Angela Dorian

[GHS]

Looks like she was formally charged with murder today, but....that's not Angela Dorian/Victoria Vetri playing Isis. She isn't listed in the episode's credits and it doesn't look very much like her. A quick glance at her imdb resume shows that she wouldn't have accepted a part like that.

 

[Christopher]

Looks like she was formally charged with murder today, but....that's not Angela Dorian/Victoria Vetri playing Isis. She isn't listed in the episode's credits and it doesn't look very much like her. A quick glance at her imdb resume shows that she wouldn't have accepted a part like that.

Err, her IMDb resume includes that part.

Star Trek (TV series)
Isis - Human Form
– Assignment: Earth (1968) … Isis - Human Form (uncredited)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0895407/

And while IMDb is not immune to errors, I don't see anything about her other listed roles that would be incompatible with "a part like that." What specifically do you believe she would have objected to about that part?

This seems to be the site that originally made the identification of Vetri with Isis: http://www.assignmentearth.ca/cast.html#VictoriaVetri

It grants that the identification has not been verified by Mrs. Rathgeb (as she's now known), but the resemblance does seem strong.

 

[Therin of Andor]

She isn't listed in the episode's credits

Neither were many extras and "two-line walk-ons". Over two lines and then agents can fight for a credit.

and it doesn't look very much like her. A quick glance at her imdb resume shows that she wouldn't have accepted a part like that.

Huh?

And people have posted her 60s publicity shots here before - and they look exactly like her! And Isis.

IMDb is compiled by pros and amateurs, just like Wikipedia. Don't expect 100% accuracy.

 

[GHS]

And while IMDb is not immune to errors, I don't see anything about her other listed roles that would be incompatible with "a part like that." What specifically do you believe she would have objected to about that part?

This seems to be the site that originally made the identification of Vetri with Isis: http://www.assignmentearth.ca/cast.html#VictoriaVetri

It grants that the identification has not been verified by Mrs. Rathgeb (as she's now known), but the resemblance does seem strong.

Sorry, it does not seem a strong resemblance to me.

I assume you agree that the method of identification (an unidentified person thinks the role was played by a Playboy model and the writer assumes it is Vetri and someone will correct him if he's wrong) was too unreliable to justify the imdb listing in the first place.

If they could have hired Vetri/Dorian for that episode, don't you think they would have more likely given her Terri Garr's part? Unlike Garr, Vetri's imdb history shows she hadn't done any uncredited parts since the start of her career. She'd just come from a role as lead moll on a Batman episode, and was next going on to Rosemary's Baby. A 10-second nonspeaking part, while not impossible, would have been several steps down from her other actress roles.

 

[Therin of Andor]

A 10-second nonspeaking part, while not impossible, would have been several steps down from her other actress roles.

A 10-second part in a TV pilot, that may or may not have been picked up and, depending on her beauty, acting talent and schedule, reactions from TV execs, and the notoriety of her pin-up spread, may be a part that could easily have been enlarged in future episodes of the proposed spin-off TV show - especially if Teri Garr (who hated doing that episode, and hates to be reminded of it) had ended up refusing to participate. The Isis-as-human role was a perfect choice, with potential.

A brief few hours on set, no lines to learn, a quick chunk of bucks, and onto the next showbiz adventure.

 

[GHS]

A brief few hours on set, no lines to learn, a quick chunk of bucks, and onto the next showbiz adventure.

I agree that might make the assignment more attractive. It still seems pretty backwards that Roddenberry would try to sell his series with an unknown go-go dancer in the female lead part and have a moderately familiar actress sit there for 10 seconds in a non-speaking part.

If the episode's budget is known to exist, and it is known what Isis was paid, that would be pretty convincing evidence. I'm not sure the lady playing Isis earned a "chunk of bucks." We don't actually know what the plan, if any, was for the future of the Isis character (do we?)

 

[Christopher]

If they could have hired Vetri/Dorian for that episode, don't you think they would have more likely given her Terri Garr's part?

No, because she wasn't the right type for that particular character. Roberta was a plucky hippie chick, not a sex kitten.

Unlike Garr, Vetri's imdb history shows she hadn't done any uncredited parts since the start of her career.

How do you know, if they were uncredited? Maybe IMDb's researchers haven't unearthed them all.

She'd just come from a role as lead moll on a Batman episode, and was next going on to Rosemary's Baby. A 10-second nonspeaking part, while not impossible, would have been several steps down from her other actress roles.

Isis's human form may have been a nonspeaking part (which, by the way, is the reason it's uncredited), but that doesn't mean it was low-profile. For one thing, the big reveal was a key moment, and they would've wanted to cast someone really striking and sexy; it stands to reason that they'd want to cast a Playboy Playmate if they could get one. Quite a lot of movies and TV shows have cast Playmates as characters whose sole or primary purpose was to look sexy. Vetri/Dorian was an active actress known for her Playboy appearance, so it's credible that they might've sought her out.

For another thing, keep in mind that Isis wasn't necessarily a one-shot, cameo role. "Assignment: Earth" was a backdoor pilot for a spinoff series, and if it had worked, the actress playing Isis-as-woman would probably have been at least a semiregular player and a speaking part. (In the John Byrne comics from IDW that give a glimpse of what an Assignment: Earth series might've been like, Isis occasionally goes undercover in her human form.) Thus, it stands to reason that they would've cast a more accomplished or prominent actress than they would for a typical walk-on eye-candy role. Vetri might've agreed to do the bit part, and settle for less money than she was normally getting at that point in her career, with the understanding that it could lead to a bigger role.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Dude, give it up. It's her.

 

[GHS]

No, because she wasn't the right type for that particular character. Roberta was a plucky hippie chick, not a sex kitten..

Vetri's characters had plenty of pluck, although she didn't necessarily get cast as the girl next door.

How do you know, if they were uncredited? Maybe IMDb's researchers haven't unearthed them all.

Vetri looks more distinctive than Teri Garr. Why would Garr's uncredited appearances be so numerous and so easy to find and Vetri's be so tough?

Isis's human form may have been a nonspeaking part (which, by the way, is the reason it's uncredited), but that doesn't mean it was low-profile. For one thing, the big reveal was a key moment, and they would've wanted to cast someone really striking and sexy; it stands to reason that they'd want to cast a Playboy Playmate if they could get one. Quite a lot of movies and TV shows have cast Playmates as characters whose sole or primary purpose was to look sexy. Vetri/Dorian was an active actress known for her Playboy appearance, so it's credible that they might've sought her out.

Even accepting that her appearance is best described as a "big reveal", Isis isn't as good looking as Victoria Vetri, so it doesn't make sense that they would hire her for her looks and then go out of their way to conceal her wide eyes and full lips.

For another thing, keep in mind that Isis wasn't necessarily a one-shot, cameo role. "Assignment: Earth" was a backdoor pilot for a spinoff series, and if it had worked, the actress playing Isis-as-woman would probably have been at least a semiregular player and a speaking part. (In the John Byrne comics from IDW that give a glimpse of what an Assignment: Earth series might've been like, Isis occasionally goes undercover in her human form.) Thus, it stands to reason that they would've cast a more accomplished or prominent actress than they would for a typical walk-on eye-candy role. Vetri might've agreed to do the bit part, and settle for less money than she was normally getting at that point in her career, with the understanding that it could lead to a bigger role.

That's certainly possible, although how anxious Vetri would be to sit on a couch for 10 seconds every week is debatable, even if it meant a continuing paycheck (regardless of what they promised, she wouldn't be so naive not to consider the actual role in the script). If they'd offerered it to her, she'd be just as likely to decide that the "pilot" didn't promise any lines in the future, but also provided no guarentee of future appearances, since we had no information on the limits of what forms Isis could take.

 

[Therin of Andor]

a moderately familiar actress sit there for 10 seconds in a non-speaking part.

"Moderately familiar" actors and actresses make mute cameo appearances in TV and film all the time. Where have you been?

it stands to reason that they'd want to cast a Playboy Playmate if they could get one. Quite a lot of movies and TV shows have cast Playmates as characters whose sole or primary purpose was to look sexy.

Yep! Apart from Joachim in ST II (Judson Scott, whose agent chose to let him go uncredited, because he was "about to be big" in TV's "The Phoenix"), all of Khan's blond male Aryan followers were current-day Chippendale strippers. Several had prior dance and movie credits, but went uncredited. Cast because they looked sexy and knew how to follow orders/choreography (for bridge shaking?).

 

[Therin of Andor]

although how anxious Vetri would be to sit on a couch for 10 seconds every week is debatable

Maybe Roddenberry saw her "Playboy" spread and requested her participation, and then she did the scene as a favour?

Who knows what promises are made when a TV pilot is being thrown together? A pilot is usually only a promise of future possibilities. All it takes is an exec to say, "That brunette chick, I wanna see more of her."

 

[Christopher]

Even accepting that her appearance is best described as a "big reveal", Isis isn't as good looking as Victoria Vetri, so it doesn't make sense that they would hire her for her looks and then go out of their way to conceal her wide eyes and full lips.

Oh, come on, you can't possibly be naive enough to think that your subjective perceptions of beauty are some kind of universal norm. What's more beautiful to one observer will be less beautiful to another. Some people (like me and evidently you) think that heavy eye makeup makes a woman less attractive, but obviously some people see it as an improvement or it wouldn't get done. And it's easy enough to deduce that "Isis"'s eyes were made up to suggest a "catlike" and subtly alien appearance.

That's certainly possible, although how anxious Vetri would be to sit on a couch for 10 seconds every week is debatable, even if it meant a continuing paycheck (regardless of what they promised, she wouldn't be so naive not to consider the actual role in the script).

Obviously if the role had been intended as recurring, she would've been given more to do.

And why are you so convinced that she would've been unwilling to appear in Star Trek unless there were a sufficient financial incentive? Maybe she was just a fan. Lots of celebrities have done Trek walk-ons in the years since -- Mick Fleetwood, John Tesh, Christian Slater, James Worthy, Mae Jemison, the guy who's currently the king of Jordan, etc. ST wasn't as big yet in 1968, but it had a cult following. Or there could be other reasons.

If they'd offerered it to her, she'd be just as likely to decide that the "pilot" didn't promise any lines in the future, but also provided no guarentee of future appearances, since we had no information on the limits of what forms Isis could take.

That is certainly possible, but it's hardly proof. The bottom line is that we don't know for certain, and it's rather a waste of time to argue about a question of fact that neither of us is able to prove one way or another. If it is Vetri, all your arguments won't make it someone else, and if it is someone else, all my arguments won't make it Vetri. We can't resolve the question here. The best we can do is establish that it might or might not have been her, and we've already done that.

Maybe now that she's in the news for the attempted murder charges, she'll get interviewed more, and maybe someone will bring up the Isis question and she'll answer it once and for all. Though I imagine she has more important matters occupying her attention.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Being that Rosemary's baby was released the same year by Paramount, and depending on the timing of filming, it's possible she was asked by someone (this smells like a job for Roddenberry) to do a quick cameo. They needed a girl who was all sorts of hot and perhaps Roddenberry's Sex Radar went off when he saw her on the lot. She could have also thought "why not, sounds like fun and an easy $300." Or maybe her agent thought it would make her look good to the studio by being a team player. Anything is possible.

Tiny as the part was, she did get a nice close up and, regardless of the eye makeup, the woman is gorgeous. She certainly seems to have the same facial shape and bone structure.

I'm surprised nobody's made a pussy joke yet…

The girl who played Magda in "Mudd's Women" was in Playboy, although I forget whether it was before or after that appearance. And I'm sure you can find plenty of Playboy alumni as background cuties.

Venita Wolf (Yeoman Theresa Ross in Squire of Gothos) did a Playboy cover. And, of course, Angelique Pettyjohn (Shahna in Gamesters of Triskelion) did some porn in the 70's.

 

[Christopher]

Oh, and Denise Crosby did a Playboy pictorial in 1979, though she wasn't a Playmate.

 

[Captain Robert April]

This is beyond pointless.

From her imdb.com page:

Biography for
Victoria Vetri»


Date of Birth

26 September 1944, San Francisco, California, USA

Birth Name

Victoria Cecilia Vetry

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Born Victoria Vetri (but also known as Angela Dorian) to Italian parents (her mother was from Rome, her father Sicily) and grew up in Los Angeles. She studied art at Los Angeles City College in the 60s before embarking on her movie-television career. Thanks to her beautiful, exotic looks she was cast in parts that required ethnic beauties or scantily clad lovelies. She then posed for Playboy, becoming Miss September, 1967; and was later honored as the 1968 Playmate of the Year, becoming one of the most popular Playmates of the Vietnam War era.


Spouse

Heinz Gottfried Schwetz (13 November 1978 - 25 February 1983) (divorced) John Lee Hage (29 December 1966 - ?) (divorced) Hugh Terry Whettam (7 April 1963 - ?) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Took her stage name from the ill-fated cruise liner Andrea Doria.

Playboy Playmate of the Month September 1967 (as Angela Dorian)

Playboy Playmate of the Year 1968 (as Angela Dorian)

Measurements: 36-21-35 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Loves fast cars and car racing, and in her time has owned a Porsche, a Sprite, and a pink AMX that she won for being "Playmate of the Year" in 1968.

Has a son named Bret who was born in 1964.

During one of the Playboy photo sessions, she was reclining in a hammock for one of the pictures that gave way. She suffered two broken ribs.

In a friendly exchange scene near the beginning of Rosemary's Baby (1968), Mia Farrow meets another young woman who lives in her apartment building and mistakes her for actress "Victoria Vetri." The woman says she is not and introduces as Terry Gionoffrio. The inside joke is that the woman in the movie actually WAS Victoria. In the credits, however, Victoria was billed as "Angela Dorian," the name she used when she posed for Playboy.

Was the victim of a brutal attack in her house in Hollywood in 1980, suffering a broken nose and broken ribs. The perpetrators were never caught.

Turned down a role that could have made her star...that of the nubile title role in Lolita (1962), which made a sensation out of Sue Lyon.

She auditioned unsuccessfully for a role in the film version of West Side Story (1961).

Born in San Francisco of Italian descent, her father was a restaurateur from Sicily and her mother a Broadway singer from Rome.

Played a bejeweled "Florence of Arabia" to Victor Buono's "King Tut" in an episode of the "Batman" series.

A photo of her that was in Playboy magazine was pasted into astronaut Pete Conrad's Apollo 12 lunar-surface checklist by the Apollo backup crew. Conrad wore the checklist on his spacesuit cuff and first found the photo during his walk on the Moon. The caption read "Seen any interesting hills and valleys?".

Victoria Vetri was charged with attempted murder, after she allegedly shot her boyfriend from close range in their Hollywood apartment on Saturday, 16 October 2010. She was still behind bars. Bail has been set at $1,000,000. She plead not guilty to the charge, and is due back in court in November 2010.

Where Are They Now

(2008) Lives in West Hollywood.



Filmography

Show

Actress (33 titles)

1975 Lucas Tanner (TV series) Connie – Bonus Baby (1975) … Connie

1973 Invasion of the Bee Girls Julie Zorn

1973 Group Marriage Jan

1971 Incident in San Francisco (TV movie)

1970 To Rome with Love (TV series) Christina – Doctor Andy (1970) … Christina

1970 Mission: Impossible (TV series) Eve Zembra – Squeeze Play (1970) … Eve Zembra

1970 Night Chase (TV movie) Beverly Dorn

1970 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth Sanna

1970 Daniel Boone (TV series) Susan – Noblesse Oblige (1970) … Susan

1970 Land of the Giants (TV series) Lisa – The Marionettes (1970) … Lisa

1969 The Pigeon (TV movie) Barbara Hagen

1969 The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series) Dolly Daly – Mrs. Livingston, I Presume (1969) … Dolly Daly

1968 Rosemary's Baby Terry Gionoffrio (as Angela Dorian)

1968 Star Trek (TV series) Isis - Human Form – Assignment: Earth (1968) … Isis - Human Form (uncredited)

1968 Batman (TV series) Florence of Arabia – I'll Be a Mummy's Uncle (1968) … Florence of Arabia (as Angela Dorian)

1967 Death Valley Days (TV series) Sacajawea – The Girl Who Walked the West (1967) … Sacajawea (as Angela Dorian)

1967 Hogan's Heroes (TV series) Carla – The Crittendon Plan (1967) … Carla (as Angela Dorian)

1967 Chuka Señorita Helena Chavez (as Angela Dorian)

1966 The Big Valley (TV series) Teresa – Legend of a General: Part 2 (1966) … Teresa (as Angela Dorian)
– Legend of a General: Part 1 (1966) … Teresa (as Angela Dorian)

1966 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV series) Charisma Highcloud – The Indian Affairs Affair (1966) … Charisma Highcloud (as Angela Dorian)

1966 Run for Your Life (TV series) Carmen – Carnival Ends at Midnight (1966) … Carmen (as Angela Dorian)

1965 Perry Mason (TV series) Debbie Conrad – The Case of the Golden Girls (1965) … Debbie Conrad (as Angela Dorian)

1965 Bonanza (TV series) Essie – Devil on Her Shoulder (1965) … Essie (as Angela Dorian)

1965 McHale's Navy (TV series) Gina – Marriage, McHale Style (1965) … Gina (as Angela Dorian)

1964-1965 Wagon Train (TV series) Maria / Marie – The Jarbo Pierce Story (1965) … Marie (as Angela Dorian)
– The Zebedee Titus Story (1964) … Maria (as Angela Dorian)

1964 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (TV series) Margarita – The Tenderfoot: Part 3 (1964) … Margarita

1964 The Bill Dana Show (TV series) Maria – Jose on the Ledge (1964) … Maria

1964 Destry (TV series) Malya – Ride to Rio Verde (1964) … Malya (as Angela Dorian)

1963 Kings of the Sun Ixzubin (as Victoria Vettri)

1962-1963 The Gallant Men (TV series) Sister Catherine / Teresa Borrelli – Next of Kin (1963) … Teresa Borrelli (as Angela Dorian)
– A Place to Die (1962) … Sister Catherine (as Angela Dorian)

1962 Cheyenne (TV series) White Bird – Johnny Brassbuttons (1962) … White Bird (as Angela Dorian)

1962 Going My Way (TV series) Carmel – The Father (1962) … Carmel (as Angela Dorian)

1962 The Pigeon That Took Rome Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Not exactly the career path of someone who'd turn down a bit part on Star Trek.

 

[MANT!]

Some folks won't be confused by the facts...

He has his opinion and that's entirely good enough for him...

And no amount of facts can convince him otherwise...

 

[scotpens]

An alliterative name like Victoria Vetri almost sounds like a pseudonym, though in fact it was her birth name. I used to think perhaps her real name was Vicki Glass.But it sounds so much prettier in Italian.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I used to think perhaps her real name was Vicki Glass.

The casting people could see right through that strategy.

 

[Christopher]

I can't imagine why someone with a striking name like Victoria Vetri would choose the blander "Angela Dorian" as a stage name. I could see her using a pseudonym to appear in Playboy out of concerns for her family's respectability or something, but why that one?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I can't beleive this is still a matter of discussion. It's her. Case closed.

And while I'm fond to an extend of IMDB, I find errors in all the time and don't consider using it as a reference to prove a point. A review of "Sodom and Gomorrah" (1962) I found a few days ago mentioned that Aimee Amouk had appeared in Star Trek opposite William Shatner. I filed a report on the review and said that the claim was erroneous. The review was removed, but there are errors like that throughout the thing. A review of "Angry Red Planet" said the light through the porthole was inconsistent (it's blue then it's red then it's blue again!). LOL. The producers were simulating night and day and night.

So I'd recommend avoiding IMDB to substantiate an argument in general.