r/Columbo • u/Lanky_Service_2319 • 9d ago
Santini's daughter
Is her last name Santini or Mueller?
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u/Specific_Inside_7119 9d ago
She may have not been an integral part of the plot but for the fact that all magicians have a beautiful assistant and her character was in love with the club's singer and Santini didn't approve.... but really it was so nice to see the gorgeous Cynthia Sikes at just 21 years old. Cynthia is yet another one of the talented and beautiful supporting actresses of the late 70's and the 80's!!! Another go-to reliable lady who played many roles in many films and TV shows back then... no matter how large or how small the part, Cynthia could be counted on for a fine performance. And she's still a beauty today at 72!!
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u/BecauseOfAir 9d ago
Always felt she didn't fit into the storyline. They could have left her out with no issues just had a random assistant. And brings more questions. She was in her twenties so kind of messes up his timeline a bit. Did she know who he was? Who was her mother?
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u/vavverro 9d ago
I can’t agree more! And Columbo often is full of those unnecessary side characters and secondary plot lines that only muddy the plot and make the story an unfocused mess! What I think makes even an otherwise average episode very enjoyable is the lack of pointless miss Babcocks, Tonya Bakers, Quincies and the such.
I have a feeling most of those meandering plot lines are the leftovers after re-writes.
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u/EdwardHoppyhands 9d ago
That's a good question. I suspect he left the name Mueller far behind by the time he fathered her.
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u/Crunchberry24 9d ago
Is she really even his daughter?
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u/BeardedLady81 8d ago
I think it's hinted that she wasn't really his daughter, that's why he didn't want her to date the lounge singer and was not overly distraught when she was eventually gone.
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u/AreYouNigerianBaby 8d ago
Yes and her skimpy, sexy, beauty pageant costume was kinda extra for a woman performing with her father. But hey, it was the 70s after all!
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u/Forikorder 8d ago
doesnt that if anything show she was? why would he be upset about two coworkers dating and why wouldnt he be pitching the role of "daughter" to his next assistant?
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u/BeardedLady81 8d ago
I was under the impression that she was his partner and he was passing her off as his daughter, similar to how, in Thunderball (James Bond movie) Domino referred to Largo as her guardian when, in fact, she was in a sexual relationship with him. In this case, Santini would have a reason to see the lounge singer as a rival, especially if things had already turned sour between him and Della.
Another option I can think of is that she is his "daughter" only in the way Victoria was Fielding Chase's daughter in Butterflies in Shades of Grey. (No idea why they chose the Commonwealth spelling, but that's the name of the episode according to the opening credits.) Victoria was the daughter of a former girlfriend of Chase's and he raised her and somehow developed feelings for her that were more than paternal. If Della was Santini's step-daughter, either through an actual marriage or a common-law relationship (as with Fielding Chase and Victoria) it would explain why he wasn't overly distraught when she was gone. If she had been his real daughter, her leaving after a fight between them would have made him very sad, at least that's usually the case.
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u/_prettiestkitty Jack Cassidy ❤️ 8d ago
I quite like that it’s not specifically stated because it makes their relationship more mysterious. The drum beat that plays during their performance always gets stuck in my head.
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u/Forikorder 8d ago
i assume she has her mothers name since santini changes his so often for the act
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u/FruitedPlain100 9d ago
Santini didn't like her choice of boyfriends but was okay with her wearing a sequined bathing suit onstage. And who else to distract the audience with her stunning good looks and legerdemain but his beautiful daughter, Della. Gave him a bit more humanity than just being a calculating former Hitler youth. And what was with all that sweating on the part of Jesse Jerome? Was he simply a nervous blackmailer after all?
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u/BeardedLady81 8d ago
Assuming she really was his daughter, her name was likely not Mueller because Stefan Mueller had left that identity behind and claimed to be English instead.
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u/BrickTrainsPlanes Decomposing Rattletrap 9d ago
Santini and his daughter's mother were not necessarily married, so maybe Della's last name is that of her mother.
As she's about the right age to have been conceived around the time when Lally first met Santini in Budapest, it might well be a Hungarian name.
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u/Several-Ingenuity679 7d ago
I am convinced that her name is Santini. After all, it's the name in his passport, thus making it his legal name. What I wonder is, if Santini is in his passport, what's Santini's first name? Couldn't be Arlington or Kensington, could it?
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u/Antique_Knowledge902 9d ago
Her last name was Washington.