Spot the stiff

March 25, 2008 9:59 AM

So I'm way behind you guys on The Wire, watching DVD releases in the UK, but I having just seen the opening of Season 4 episode 2 I have a question.

(Herc catches Royce in flagrante delicto). Herc then walks the corridor avoiding the gaze of the portraits lining the the walls. The final, lingering, shot is of a gentlemen that in any other context I would swear was Walt Disney. Should I recognize him? Is it an in-joke? and the others?

posted by handybitesize to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

It's most likely a former Mayor of Baltimore, as it was filmed in City Hall.
posted by electroboy at 10:06 AM on March 25, 2008

Mod note: moved potential spoiler to inside, carry on
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:14 AM on March 25, 2008

Best answer: Former Mayor - and Nancy Pelosi's dad - Thomas J. D'Alesandro Jr.?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:18 AM on March 25, 2008

I wouldn't go looking up former mayors of Baltimore. Here thar be spoilers.
posted by munchingzombie at 10:19 AM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

er... except the above link to Thomas D'Alesandro. That is safe.
posted by munchingzombie at 10:20 AM on March 25, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks jessamyn - I deliberated over that myself but decided to use the least spoiling spoiler I could
posted by handybitesize at 10:21 AM on March 25, 2008

Here's a cached article from the Baltimore Mayor's office about the tradition of Mayoral Portraits.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:21 AM on March 25, 2008

Response by poster: That's the fella - thanks all. Still think he looks Disneyesque
posted by handybitesize at 10:24 AM on March 25, 2008