Jeri Ryan- the Columbo connection

[rocketdave]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so my apologies if this isn't germane to this forum. At best, this is only tangentially related to Star Trek. However, I happened to find it interesting (though whether anyone else will is another matter).

I picked up this Columbo book called "The Hoffa Connection" from a bargain bin some time ago. I haven't read it (and reviews indicate it's not worth my time) but what struck me was that there's a woman on the cover who looks uncannily like Jeri Ryan. This could perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but even more damningly, the man visible to the left of this figure bears a strong resemblance to J.T. Walsh. As both actors were on the short-lived series "Dark Skies," there's little doubt in my mind is that the cover artist simply copied from promotional photos from that show and changed the details slightly, though not enough to make them unrecognizable. I don't believe it's uncommon for artists to crib from other sources, but I've never come across such a blatant example before. Anyway, have a look and judge for yourself.

 

[Christopher]

I don't see any significant resemblance to Ryan. Anyway, the timing's a bit iffy. The book's publication date was August 1996, which means the cover art was probably done months earlier. And Dark Skies didn't premiere until September 1996. So would promotional photos from the show have been available early enough for the cover artist to see them? It's possible, but I'm not sure it's likely.

Also, I think the face that reminds you of J.T. Walsh is meant to be Jimmy Hoffa. There is a resemblance between them.

 

[Tiberius]

Yeah, that doesn't look like Jeri to me...

 

[rocketdave]

I don't see any significant resemblance to Ryan. Anyway, the timing's a bit iffy. The book's publication date was August 1996, which means the cover art was probably done months earlier. And Dark Skies didn't premiere until September 1996. So would promotional photos from the show have been available early enough for the cover artist to see them? It's possible, but I'm not sure it's likely.

Also, I think the face that reminds you of J.T. Walsh is meant to be Jimmy Hoffa. There is a resemblance between them.

Well, I've illustrated a few books that came out a week or so after my work was completed, but I'll grant that that's probably far from typical. Even so, I don't think it's impossible that photos promoting Dark Skies were available months before its premiere, giving the artist enough time to see them.

I assumed the guy on the right was Hoffa. I mean, here's an image of Walsh; I feel there's a definite resemblance: http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles25/1702831/projects/5494747/7cfce3227d2eef15e7627eee592683c4.jpg

Though I remain fairly convinced I'm correct in my assumption that the artist based his renderings off images of the actors and just tweaked enough details to make it not entirely obvious, it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'm way off base here. If so, again, I'm sorry for wasting people's time with this tripe.

 

[Christopher]

I did say there was a resemblance between Walsh and Hoffa. I'd say the face on the left looks more like Hoffa (do a Google image search) than it looks like Walsh. There seem to be two images of Hoffa on the cover, one a close-up portrait, the other a scene of him with other people.

And I'm sorry, but I have no idea why you think that woman resembles Jeri Ryan. The lips are similar, but everything else is different -- the eyes too small, the chin too pointed and un-cleft, the nose too upturned, the hairline too rounded.

 

[R. Star]

Her skin's too dark, her hair is the wrong color, her eyes are too dark, her bust size is too small... though I suppose the lips and nose resemble Jeri's.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It doesn't look anything like Jeri at all.

However there may still be something in this as Kate Mulgrew was Mrs. Columbo.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I sure one could find half a dozen models/actresses who resemble the woman on the cover.

 

[rocketdave]

Maybe the resemblance to Ryan isn't as uncanny as I thought. I did believe there were enough familiar elements there that it was possible to recognize her as the inspiration for the artwork, but perhaps I was mistaken. Maye I'm just nuts. In any case, I do feel embarrassed about mentioning it in the first place.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Jeri's eyes are REALLY big. That's something very much missing.

 

[R. Star]

No reason to feel embarrassed.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Yes no reason!!

:: pats rocketdave gently ::

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Here you go, Mrs. Columbo opening.. also contains Odo!!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vEb409T0Y[/yt]

 

[Dale Sams]

And it's certainly true some comic book artists will rip the **** off others. Political cartoonists too.

 

[T'Cal]

I see it. The woman's face looks a lot like Jeri Ryan's to me too. And, I also remember the show "Mrs. Columbo" with Kate Mulgrew in the title role, but the producers of "Columbo" said that she wasn't the wife of Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo. I don't remember much other than a funny scene from an episode. Mrs. Columbo was kidnapped and placed in the back seat of a car at gun point with the bad guy. Another innocent victim was driving the car but it had stick shift and he didn't know how to shift so the car was going maybe 20 mph in first gear. A police car was chasing them - lights & sirens - also at 20 mph. Mulgrew rolled her eyes and said something like, "This is the most boring police chase there's ever been!" Her timing was excellent and it was very funny.

 

[Christopher]

And, I also remember the show "Mrs. Columbo" with Kate Mulgrew in the title role, but the producers of "Columbo" said that she wasn't the wife of Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo.

They're not the only ones. The idea went over so badly with viewers that even Mrs. Columbo abandoned it after just five episodes, pulling the show from the schedule and retooling it, then bringing it back the following season for a final eight episodes, with Kate divorced and using her maiden name (Kate Callahan) and the show retitled, first as Kate the Detective, then as Kate Loves a Mystery.

I mean, it never really made sense anyway. From what Columbo said about his wife in the original series, we know they were high-school sweethearts, thus surely within a year or two of each other in age. Peter Falk had already graduated from college by the time Kate Mulgrew was born. At the time Mrs. Columbo/Kate Loves a Mystery was on, Falk was more than twice Mulgrew's age. There's simply no way in hell that Mrs. Columbo was canonical within the Columbo universe. It was a ridiculous idea and it died quickly.

I remember that in one of the revival movies, "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo," we were shown what was supposedly a photo of Mrs. C, but it turned out to be a relative of hers instead. I often wondered in the years that followed if the photo had been of Kate Mulgrew as her cousin Kate or something, and it was some kind of in-joke nod. But I just looked it up online, and apparently it was of her sister Ruth instead.

 

[plynch]

It looks like Jeri Ryan to me. There were Columbo books!?

 

[Greg Cox]

It looks like Jeri Ryan to me. There were Columbo books!?

Tor//Forge published a few of them, along with The Rockford Files. This would've been sometime back in the nineties, I believe.

 

[Christopher]

MCA Publishing's Popular Library also did a series of 6 Columbo novels in the '70s, the first two of which were original, with the rest being episode novelizations. There was another original novel from a different publisher in 1980.

 

[jayrath]

Forget Jeri Ryan. That's Donald O'Connor on the phone!