnabas, this meant his becoming a vampire once again as such was his physical state during that time period). This series of episodes is commonly referred to as the "1897 flashback."Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-03. Episode 701
Like the first Quentin, the second also was secretly involved in the occult and practiced witchcraft. He was a member of a witches' coven headed by his friend Evan Hanley (Humbert Allen Astredo), the Collins family lawyer.
In 1897, Quentin had earned himself a reputation of being the black sheep of the family — due largely in part to his marriage and subsequent abuse of a woman named Jenny (Marie Wallace). Quentin's affair with his brother Edward's wife, Laura (Diana Millay), and his running off to Egypt with Laura resulted in Jenny's going insane. While Quentin was away, Jenny gave birth to twins, a boy (unnamed in the script) and a girl named Lenore. Along with Beth Chavez, Edward and Judith conspired to keep the mad Jenny hidden from the rest of the family by imprisoning her in the tower room at Collinwood. Edward and Judith wanted to keep any knowledge of the babies from their father and the rest of the world. To that end, they gave Jenny's children to a Mrs. Fillmore (Mary Farrell) in Collinsport, who would raise the children as her own. Amy, Chris, and Tom Jennings are descended from the female child, Lenore Fillmore.
When Quentin returned from Egypt in the spring of 1897, his wife was nowhere to be found. He turned his attention to his grandmother Edith, who was ill and near death. Quentin hoped that she would leave the Collins wealth and control of Collinwood to him. When she died, in an attempt to make that hope a reality, Quentin had Jamison steal the will from the lining of Edith's coffin.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-12. Episode 708 The will left everything to Edith's favorite, Edward. Quentin was guaranteed only a room at Collinwood for the rest of his life, but given no money. So Quentin went so far as to have Evan get Sandor Rakosi (Thayer David), a local gypsy, to make a fake will.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-14. Episode 710
Quentin was being haunted by the ghost of Edith and thought that Barnabas was plotting against him. Being suspicious of his mysterious cousin "from England" and believing he would try to interfere in his plans, Quentin and Evan performed a black magic ritual asking for help to defeat their enemies. Using the innocence of his young nephew, Jamison, as a focal point, they managed to summon a powerful spirit. The ritual resurrected from Hell the powerful witch Angelique. But because of her own interest in Barnabas, Angelique wouldn't help.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-17. Episodes 709-711]
Barnabas stole the fake will and had Sandor, who was under his vampiric control, to change it, leaving everything to Judith.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-19. Episodes 713-714] Angelique warned Barnabas about Quentin's being out to destroy him. Quentin had Jamison steal Barnabas's cane, which he then used in a ritual to cause Barnabas great pain. Had Barnabas been mortal instead of a vampire, the ritual would have killed him.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-27. Episodes 719-720
Soon after, Quentin's insane wife, Jenny, escaped from the tower room and stabbed Quentin to death.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-03-28. Episode 720 Quentin possesses the body of Jamison.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-04-01. Episode 722 Barnabas, not wanting to fail at his mission to save the future Collins family from Quentin's ghost, asked Angelique to restore Quentin to life. However, Angelique was jealous of Barnabas' latest love interest, Rachel Drummond (Kathryn Leigh Scott), Jamison and Nora's governess. She turned Quentin into a zombie and had him try to take Rachel back to the grave with him.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-04-01. Episodes 722-724]
Because of Jamison's strange behavior of acting like Quentin, Edward decided to send Jamison and Nora to the Worthington Hall Boarding School operated by Reverend Gregory Trask.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-04-04. Episode 725 Barnabas tried to resurrect Quentin, but the ritual failed because Quentin wouldn't leave Jamison's body. Barnabas was, however, able to save Rachel. Reverend Trask's prayer was apparently answered when Quentin was restored to life, and Jamison was no longer possessed by Quentin, although Angelique was apparently the one that actually used her powers to remove the possession for her own reasons.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-04-07. Episode 726
After returning from the dead, Quentin had increased paranoia about the possibility of Jenny's trying to kill him again. It was at this time that Magda Rakosi (Grayson Hall) and her husband, Sandor, discovered that Jenny was still alive. It turns out that she was Magda's sister, a gypsy. None of the Collins family had known that she was a gypsy, so it was a shock to Judith, Edward, and the rest of the family.Dark Shadows. Dan Curtis. ABC. 1969-05-02. Episode 745