Columbo

Columbo and Colambo

Columbo is a long running television series starring Peter Falk as casual police detective Lt. Columbo. A pilot film aired in 1968, and from 1971 to 1978, it aired as a rotating series on NBC Mystery Movie. It was picked up by ABC in 1989, with occasional TV movie installments airing as recently as 2003. The series was focused not on who did it, but how the murderer would be caught, and celebrities were often cast as the killers.

The character was spoofed on Sesame Street with Colambo, who shares Columbo's wardrobe and "Just one more question" mannerisms. Despite being frquent comic-strip fodder, Columbo is not related to Christopher Columbus, noting in the episode "Dead Weight" that it must have been another branch of the family.

Connections

• Roscoe Lee Browne played Dr. Steadman in "Rest in Peace Mrs. Columbo" (1990)
• Stephen Caffrey played Justin Rowe in “Columbo Goes to College” (1990)
• Johnny Cash played Tommy Brown in “Swan Song” (1974)
• Dabney Coleman played Hugh Creighton in “Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star” (1994)
• Billy Connolly as Findlay Crawford in “Murder with Too Many Notes” (2001)
• James Frawley directed six Columbo installments between 1977 and 1989.
• George Gaynes played Everett in "Étude in Black" (1972)
• Bruce Kirby played Sergeant Kramer in multiple installments.
• Martin Landau played Dexter and Norman Paris in "Étude in Black" (1972)
• Pat Morita played the house boy in "Étude in Black" (1972)
• Leslie Nielsen played Peter Hamilton in "Lady in Waiting" (1971) and A. J. Henderson in "Identity Crisis" (1974)
• Leonard Nimoy played Dr. Barry Mayfield in “A Stitch in Crime” (1972)
• William Shatner played Ward Fowler in "Fade In to Murder" and Fielding Chase in "Butterfly in Shades of Grey."
• Jack Tate played John in "Caution - Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" (1991)
• Dick Van Dyke played Paul Galesko in “Negative Reaction” (1974)