David Selby

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Birthday:

5 February 1941, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

Birth Name:

David Lynn Selby

Height:

188 cm

Actor David Selby, highly regarded for his villainous work on both daytime and nighttime soap classics, was born in Morgantown, West Virginia. He attended West Virginia University and graduated with both B.S. and M.A. degrees from West Virginia University, then earned a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Following many years on the stock stage (from 1961), David finally attracted infamous attention when he signed on as Quentin Collins, a werewolf, on the gothic daytime drama "Dark Shadows" in 1968. He inherited heartthrob status briefly with the role and even recorded two songs during the show's run, "Quentin's Theme" and "I Wanna Dance With You." After the series' demise, he made his movie debut with Night of Dark Shadows (1971), the second film based on the cult series. He broached top film stardom in the early 1970s after co-starring with Barbra Streisand in Up the Sandbox (1972) and Ron Leibman in The Super Cops (1974), and continued his high-profiled pace with New York theatre productions of "The Heiress" (1976), with Jane Alexander and Richard Kiley, and "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" (1976) with Betsy Palmer, but things didn't quite pan out. In the 1980s, however, steady TV work helped put an extra shot of adrenalin back into David's career, notably as the cunning Richard Channing on the nighttime soap "Falcon Crest," a role he played from 1982 until 1990. David has graced most of the popular series over the years including "The Waltons," "Police Woman," "Kojak," "Family," "Touched by an Angel," and "Ally McBeal." He has also appeared sporadically in white-collar film support with roles in Dying Young (1991), White Squall (1996) and Surviving Christmas (2004) to his credit. David continues to perform on stage as well. He portrayed Abraham Lincoln in his own play "Lincoln and James" in 1997 and 1998, and penned the play "Final Assault" which premiered in 2003. He is a staple player in radio drama with the L.A. Theatre Works these days. David and longtime wife Chip have three children. Show less «

I think family is very important in West Virginia and has long been so because the mountains made travel difficult in the past, and family m...Show more »

I think family is very important in West Virginia and has long been so because the mountains made travel difficult in the past, and family members had to depend on each other. Show less «

[on differentiating 2 separate Falcon Crest (1981) characters, and of his on- and off-screen friendship with Jane Wyman, who played Angela C...Show more »

[on differentiating 2 separate Falcon Crest (1981) characters, and of his on- and off-screen friendship with Jane Wyman, who played Angela Channing]: They fought each other on, and they delighted it. They relished those fights; and boy, we could do it! I loved Jane Wyman, she epitomized for me, everything that meant to be professional. Show less «

[When Tell Me You Love Me (2007) was expecting to be canceled]: But I had no idea that they were going to pull the plug so quickly.

I did a lot of personal appearances because I was under contract to ABC.

[on his Falcon Crest (1981) character]: Richard Channing is a wonderful character. He was a strong character. He could go out of various sit...Show more »

[on his Falcon Crest (1981) character]: Richard Channing is a wonderful character. He was a strong character. He could go out of various situations. Show less «

[When responded about how he got along well with the Falcon Crest (1981) cast, esp. Jane Wyman, who played Angela Channing]: All of the peop...Show more »

[When responded about how he got along well with the Falcon Crest (1981) cast, esp. Jane Wyman, who played Angela Channing]: All of the people. I enjoyed working with all of them. Jane Wyman, Jane was wonderful,... Susan Sullivan, so many of the people... and I got to play with so many, like Kim Novak, some of the old stars, Lana Turner, Gina Lollobrigida, Leslie Caron. It was quite wonderful. Show less «

[Of Falcon Crest (1981)'s downfall, beginning in 1988]: I think what happened in this show is there were too many changes of producers and w...Show more »

[Of Falcon Crest (1981)'s downfall, beginning in 1988]: I think what happened in this show is there were too many changes of producers and writers. Now that is my opinion. And they lost focus. Another person comes in and has an idea: 'Well, I think the show should go in this direction or in that direction,' - whatever. I don't know; maybe, the ratings of that time demanded changes. Of course, now they [the network] would love to have the ratings [of that time]! I obviously did not like her [Susan's] being written off the show. And there were several instances like that. So in a way, I thought the show lost focus the last season, maybe the last couple of years. Especially the last season went into a totally different direction. Show less «

I liked the idea that Channing had found some kind of peace in his life and that he was able to make the turn - towards the light, I mean yo...Show more »

I liked the idea that Channing had found some kind of peace in his life and that he was able to make the turn - towards the light, I mean you have a choice, you have a life. We all do. And you have to pay attention to those choices - architecture, lawyer, whatever those choices come to you along the way in your life, you have to consider all right because we are all responsible for our choices, and Channing, at that point, made the choice. And I think his life may have not been as exciting, but in some aspects, maybe, he relished that because he knew that somebody loved him. I liked that aspect because that means that he had come full circle... He had gone through various... you know, gone through life and come out to say, well, as we all do, 'Life has its whatever,' but... he knows. So from that aspect, yes, [I liked the finale]. The other aspect of it - I think, of course, everyone knew that was going to be the last season. And it wasn't..., there was no sadness or anything like that simply because that particular show had run its course in a sense, though, that - I think - to a certain degree it had lost direction... as a way to go. Jane Wyman wasn't happy, and nobody was, you know. So in that regard, you know, and with the changes the company was going through, Lorimar... Show less «

[When describing the elements that were pictured on Falcon Crest (1981), as well as Dynasty (1981), Dallas (1978) and Knots Landing (1979)]:...Show more »

[When describing the elements that were pictured on Falcon Crest (1981), as well as Dynasty (1981), Dallas (1978) and Knots Landing (1979)]: And that's the '80s! It's sort of a... an example - no, I think 'example' is not the right proper word - it is 'of its time', and it says something about the '80s, you know. Show less «

[Of his on- and off-screen chemistry with the Falcon Crest (1981) stars]: My memories of that, you know, I loved Jane Wyman, Susan Sullivan,...Show more »

[Of his on- and off-screen chemistry with the Falcon Crest (1981) stars]: My memories of that, you know, I loved Jane Wyman, Susan Sullivan, Margaret Ladd. I talked to Lorenzo Lamas about three months ago on the phone; he was getting ready to do another series, as I recall. Show less «

[Of Jane Wyman]: I supposed a little reserved, but she had a great laugh, we loved to have fun. She was the consummate professional. She nev...Show more »

[Of Jane Wyman]: I supposed a little reserved, but she had a great laugh, we loved to have fun. She was the consummate professional. She never, ever missed... the only time she ever missed being there, when you're doing close-ups or whatever, when the other actors standing next to the camera, or whatever, doing their lines. The one time that she was asked to be excused was she had to go to the hospital. She never missed - she was always there on time, always early and she didn't caught up in a lot of nonsense and all that stuff. She was there to get the job done. Show less «