Confirmed: Isis was NOT Victoria Vetri

[Greg Cox]

It's long been purported that actress Victoria Vetri played Isis's human guise in "Assignment: Earth." Although this started out as just a fan theory, it somehow achieved the status of a well-known "fact," to the extent that you can now find it listed all over the internet, including Wikipedia, IMDB, etc.

Well, I just stumbled onto a new interview with Vetri in which she insists that she never guested on STAR TREK, despite the many, many fans who keep asking her to autographs photos of Isis. Alas, she has no idea who really did play Isis, but it wasn't her.

Maybe somebody who knows how to do so can finally correct the listings at Wikipedia and so forth?

 

[Christopher]

Greg, can you link to the interview, or at least tell us where you found it?

 

[Tomalak]

Yeah, you'd need a citation for Wikipedia, otherwise they'll fall back on the erroneous sources which do list Vetri.

 

[LAFR]

We actually need to have this confirmed or denied? Does the planet stop spinning without this valuable information?

What are we, as a species, to do?

Really.

 

[Greg Cox]

We actually need to have this confirmed or denied? Does the planet stop spinning without this valuable information?

What are we, as a species, to do?

Really.

Trust me, it's been debated before in these parts. And is it that surprising that we're talking Trek trivia on a Trek board?

Anyway, the article is in the latest issue of LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS magazine (October 2018, #41, p. 71), which features a cover story on Vetri's old movie WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH, as well as anew interview with her.

The article is mostly about DINOSAURS, but the interviewer asks her about STAR TREK as well. Her response:

"I was never in an episode of STAR TREK. I know that people think I was. I get pictures to sign and I had to write back and say, 'Hey, that's not me . . . " I am not sure who she was. Look close enough and you can see that she has blue eyes and I, of course, have brown. Whoever she was, she must not be around anymore as I am sure she would correct the mistake about me doing it, in all these articles."

 

[Christopher]

^I looked it up, and that should be Little Shoppe of Horrors #41. https://atomicbooks.com/products/little-shoppe-of-horrors-magazine

 

[Harvey]

That’s a great find — thanks for posting, Greg!

 

[Herbert]

We actually need to have this confirmed or denied? Does the planet stop spinning without this valuable information?

What are we, as a species, to do?

Really.

Given the importance that many people on this board give to coming up with continuity fixes, canon fixes, and just plain delusional theories that seemingly they pull out of their posterior, then I'd say yes, this is serious business on this board. Perhaps deadly serious.

 

[GNDN18]

this is serious business on this board. Perhaps deadly serious.

 

[Tomalak]

So why the mystery anyway? Is there no surviving documentation from the time?

 

[Greg Cox]

So why the mystery anyway? Is there no surviving documentation from the time?

Apparently not. She was bit player who appeared on screen for only a few moments. She doesn't appear on any cast lists, etc.

 

[Tomalak]

Apparently not. She was bit player who appeared on screen for only a few moments. She doesn't appear on any cast lists, etc.

Interesting! Funny how things like that can slip through the gaps when we think we know nearly everything about Star Trek.

 

[FormerLurker]

Unless it was a one-off role for an unknown who then left acting, there has to be some way of comparing her face to known actresses of the day and finding one or more plausible possibilities to investigate. It's actually a little surprising that this is still a thing. Why don't we know who she was by now?

 

[Christopher]

Unless it was a one-off role for an unknown who then left acting, there has to be some way of comparing her face to known actresses of the day and finding one or more plausible possibilities to investigate.

But she wasn't an actress, she was an extra. She had no lines; she just sat there looking sultry and looked up at Teri Garr. She may have been a model they hired, or someone picking up a little cash by working as an extra, or maybe a secretary who worked for one of the producers. Or maybe she was someone Roddenberry offered a walk-on to because he wanted to seduce her.

Besides, comparing faces is how that guy came up with the Victoria Vetri proposal in the first place. In his opinion, based on looking at a couple of photos of Vetri, their faces looked kind of similar -- which tells me he must not have seen any very clear photos of Vetri or been familiar with any of her film work, since the face is clearly different and the eye color and build are wrong, plus Vetri had a very distinctive speck of pigment on the white of one of her eyes, which "Isis" didn't. So looking for facial resemblance is an unreliable method, unless you're using a facial recognition algorithm on a computer.

 

[Greg Cox]

^I looked it up, and that should be Little Shoppe of Horrors #41. https://atomicbooks.com/products/little-shoppe-of-horrors-magazine

Thanks for catching that. Let me edit my post.

 

[The Old Mixer]

But she wasn't an actress, she was an extra. She had no lines; she just sat there looking sultry and looked up at Teri Garr. She may have been a model they hired, or someone picking up a little cash by working as an extra, or maybe a secretary who worked for one of the producers. Or maybe she was someone Roddenberry offered a walk-on to because he wanted to seduce her.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Greg Cox]

B Vetri had a very distinctive speck of pigment on the white of one of her eyes, which "Isis" didn't. .

According to Vetri, that speck is the result of a childhood eye injury involving an exploding can of black spray paint.

 

[Harvey]

So why the mystery anyway? Is there no surviving documentation from the time?

She was an extra, and extras weren’t named on call sheets or daily production reports (only the number of background players and their start/stop times were listed).

 

[Maurice]

The way to make the fix "stick" on Wikipedia is to write it like this:

In fan circles it has long been speculated that the human image of Isis was portrayed by actress Victoria Vetri, and this has been repeated so often that many articles and websites treat it is fact. However, Vetri herself flatly contradicts this, saying "I was never in an episode of STAR TREK. I know that people think I was [. . .] I am not sure who she was. Look close enough and you can see that she has blue eyes and I, of course, have brown." <citation>. Known surviving production paperwork does not identify the woman playing Isis, but as a non-speaking part seen for only seconds she was possibly a member of the Screen Extras Guild, who were not credited.​

If you acknowledge the prevailing wisdom an then produce a valid citation disproving it, it tends to stick.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Someone tell Mark Cushman, stat!