Emily Paine Carter: Depp fan tackles new role of ‘Shadows’

Tammy Duncan as Johnny Depp’s character in “Dark Shadows.” She’s also surrounded by her “Pirates of the Caribbean” memorabilia. Courtesy of Tammy Duncan
Yes, she did it again.
When a Johnny Depp movie opens, Tammy Duncan – fan extraordinaire – doesn’t just GO. She attends in a perfect costume.
She’s the one who has rented whole theatres for her friends on opening nights. Walked Hollywood’s red carpet for a “Pirates of the Caribbean” premiere – invited by Disney execs. Gotten Johnny’s extra-flourish autograph on her arm – and afterwards had it tattooed in.
So of course she attended Valley View Grande’s midnight opening of Johnny’s new “Dark Shadows” movie, decked out as his Barnabas Collins persona. She nailed the perfect – and perfectly unsettling – all-out-vampire regalia, right down to the long, curled fingernails. (Johnny’s makeup people added an inch to each of his fingers for full effect, she said. She just happened to have pictures to show me….)
Yes, she loved the movie – a remake of a cult classic.
Pal Pam Christianson was ailin’, and unable to attend the opening. But friend Jean Cathcart did go; “she’s also a fan of Johnny,” Tammy said.
Each new “Johnny”-movie means more theatrical swag to be displayed somewhere in her home. She has already scored some “Shadows” theatre posters, and local stores KNOW to alert her of new magazines, pirate motifs, etc.
“Yes, I’ll have to revamp The Pirate Room to include the ‘Dark Shadows’ [souvenirs],” she laughed. There’s enough “Pirates of the Caribbean” bounty there to make Blackbeard set sail for South Salem.
Knowing that she has a significant stash of Depp-abilia, she has bequeathed her collection to Johnny’s children. Yep, it’s right there in her last-will-and-testament – that official document beginning with “being of sound mind….”
“OK, it’s an obsession,” she said with a luminous smile, sans fangs. “But a pretty harmless one!”
Aye, matey.



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