THURSDAY'S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE ROUSSEL TWINS

'THE TWILIGHT ZONE'
"THE SIXTEEN MILLIMETER SHRINE"

'THE ADVENTURES OF ELLERY QUEEN'

"MURDER TO MUSIC"

Jerry Hearndan was a movie star in the 1930s who appeared in several movies with Barbara Jean Trenton.  Barbara Jean's career had faded as she wallowed in the memories of the past.  So her agent Danny Weeks thought it might spark her vitality to reunite her with one of her former co-stars.  She was excited for the chance to meet Jerry Hearndan again, but she was expecting to have a reunion with the matinee idol of yore, not with the elderly man who showed up to her door.

Barbara Jean Trenton & Jerry Hearndan

in their early Hollywood glory

"Jerry Hearndan" was not his birth name, but a name he had taken upon advice from the studio where he made his movies.  (To keep Toobworld tidy, I'm going to say it was Mammoth Studios who produced those pictures.) 

He was born Thierry Roussel to French immigrants.  He had a brother who also had an artistic streak - Anton Roussel, who made a name for himself as a symphony conductor.  Roussel was the mentor of Alex Benedict, and had been the conductor of the Southern Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles (which had been Lizzy Fielding's "baby") before he retired.  (There had been rumours that he had once been the lover of Mrs. Fielding and that he might even have been the father of her daughter Janice Benedict.  You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment.)

Jerry Hearndan wasn't like Barbara Jean Trenton.  He had accepted the advance of age and even though he could have continued as an actor in character roles on television, instead he had retired and was now the manager of a chain of grocery stores.  

I don't know if Hearndan and Roussel were identical twins or just closely resembling each other.

Also cited in this post:

'Columbo' - "Etude In Black"

BCnU!