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In an acclaimed, half-century-long career, Academy Award-nominated actor Peter Falk will be forever remembered as “Lt. Columbo,” one of the most beloved characters in the history of the small screen. The brainchild of Television Academy Hall of Fame inductees Richard Levinson and William Link, the iconic Columbo character first appeared on the Chevy Mystery Show episode “Enough Rope” in 1960. However, that NBC “living color” production featured actor Bert Freed as the unassuming detective, some seven years before Falk would star in the first of two separate pilots (airing in 1968 and 1971) required to convince network executives to advance the unconventional Columbo concept to series.
For the ensuing three decades, Falk proved indelible as the disheveled genius sleuth, with the actor’s own persona seemingly indistinguishable from the eponymous role for which he would eventually win four Emmy Awards. While the show’s revival on ABC in 1989 was successful enough to continue into the early aughts, it is the original NBC network run from 1971–1978 that has achieved continued worldwide cult status. Those evergreen episodes, including the inaugural installment directed by an emerging young talent named Steven Spielberg, display an unusually high degree of quality for primetime programming of the ’70s — due in part to Falk’s pressing influence on the studio. But just one more thing: the staying power of the series and its eminent rewatchability is above all a testament to Falk’s complete immersion in the well-rumpled role that fit him like … an old raincoat.
—Mark Quigley, John H. Mitchell Television Curator
Special thanks to our community partner: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Columbo: “Murder by the Book”
U.S., 9/15/1971
Cinema maestro Steven Spielberg famously began his legendary career as a wunderkind at Universal Studios — directing television programs ranging from an acclaimed segment in the Night Gallery horror pilot to this first post-pilot episode of Columbo. Spielberg delivers one of the finest (and most visually striking) installments of the entire series run, aided by a pitch-perfect performance by Jack Cassidy as a vain, smirking mystery writer who severely underestimates his perpetually unkempt adversary.
DCP, color, 72 min. NBC. Production: Universal Television. Producers: Richard Levinson, William Link. Director: Steven Spielberg. Writer: Steven Bochco. With: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Barbara Colby, Martin Milner.
24th Annual Emmy Awards [excerpt]
U.S., 5/14/1972
Peter Falk accepts an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for Columbo/“NBC Mystery Movie.”
DCP, color, 3 min. Clip courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Special thanks to Laurel Whitcomb, Jenni Matz.
Columbo: “Double Shock”
U.S., 3/25/1973
As originally broadcast with NBC Mystery Movie opening, network bumpers and commercials!
Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Robert Butler helmed this superb Columbo entry with an unparalleled twist. Academy Award winner Martin Landau stars in a dual role as identical twins, one possibly implicated in a horrific, cold-blooded murder. Butler masterfully sustains suspense to the final act, delivering scene-stealing moments for Falk along the way — from Columbo guesting on a TV cooking show segment to his unraveling of a prim housekeeper (Jeanette Nolan) infuriated by his involuntary untidiness.
DCP, color, 90 min. NBC. Production: Universal. Producer: Dean Hargrove. Director: Robert Butler. Writers: Steven Bochco, Jackson Gillis, Richard Levinson, William Link. With: Peter Falk, Martin Landau, Jeanette Nolan.
