Elaine Todd (Diane McBain; 1941 - 2022) is a secondary villainess in the 1967 episode "The Night of the Vicious Valentine" for the TV series "The Wild Wild West".
Elaine is an associate of hostess and evil matchmaker Emma Valentine (Agnes Moorehead). Emma specializes in finding young, beautiful wives for wealthy older men.
Rich industrialists are being systematically murdered. President Grant is concerned that their holdings may end up concentrated in the wrong hands, which would endanger the U.S. economy. Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) are in Kansas City investigating the murders. They arrive too late to save Curtis Langley Dodd (J. Edward McKinley), a wheat magnate, from being killed by a contraption within his piano. They comfort the widow Elaine as she mourns her husband.
West and Gordon determine that the killer is murdering wealthy men in alphabetical order and on holidays only. With that reasoning, an “E” should be next on the list. Jim realizes the stationery for Dodd’s funeral matches that of an earlier note for another victim, and he and Artemus investigate at a local print shop. They are ambushed at the shop and fight off the assailants before leaving, retrieving only a wedding invitation for a Mr. Paul J. Lambert (Henry Beckman), a local magnate.
Jim and Artemus realize that the stationery clues point to a Ms. Emma Valentine, the matchmaker who is arranging Lamberts' upcoming marriage to Michele LeMaster (Sherry Jackson). Jim meets Ms. Valentine at the print shop. She invites her to one of her upcoming parties to be one of her "discoveries".
Artemus tries to use a disguise as a Jewish tailor to infiltrate Ms. Valentine’s home before the wedding. However, Elaine is able to thwart his disguise and warn Ms. Valentine. She pulls a pistol on Artemus.
Jim and Artemus are both tied to a contraption on the stained glass roof that is tied to the organ used in the wedding ceremony below. It will kill both them and Lambert when a certain chord is played on the organ by Elaine after the wedding is complete.
Jim and Artemus manage to escape and when the ceiling collapses they are able to fight off Valentine’s goons. Valentine nearly kills Jim, but Michele has a change of heart and stops her by lifting her hand while the gun goes off. Valentine escapes and Jim and Artemus give chase. Michele gives back Lambert’s ring and tells him she can’t marry him due to her complicity in Valentine’s scheme.
In the epilogue it is discovered that Valentine and her minions (including Elaine) were apprehended. They receive a box of chocolates from Michele, who writes that in spite of everything, the wedding will go forward as planned.
Trivia[]
- Diane McBain appeared as henchwoman Lisa in two 1966 episodes for the TV series "Batman". She appeared in the adjoining episodes of "The 13th Hat" and "Batman Stands Pat".
- Diane McBain played the ruthless leader of a female biker gang in the 1968 movie "The Miniskirt Mob".
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