Carolyn Stoddard was born and brought up in Collinwood with her mother, Elizabeth. Her father, Paul Stoddard, had left six months before she was born and never returned, prompting her mother to remain inside Collinwood for the next eighteen years.

Carolyn never liked living at Collinwood, often referring to it as a dungeon or a prison. When she was ten-years-old, she used to dream that a white knight would come and rescue her.

She met Joe Haskell when they were kids and they would eventually become sweethearts.

For her sixteenth birthday, Carolyn received a birthstone ring from her uncle Roger which she wore on her right hand.

Elizabeth's first choice for Carolyn to marry was Joe, but Carolyn could never decide if she wanted to marry him because she was afraid to leave her mother. Joe figured that Carolyn's uncertainty stemmed from a fear of her own marriage having the same result as her mother's.

Carolyn was known as "Kitten" to her uncle Roger and "Princess" to Bill Malloy. She liked little yellow roses and she drove her own car. Her favorite hangout was the Blue Whale.

       

Carolyn Stoddard was played by ever-beautiful Nancy Barrett.

Born October 5th in Shreveport, Louisiana, Nancy Barrett's family ended up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. As children, Nancy and her sister Martha used to put on plays in their backyard.

Nancy attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas for the first two years of college. There, she began to dabble in acting.

After her second year at Baylor, Nancy and two friends spent a summer in Los Angeles. She fell in love with the city and transferred to UCLA, where she graduated a year later.

After graduation, she moved to New York and did stage work. In 1966, she joined the cast of Dark Shadows, in the role of Carolyn Stoddard.

After Dark Shadows was cancelled, Nancy spent a year on The Doctors. After six years on soap operas, she decided it was time to quit.

She married Dr. Harold Kaplan, a New York psychologist, and was out of acting for a year. During that time, Nancy enrolled at Hunter College in Manhattan and took classes in biology and organic chemistry. Her education was put on hold when she got a phone call from Dark Shadows writer Sam Hall.

Sam was now writing for One Life to Life, and he convinced Nancy to take a role which he said would only last a month. The part ended up lasting a year and a half. But Nancy was enjoying her return to acting.

Nancy's husband, Dr. Harold I. Kaplan, died on January 15, 1998. Afterwards, she began a new phase in her career -- cabaret performance. In May 1999, Nancy returned to Seaview Terrace, which was used as the exterior of Collinwood on Dark Shadows. She was there to film a documentary about the making of Dark Shadows. The documentary was released by MPI video.

Nancy Barrett starred in Dark Shadows for the entire run of the series. Today, she lives in New York City, and is enjoying a vocal career.