Diana Millay Passes On

Diana Millay, who played Laura Collins on the classic soap opera Dark Shadows, died on January 8 2021 at the age of 85.

Diana Millay was born on June 7 1935 in Rye, New York. She was a child model for the Montgomery Ward catalogue. She was later a model for John Robert Powers's modelling agency. During summer vacations in high school, she appeared in summer stock productions.

Diana Millay made her television debut on Star Tonight in 1955. In the Fifties she guest starred on the shows The Investigator, Omnibus, Father Knows Best, The Westerner, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Lock Up, The Aquanauts, Stagecoach West, Dobie Gillis, Maverick, Michael Shayne, Thriller, The Rifleman, and The Tab Hunter Show. She appeared in the movie Street of Sinners (1957). She made her debut on Broadway in the play Fair Game in 1957. She also appeared in the production Drink to Me Only.

In 1966 Diana Millay was cast as Laura Collins on the soap opera Dark Shadows. She would be the first supernatural character on the show, pre-dating even the vampire Barnabas Collins. Laura Collins was actually an immortal entity known as the Phoenix that burns to death every 100 years only to be reborn. After the "Laura Collins the Phoenix" storyline ended, Diana Millay continued to appear on the show, playing different Laura Collinses through the ages. She guest starred on the shows The Tab Hunter Show, The Americans, Dante, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Whispering Smith, Hawaiian Eye, Route 66, The New Breed, King of Diamonds, Target: The Corruptors,  Laramie, The Dick Powell Show, Wagon Train, Tales of Wells Fargo,  My Three Sons, The United States Steel Hour, Rawhide, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Redigo, Temple Houston, 77 Sunset Strip, The Eleventh Hour, Arrest and Trial, The Virginian, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. She appeared in the film Tarzan and the Great River (1967). She appeared on Broadway in Boeing-Boeing.

In the early Seventies she continued to appear on Dark Shadows. She had a recurring role on the soap opera Secret Storm in 1971. She also appeared in the movie Night of Dark Shadows (1971).

Diana Millay also wrote the books I'd Rather Eat Than Act, The Power of Halloween, and How to Create Good Luck.

Diana Millay appeared frequently on television in the Fifties and Sixties, precisely because she was capable of playing a wide variety of characters. It can be little wonder why she was cast as Laura Collins, a role that by its very nature was demanding. Prior to the "Laura Collins the Phoenix" storyline Dark Shadows was a Gothic soap opera. With the "Laura Collins the Phoenix" story arc it became a supernatural soap opera. Had Diana Millay not excelled in the role of Laura Collins, it's very possible that Dark Shadows might not have continued its path to becoming a supernatural soap opera. That means we might never have been introduced to Barnabas Collins, but it might never have been the success that it was.