David Selby

Born David Lynn Selby in Morgantown, WV to parents Clyde and Sarah, he left for New York City after graduating high school to pursue a career in the theater. It proved more daunting than the 17-year-old Selby had envisioned, and before long he returned home. Soon after, he enrolled at West Virginia University, where he first earned a Bachelors of Science degree, followed by a Masters in Theater. After graduating, he apprenticed at the Barter Theatre in Virginia, where his height landed him the role of Abraham Lincoln in three separate productions. Selby quickly picked up steady work in the theater, touring in a production of "The Impossible Years" in 1967 before landing his star-making role in "Dark Shadows" (ABC, 1966-1971) one year later. As Quentin Collins, the immortal former werewolf, Selby reveled in the malicious melodrama his character cooked up week after week, with his popularity soon rivaling that of the show's vampiric star Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Throughout his time on the serial, the actor continued to appear on stage, most notably in Sam Shepard's "The Unseen Hand" (1970) and in David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones" (1971). When the latter show moved to Broadway, it was without Selby who was contracted to star in "Night of Dark Shadows" (1971), a feature loosely based on the by then cancelled show.His popularity on the rise, Selby was tapped to co-star as the neglectful husband of Barbra Streisand, a bored Manhattan housewife prone to flights of fantasy, in the forgettable comedy "Up the Sandbox" (1972). He next teamed with actor Ron Leibman for what should have been a star-making performance in "The Super Cops" (1973), based on the true story of two NYC beat cops whose overly-enthusiastic tactics earned them the nicknames "Batman & Robin." Selby returned to television with guest appearances on episodics such as "The Waltons" (CBS, 1972-1981) and "Police Woman" (NBC, 1974-78), in addition to a Broadway production of "The Heiress" in 1976. Selby began to make headway on both TV and in film; first with the miniseries "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" (ABC, 1977), a lavish production based on John Ehrlichman's fictionalized account of the Watergate crisis. Soon after, he was cast alongside Jason Robards and Richard Jordan in the big-budget adventure "Raise the Titanic" (1980), based on the best-selling novel by Clive Cussler. In 1982, he took on the role of villainous Michael Tyrone for the final season of the short-lived primetime soap opera "Flamingo Road" (NBC, 1980-82) before joining the cast the far more popular serial "Falcon Crest" (CBS, 1982-90). For eight seasons, Selby played the ruthless, yet charming businessman Richard Channing who often did battle with Jane Wyman's Angela, the matriarch of a powerful vineyard empire.Selby landed one of his most cherished roles when he was cast as the father of the modern Olympics in "King of the Olympics: The Lives and Loves of Avery Brundage" (syndicated, 1988). As his once jet black hair turned silver, Selby found himself cast more than once as a stern father in such films as "Dying Young" (1991) and "White Squall" (1996). In a definite change of pace, he took on the role of a lawyer whose kinky proclivities inadvertently lead to his being kidnapped in the independent film "Headless Body in Topless Bar" (1996). Back on television, Selby played an intelligence operative in charge of a covert mercenary group in "S.O.F. Special Ops Force" (syndicated, 1997-99). He had a supporting role in the lackluster holiday comedy "Surviving Christmas" (2004) alongside stars Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini. Keeping busy, Selby appeared in two back-to-back made-for-TV schlock fests "Larva" (SyFy, 2005) and "The Black Hole" (SyFy, 2006), prior to making recurring appearances on the cable sexual drama series "Tell Me You Love Me" (HBO, 2007-08). Soon after, he nabbed a minor role in one of the most acclaimed motion pictures of the year - "The Social Network" (2010) - David Fincher's film chronicling Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's meteoric raise to power and prominence. That same year, Selby published a memoir My Shadowed Past, a reminiscence of his years on "Dark Shadows" - the gothic daytime melodrama that provided him with his start and a loyal fan base that stuck by him for decades.