And surely, everyone must know that the character name "Burke Devlin" originated as the role Rock Hudson played in director Douglas Sirk's 1958 melodrama (one of eight on which they worked together) TARNISHED ANGELS. Nothing to do with any supernatural themes---- it's about a reporter, played by Hudson, working on a story about a former WWI pilot reduced to working as a stunt aviator. This Devlin becomes interested in the unhappy blonde wife of the ne'er-do-well former hero, which fellow (played by Robert Stack) happens to be named Roger. (However, that's where any similarity ends--- the wife, played by Dorothy Malone, is named LaVerne, their young son is named Jack, and the family name is Schuman.)
It's interesting to note that the reporter character had no name in the original William Faulkner story upon which the film was based. A reading of the credits listed on IMDB doesn't appear to mention anyone later connected with DS, though IMDB is hardly the final word on anything. One could make the case that some names just get recycled in different shows and movies, but this IS a quite unique character name, and indeed, one could make a case that Mitch Ryan was intended to invoke some comparison to Hudson, whose roles in those days were of the manly alpha male (sometimes with a rough edge) type.
