Nadine Clay

Nadine Clay is a retiring supermodel, and her farewell is the setting of Elsbeth's first fair-play whodunit: she takes her final walk at the fashion show of her soon-to-be-ex-husband, designer Nick Garrison, with Tim Gunn interviewing the players - and reviled photographer Ezra Tate is shot dead mid-show, the silenced shot drowning as the music peaks. Because the killer is not shown on screen - the first time in the series - the finale makes the audience work the case alongside Elsbeth, who is reeling from Wagner's order to leave New York, and the suspects narrow to the photographer's college ex - leading model Nadine Clay - or her jealous husband. The investigation passes through pawn-shop owner Pavel, who reveals Ezra's gambling debts, his pawned camera, and a mysterious "Pangaea Project" that turns out to be the key.

Nadine's exonerating story is the episode's heart: she explains Pangaea, a misguided college photoshoot of Nadine made up as different ethnicities, with Ezra holding the compromising photos ever since - and Matteo Hart declaring Elsbeth his new muse along the way, building his next show around her singular fashion sense. The truth clears her differently than anyone expects: the killer is Matteo, who confesses to killing Ezra when an enforcer's threats over his gambling debts risked exhuming both the Pangaea photos and an earlier self-defense killing buried in his backyard - and who, generous to the last, leaves the Pangaea photos for Nadine to destroy so her reputation survives what his cannot, a generosity that closes the season on her name.

Season 3 repositions her from the old guard's defender to the young models' leader: at the Glamazons reunion - assembled after Madison walks into Tiff's Chester bar with an invitation and an apology that exposes a hole in her 25-year-old alibi - the anniversary photoshoot with all four Glamazons, including Nadine, goes off without a hitch. She defends TJ and Madison as mutually devoted "partners in crime," saying she believes strongly that Clyde would never kill Bonnie - her belief-driven loyalty now leading the young models forward rather than defending the past - and the episode leaves unresolved whether she accepts the mentorship Elsbeth proposes for the (S)Heroes. By "Catch and Kill" she is one of the people for whom Otis Langley's bad behavior toward staff is an open secret, though not to the general public - the insider's knowledge of the tabloid ecosystem she has lived in for decades, where Betty trades in secrets willingly and Otis has learned her darkest one.

Nadine's two-season arc is the show's longest memory: the same woman who spent a career being photographed returns first as the subject of compromising pictures and then as the guardian of the young models now living under the same lens - with the Pangaea photos, the Glamazons reunion and the (S)Heroes mentorship all asking, in different registers, who gets to control a woman's image.

Nadine Clay, played by Laura Benanti, is the retiring supermodel whose final runway walk becomes the Stage 1 finale's fair-play murder scene. Suspected in the shooting of the photographer who held the compromising Pangaea Project photos over her, she is exonerated when the real killer leaves the photos for her to destroy - and in Season 3 she returns as a Glamazons legend defending the young models she now leads. She appears in Seasons 1 and 3, first appearing in "A Fitting Finale" (S1E10).

recurring

Ezra Tate is the photographer who held the Pangaea Project photos over her for decades - and whose murder briefly makes her a suspect. Matteo Hart is the killer who, generous to the last, leaves the photos for Nadine to destroy so her reputation survives what his cannot.

Nick Garrison is her soon-to-be-ex-husband, whose fashion show hosts her final walk. In Season 3 the Glamazons - TJ, Madison and the reunion's cast - are the young models she defends and leads, and Elsbeth Tascioni is the investigator who proposes a mentorship the episode leaves unanswered.

• Laura Benanti — Laura Benanti

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• Role: recurring
• Shows: Elsbeth
• Seasons: 2
• Episodes: 3

• A Fitting Finale — S1E10

  Her final walk becomes the fair-play murder scene, her Pangaea story the key that clears her, and the killer's gift the season's last gesture.

• Glamazons — S3E9

  Defends TJ and Madison as devoted partners and leads the young models forward, with Elsbeth's mentorship proposal left open.

• Catch and Kill — S3E19

  Is among the insiders who know Otis Langley's mistreatment of staff is an open secret.

Season 1

Source: Season 1 · S1E10

Season 3

Source: Season 3 · S3E9 · S3E19

Who is Nadine Clay in Elsbeth?

Nadine Clay is a retiring supermodel played by Laura Benanti, the Season 1 finale's prime suspect in Ezra Tate's murder - cleared by the Pangaea Project truth - and a Glamazons legend defending the young models in Season 3.

Source: S1E10 · S3E9 Unreviewed draft

Which seasons of Elsbeth does Nadine Clay appear in?

Nadine Clay appears in Season 1 and Season 3 of Elsbeth.

Source: Season 1 · Season 3 Unreviewed draft

When does Nadine Clay first appear?

Her first credited episode is Season 1's finale, "A Fitting Finale" (S1E10).

Source: S1E10 Unreviewed draft

Who plays Nadine Clay?

Laura Benanti plays Nadine Clay in Elsbeth.

Source: Season 1 cast Unreviewed draft

What is Nadine Clay's role in the story?

She is the victim-adjacent star of the Season 1 fair-play finale - the photographer's college ex whose Pangaea photos are the motive everyone misreads - and the Season 3 veteran whose loyalty shifts to leading the young models.

Source: S1E10 · S3E9 Unreviewed draft