David Selby was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, and he remains active in a number of projects in his home state. He holds B.S. and M.A. degrees from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. In 2004, he delivered the commencement address and received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia University.
Selby initially gained fame as Quentin Collins, a werewolf, on the gothic ABC daytime drama Dark Shadows in 1968. The role led to teen idol status, and David was featured in the pages of numerous teen magazines, including 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat. He even recorded two songs during the show's run, "Quentin's Theme (Shadows of the Night)" and "I Wanna Dance With You," a duet with co-star Nancy Barrett. Following Dark Shadows' cancellation in 1971, he went on to star in his first feature-length film, Night of Dark Shadows, the second film based on the series.
During the rest of the 1970s, he appeared in films such as Up the Sandbox, The Super Cops, and Rich Kids. He also remained active in the East Coast theatre scene, appearing in a number of New York productions both on and off Broadway.
In the early 1980s, he appeared in the films Raise the Titanic and Rich and Famous,which would be the final film directed by the legendary George Cukor. This was followed by a brief stint on NBC's short-lived Flamingo Road as Michael Tyrone during the second and final season of the series. He went on to portray Richard Channing on CBS's Falcon Crest from 1982 until the end of the series in 1990.
He has continued to remain active in theatre, most recently at Cabrillo Music Theatre as Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside inMame. Prior to that, he appeared atHartford Stage in Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas. He also records radio drama productions with L.A. Theatre Works, and he wrote and performed his own play, Lincoln and James, which is currently being developed as a screenplay.
In March 2002, David attended premieres of The Griffin and the Minor Canon, a half-hour animated film produced by West Virginia Public Television. David provided the voice of the Griffin, and other notable West Virginians lent their voices to the project, including Chris Sarandon, John Corbett, Don Knotts, Soupy Sales, and Kathy Mattea.
Another play written by David, Final Assault, was presented by the Charleston Stage Company in May 2003. During the production, David served as an artist in residence at West Virginia State College. The play was part of the staged reading series at the Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights in August 2004.
In late 2004 and early 2005, he completed work on three additional film projects: Black Hole, which is another Sci-Fi Channel movie, End Game, and Unknown. In late 2005, he finished work on Spin.
David's first book, In and Out of the Shadows, is a career photo retrospective featuring a few of his poems. He has also written two volumes of poetry, My Mother's Autumn and Happenstance, and he has several screenplays in development. His first prose book, A Better Place, was released in the fall of 2005, and he has made several appearances at Barnes and Noble stores to promote the new book as well as his earlier books.
David has been married for over forty years to his wife Chip, who is also a native West Virginian. They have two daughters and a son, Jamison Selby, who has also worked as an actor, directed the Charleston Stage production of David's play Final Assault and wrote Return to Collinwood, a radio drama presented at the 2003 Dark Shadows Festival and subsequently released on compact disc by MPI Home Video, and Vengeance at Collinwood, a sequel presented at the 2005 Dark Shadows Hollywood Weekend.
For the latest on what David's doing, see the News page. Photos and sound clips are located in the Galleries.
If you entered the site via a webring, please visit the Home page.
Please do not copy text or photos from this site without prior permission. For more information about this policy and why right-click has been disabled, click here.
