Well, here’s a tidbit we didn’t expect: How did Dana Delany become the star of ABC’s new character-centric procedural, “Body of Proof”?

“I blame it all on Nathan Fillion,” Delany told the press during a panel session for the new fall series Sunday at the Beverly Hilton.  It turns out Fillion, a good friend, begged her to appear on his hit ABC show “Castle,” and working on those two episodes made ABC’s top brass think she’d be perfect for the role of Dr. Megan Hunt, a neurosurgeon-turned-medical-examiner whose personal life is in chaos.

Another thing we didn’t expect: This year, Delany was in a car accident very similar to the one her character is in. In the show, the accident renders her character unable to operate anymore.

Delany said she was driving in Santa Monica early in the morning one day when a bus hit her car on the passenger side as she was making a left turn. Her car was totaled and she was “lucky to be alive,” she said.

“The irony was when I got out of the car, the driver said, ‘I know who you are. Can I have your autograph?’” Delany said.

Umm, we don’t know if we’d call that irony. Sheesh.

Delany said she opted to take this job and leave “Desperate Housewives” because she loved how complicated and smart her character was, comparing it favorably to her “China Beach” character.

“She feels very close to me,” she said.

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