Lara Parker died on October 12, 2023, at the age of 84. She was best known for her part as the witch Angelique Bouchard on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

Her daughter Caitlin told The Hollywood Reporter that she died peacefully in her Los Angeles home.

She was born on October 18, 1939, in Knoxville, Tennessee, as Mary Lamar Rickey. A master’s degree in speech and acting from Vassar College and the University of Iowa was her last degree.

Parker’s big break came in 1967, when she played Angelique on Dark Shadows. The character was first presented as Barnabas Collins’s love interest, but she quickly turned into a bad guy in her own right.

Angelique was known for being beautiful, smart, and cruel. She cursed Barnabas to become a vampire and made the Collins family suffer with her magic.

Parker played Angelique on Dark Shadows for four years. She played the part again in the 1970 movie House of Dark Shadows and the reboot show Dark Shadows in 1991.

Parker was also in a number of other movies and TV shows besides Dark Shadows. These included Save the Tiger (1973), Race with the Devil (1975), and The Love Boat (1978). She also wrote a number of books, including Angelique’s Descent (1989), a tale that looked into Angelique’s past.

Her two boys, Rick and Andy Parker, and her daughter, Caitlin Parker, will miss her.