A NURSERY schoolteacher in California has become an instant multimillionaire after recognising himself on a jar of Nescafé.

Russell Christoff did not realise that he was famous until a woman next to him in a supermarket queue leant over and said: “You look like the guy on my coffee jar.”

Several weeks later, as he was browsing the shelves of another shop for a Bloody Mary mix, he came face to face with himself on a jar of Taster’s Choice coffee — the American version of Nescafé.

Mr Christoff, now 58, had spent years working as a model and actor before taking up his job at a kindergarten in Antioch, outside San Francisco.

Besides bread-and-butter work in corporate training films, he had won minor TV and film roles and had once hosted his own television programme, Travelling California State Parks. But he was shocked to see a close-up portrait of his chiselled visage savouring a brew on the popular brand of instant coffee.

In 1986, Mr Christoff had sat for two hours for a photoshoot for Nestlé — for which he says he was paid $250 (£133).

He thought nothing had come of it until he discovered his face on the supermarket shelves in 2002. Nestlé, he learnt, had started using his picture in Canada in 1986 and his face had adorned its labels in the United States, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico and South Korea for about six years.

The image had been used not only on jars but also on posters, coupons and even a computer screen-saver.

Mr Christoff checked his old modelling contract and saw that he was entitled to a $2,000 fee if his image was used, so he sued. Nestlé USA, part of the world’s largest food and drinks conglomerate, offered to settle for $100,000, saying that the employee who selected the photo thought the company had obtained the proper consent. But Mr Christoff demanded $8.5 million and fought on.

At one point in the litigation, Nestlé even tried to deny that the portrait was that of Mr Christoff.

A jury at Los Angeles County Superior Court has ruled that Mr Christoff is entitled to $330,000 for the use of his likeness plus 5 per cent of the profit from Taster’s Choice sales from 1997 to 2003 — a total of $15.6 million. The award was made under a California statute designed to protect celebrities from exploitation of their image. Juries in the state often award large sums in punitive damages, only to have them overturned by higher courts.

Mr Christoff’s lawyers expressed delight at the size of the award. But Nestlé vowed to appeal. “The award is excessive and we are looking into other options with our legal counsel,” Yasmeen Muqtasid, a company spokeswoman, said.

Nestlé denied that the identity of the man on the coffee jar was an issue at trial.

Mr Christoff said that he had not yet decided how to spend any money he eventually receives. Explaining why it took him so long to realise that his face was on the instant coffee jars, Mr Christoff told the Los Angeles Times: “I don’t buy Taster’s Choice. I do beans.”

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