Twin Peaks Publicity – Michael Ontkean on Nov. 10, 1990

I recently acquired two incredible auctions of publicity photos and slides from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks. It’s unclear of their origin but I will be periodically offering high resolution scans and behind-the-scenes stories and details about the shots. To start, here is a 4-inch by 4-inch, black and white photo of Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman.

MICHAEL ONTKEAN AS SHERIFF HARRY S. TRUMAN

This square photo of Michael Ontkean comes from one of the earliest publicity photos of the actor dressed as Sheriff Harry S. Truman. The image I won at auction contained crop marks were used when the photo was published in a newspaper.

The photo was part of this photoshoot from May 1989, only a few months after production had wrapped on the Twin Peaks pilot in Washington state. The cast photo featured early looks at Joan Chen as Josie Packard, Ontkean as Sheriff Truman, Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper and Piper Laurie as Catherine Martell. There were both black and white and full-color photos taken that day by a photographer with the initials of “PK.”

The description for this image reads: “It takes a murder to reveal the passion, greed and intrigue that exists just below the surface of a seemingly quiet small town in the Pacific Northwest, Joan Chen, Michael Ontkean, Kyle MacLachlan and Piper Laurie star in the ensemble drama, “TWIN PEAKS,” airing on the ABC Television Network. PK 5/89 26665A-5-15″

One of the most fascinating details I spotted while editing the image was Ontkean’s earring. It is present in other publicity shots taken that day.

Ontkean sported his earring in some publicity shots taken in Washington state such as this one from the train car scene.

Yet he isn’t wearing the earring during the actual broadcast. I looked at several close-ups of his face but the earring is missing.

MICHAEL ONTKEAN’S PHOTO ON NOV. 10, 1990

The back of the publicity photo had a hand-written notes that said, “Ontkean, Michael 11-10-90,” meaning the photo was run in a newspaper on Nov. 10, 1990. This was an important day in Twin Peaks history as it was the day that Laura Palmer’s killer was officially revealed in the David Lynch-directed episode 2.007.

After researching Newspapers.com, I found two examples of where the cropped photo was used.

The first comes from The Courier Post which contained a small photo of Ontkean under their television grid for Saturday, Nov. 10. The caption read: “Cooper and Truman (Michael Ontkean) learn the identity of Laura Palmer’s killer on ‘Twin Peaks’ tonight at 10.”

The second image was used under the television programming grid in The Modesto Bee on Nov. 10. It’s an interesting choice to use Ontkean’s photo for such an important episode in the show’s history.

You can download a high-resolution image of this publicity photo on my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/54481110283