Episode 18, "The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman," begins with the stabbing murder of Mrs. Lillian McGraw (Dr. Joyce Brothers) as she's in the process of uncovering the identity of the artist of the portrait of herself that was done in Europe 25 years before, in 1922. That very day, at an auction attended by the ubiquitous Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), she had purchased an original painting done by Sergio Vargo (Theodore Bikel), following a tip from Vargo himself in regards to the portrait he painted over. At that time, Lillian was attending school in Switzerland, an attempt by her wealthy parents to dissuade her from marrying her childhood sweetheart, Clint McGraw (Forrest Tucker), whose family was 'dirt poor,' as he himself later tells Ellery. It was the intervention of Clint's cousin, Celeste Wakefield (Vera Miles), that enabled Clint to finally marry Lillian, whose disastrous marriage to a drunken art dealer in Paris named Mueller ended with the latter's bloody ax murder, as perpetrated by the mysterious French painter known as Pierre Lazar, the very artist who rendered the portrait of Lillian as a young woman (and immediately disappeared without a trace). Edward Mulhare (THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR) plays the shady auctioneer, whose art gallery is being investigated on charges of forgery by Inspector Claude Gravette (Alfred Ryder), of the French Surete. Victor Buono cameos as Dr. Friedland, the psychiatrist who was treating Mrs. McGraw for recurring headaches, and Woodrow Parfrey (1980's "Used Cars") shows up as Dr. Saltzman, working on behalf of the authorities to confirm the authenticity (or forgery) of the paintings.
3 Reviews
Dr Brothers Runs Out Of Advice
DKosty12311 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Leave it to Ellery Queen to take a Doctor Brothers and make her the victim of a murder. Add the touch of Victor Buono as a suspect & you have quite the show. The mystery here of who killed her is pretty intense.
Ellery sorts through the suspects and notices the most minute of clues in order solve this one. How NBC messed up & canceled this series in 1976 is still the biggest mystery. It's a good thing that when these producers brought Columbo to NBC, they realized that Columbo was a great series. They missed the boat on this series.
Forrest Tucker (F Troop) has a role in this one too.
Ellery sorts through the suspects and notices the most minute of clues in order solve this one. How NBC messed up & canceled this series in 1976 is still the biggest mystery. It's a good thing that when these producers brought Columbo to NBC, they realized that Columbo was a great series. They missed the boat on this series.
Forrest Tucker (F Troop) has a role in this one too.
Terrific Regulars - Uninvolving Guest Cast
chashans26 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The 7 in my 7/10 rating for this EQ episode, is due very much to series regulars Jim Hutton, David Wayne and series semi-regular, John Hillerman. These three consummate professionals bring the proceedings up numerous notches just by their presence on screen. As for the guest cast? They pretty much all come across as bored out of their minds with the production.
Darn it Jim (Hutton)! Joyce Brothers is a Doctor, not a thespian! But then, loads (and loads!) of 1970's, 80's and 90's TV show productions got her profession wrong. IMO, the art of acting was a complete and utter mystery to her. In many of her guest appearances, she simply played a version of herself. She never really carried even that off all that well. On occasion, she attempted to take on an original character. That's what happens here of course, since EQ takes place in 1947, a number of years before Brothers was "discovered". Her performance (she gets a bit more time on screen than some EQ murder victims) is stilted and uninteresting. By the time she emits a half-hearted scream of death, it's a relief to see her go.
The bad performances don't stop there though. Forrest Tucker, portraying the victim's husband, seems to think he's rehearsing his lines and not actually attempting to act. Tucker was terrific at comedy in his series, "F Troop" and was positively riveting and even frightening as a murder victim-to-be on a first season episode of "Columbo".
Vera Miles as the victim's best friend practically blends invisibly into the background. She's nowhere near the performance levels she attained with characters she played in the film, "Psycho" or in her own guest spot on yet another episode of "Columbo".
Theodore Bikel (another "Columbo" guest star) does put a little flamboyance into his annoyed artist character. He has little screen time though.
Victor Buono, always a welcome over-the-top laugh riot as Professor-turned-insane King Tut on the 60's "Batman" series, looks completely uninterested playing the part of the murder victim's psychiatrist. He mistakes Ellery as a new patient when all the Mystery Writer really wants, is some inside knowledge of said murder victim's deepest, secret thoughts.
The mystery itself is good. Solving the murder leads Ellery in several interesting directions. There's a reveal before the "Big Reveal" which is quite surprising and much more involving than who the actual killer is.
Hutton, Wayne and Hillerman needed no direction by this point in the series. The guest cast in this episode, were somewhat let down by this episode's director and production.
Darn it Jim (Hutton)! Joyce Brothers is a Doctor, not a thespian! But then, loads (and loads!) of 1970's, 80's and 90's TV show productions got her profession wrong. IMO, the art of acting was a complete and utter mystery to her. In many of her guest appearances, she simply played a version of herself. She never really carried even that off all that well. On occasion, she attempted to take on an original character. That's what happens here of course, since EQ takes place in 1947, a number of years before Brothers was "discovered". Her performance (she gets a bit more time on screen than some EQ murder victims) is stilted and uninteresting. By the time she emits a half-hearted scream of death, it's a relief to see her go.
The bad performances don't stop there though. Forrest Tucker, portraying the victim's husband, seems to think he's rehearsing his lines and not actually attempting to act. Tucker was terrific at comedy in his series, "F Troop" and was positively riveting and even frightening as a murder victim-to-be on a first season episode of "Columbo".
Vera Miles as the victim's best friend practically blends invisibly into the background. She's nowhere near the performance levels she attained with characters she played in the film, "Psycho" or in her own guest spot on yet another episode of "Columbo".
Theodore Bikel (another "Columbo" guest star) does put a little flamboyance into his annoyed artist character. He has little screen time though.
Victor Buono, always a welcome over-the-top laugh riot as Professor-turned-insane King Tut on the 60's "Batman" series, looks completely uninterested playing the part of the murder victim's psychiatrist. He mistakes Ellery as a new patient when all the Mystery Writer really wants, is some inside knowledge of said murder victim's deepest, secret thoughts.
The mystery itself is good. Solving the murder leads Ellery in several interesting directions. There's a reveal before the "Big Reveal" which is quite surprising and much more involving than who the actual killer is.
Hutton, Wayne and Hillerman needed no direction by this point in the series. The guest cast in this episode, were somewhat let down by this episode's director and production.
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