Delany told me that though her Body of Proof role of medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt may seem like a retread of Quincy M.E., she's ultimately she's a modern woman with an almost militaristic passion for her work ("The body is evidence," she says in the pilot. "It will give us everything we need to know if only we have the patience to look") whose vices are as deep-seeded or banal as anyone's.
"And she's a nerd! That's kind of new for me," Delany said. "Quirk-wise, I mean, she likes to wear shoes. But who doesn't?"
Though the character is serious, Delany says the on-set atmosphere is anything but. In fact, she's already looking for comic potential in Megan's trajectory and actually stammers when asked how the role may evolve. "I'd like to know myself!" she said. "I'm hoping that there's going to be some kind of romantic interest. And she's going to be really bad at it."
Of course, I couldn't let Delany go without asking questions about he esteemed past on Jeopardy!. The 54-year-old actress has appeared three times as a celebrity contestant, and though she won during her second appearance against Brian Stokes Mitchell and Drew Lachey, in her most recent appearance, she lost so soundly that the record books were rewritten.
"I played [against] Andy Richter and he killed. He actually is the highest-rated celebrity ever," she said. "I just love Jeopardy!. I watched when Art Fleming was the host, when I was kid. I'm very competitive when it comes to trivia."
One good game deserves another, so I asked Delany to play our game for cinephiles, "My Favorite Scene." Before I could finish explaining the rules, she immediately recalled her favorite cinematic moment and line of dialogue.
"It's from A Place in the Sun. Yes! With Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. It's a really extreme close-up of Elizabeth Taylor, and she says, 'Tell Mama. Tell Mama all.'"