Alexandra Moltke in VOGUE, 1949

Today is the birthday of Alexandra Isles, the original “Victoria Winters” on DARK SHADOWS. It’s usually not the kind of occasion I’d recognize here, but a photo crossed my desk involving the former actress that’s just too good to not share.

Above is a photo by Frances McLaughlin-Gill from the April, 1949, issue of Vogue. That’s Isles (then Alexandra Moltke) pictured at far right. The rest of the children in this image are just as interesting. From left are:

• Actor/author Nat Benchley, the son of author Nathaniel Goddard Benchley and brother of JAWS author, Peter Benchley. He’d go on to play “Det. Augustus Polk” on THE WIRE (among a great many other things);
• John Steinbeck IV, the son of Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck, who would go on to become a journalist and author; 
• his brother Thomas Steinbeck, author of 2003’s “Down to a Soundless Sea” and 2011’s “In the Shadow of the Cypress.”

It's nice to see that Alexandra turned out to be such a happy, well-adjusted person given the sketchy characters she grew up with.