GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #62

COLUMBO

The inverted detective story, which shows the commission of the crime and its perpetrator, removes the "whodunit" element of the detective story and replaces it with "howcatchem".  There was no finer example of this than the TV crime drama "Columbo" as portrayed by Peter Falk.  Frank Columbo was a homicide detective with the LAPD, and the show originally aired on NBC as one of the rotating programs on "The NBC Mystery Movie" broadcast on Sunday nights.  Columbo is a shrewd but inelegant blue-collar homicide detective whose trademarks are his rumpled raincoat, his unassuming demeanor, cigar, old Peugeot 403 automobile, an unseen wife (whom he mentions frequently), and his famous catchphrase "just one more thing" that he utters as he is about to leave a room.  The culprits are often affluent members of society who think that they've carefully covered their tracks and committed the perfect crime.  They are initially dismissive of Columbo's fumbling speech and apparent ineptitude.  But they become increasingly unsettled as his superficially pestering behavior teases out incriminating evidence.  His relentless approach often leads to self-incrimination or outright confessions.

The character of Columbo was created by the writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link who said that Columbo was inspired by Dostoevsky's Petrovich from "Crime and Punishment" and the cleric-detective Father Brown.  Levinson and Link had many of their stories published in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine 1959-1962.  One of these, "Dear Corpus Delecti" appeared in the March 1960 edition of the magazine and was purchased and filmed as a segment of "The Chevy Mystery Show", an anthology series on NBC.  The story became the episode "Enough Rope" on July 31, 1960 with Bert Freed as Lieutenant Columbo, Richard Carlson as Dr. Roy Fleming, Barbara Stuart as Claire Fleming, and Joan O'Brien as Susan Hudson.  In the printed story the detective's name was Fisher, but became Columbo in the TV adaptation.  Levinson and Link must have liked the name change because they stayed with it afterwards.  Bert Freed, who first played Columbo, was a stocky character actor with a thatch of grey hair.  He wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar and used some of the same methods of misdirecting and distracting his suspects as later perfected by Falk.  This first portrayal of Columbo is the only version not available through Peacock or any other streaming service.  Its only available for viewing through the archives of the Paley Center for Media in NYC and LA.

In that first show, Dr. Fleming, a psychiatrist, wants to get rid of his wife Claire, and uses his girlfriend Susan Hudson to create the perfect alibi.  Dr. Fleming and his wife are planning a trip to Toronto but before leaving for the airport, the doctor murders his wife.  He goes to the airport with his girlfriend impersonating his wife.  They have a loud argument at the airport, creating a scene, with his "wife" returning home as he continues to Toronto.  She supposedly returns to their apartment to be murdered while he's on vacation.  The perfect crime - right?  Not with Lt. Columbo on the case.

Levinson and Link adapted the TV drama into a stage play titled "Prescription: Murder" that was first performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on January 2, 1962, with Oscar-winning character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo.  Mitchell, best known as the absent-minded Uncle Billy in "It's a Wonderful Life" was 70 at the time.  The stage production also had Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as his wife.  The show was touring in out-of-town tryouts when Mitchell died of cancer.  Columbo was his last role.  In 1968 the same play was made into two-hour TV movie for NBC.  Levinson and Link suggested Lee J. Cobb or Bing Crosby for the part of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because it would take away from his golfing.  Peter Falk excitedly said that he "would kill to play" the role and director Richard Irving convinced the writers that Falk could pull it off.  Gene Barry played the psychiatrist pitted against Columbo.

Due to the success of the film, NBC requested a pilot for a potential series.  This led to a 90-minute production "Ransom for a Dead Man" with Lee Grant as the killer of her husband.  The popularity of the pilot led to the creation in September 1971 of "The NBC Mystery Movie" with "Columbo" rotating appearances with "McCloud" and "McMillan and Wife".  Columbo was an immediate hit and Falk won an Emmy for his role in the show's first season.  The show became the anchor of NBC's Sunday night lineup.  Columbo was cancelled in 1978 but was revived on ABC between 1989 and 2003 in several new seasons and a few made-for-TV movies.

Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Falk - they were his clothes, including the high-topped shoes and the shabby raincoat.  Falk often ad-libbed his character's idiosyncrasies (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and finding a grocery list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect).  The catchphrase "one more thing" was a product of Levinson and Link.  When they wrote the play, they had a scene that was too short and they'd already had Columbo make his exit.  They were too lazy to retype the scene so they had him come back and say, "Oh, just one more thing."  Before his death Falk expressed an interest in returning to the role.  In 2007 he had settled on one last episode that was to be called "Columbo's Last Case", but the network declined the project.  Later that year Falk was diagnosed with dementia.  By 2009 his condition had deteriorated so badly that he could no longer remember playing a character named Columbo.  Peter Falk died on June 23, 2011, at the age of 83.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Richard Levinson (1934-1987) and William Link (1933-2020) began a 41-year-long friendship in 1946 on their first day of junior high.  Both were avid Ellery Queen fans and enjoyed mental puzzles and challenges, a characteristic that would spill over into their careers as mystery writers.  Levinson died of a heart attack in 1987.  Levinson and Link also created the popular "Murder, She Wrote" with Angela Lansbury.

For abbreviation purposes, AHMM is Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and EQMM is Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.  

"Whistle While You Work" (EQMM Nov. 1954)/  "Child's Play" (AHMM Jan. 1959)/  "Shooting Script" (AHMM Apr. 1959)/  "Suddenly, There Was Mrs. Kemp" (AHMM Apr. 1959)/  "Operation Staying-Alive" (AHMM July 1959)/  "The Hundred Dollar Bird's Nest" (AHMM Aug. 1959)/  "One for the Road" (Escapade Aug. 1959)/  "Robbery Robbery Robbery" (AHMM Aug. 1959)/  "Memory Game" (AHMM Sept. 1959)/  "One Bad Winter's Day" (AHMM Sept. 1959)/  "Ghost Story" (Escapade Oct. 1959)/  "The Joan Club" (Playboy Nov. 1959)/  "Don't Call Us...We'll Call You" (Nugget Dec. 1959)/  "Dear Corpus Delecti" (AHMM Mar. 1960)/  "Who Is Jessica?" (AHMM Aug. 1960)/  "No Name, Address, Identity" (AHMM July 1961)/  "The End of an Era" (AHMM Jan. 1962)/  "Top Flight Aquarium" (AHMM Apr. 1962)/  "Exit Line" (AHMM June 1962)/  "The Man in the Lobby" (AHMM June 1966)/  "Small Accident" 1970 - publication unknown.

TELEVISION

"Enough Rope" appeared July 31, 1960 on NBC's "The Chevy Mystery Show"

"Prescription: Murder" aired February 20, 1968 on NBC.  Falk's first appearance as Columbo.

"Ransom for a Dead Man" March 1, 1971 was the pilot for the NBC series.

"Columbo" ran on NBC September 15, 1971 until May 13, 1978.  The first episode of the season premier was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg (a good sign of things to come).  Jonathan Demme also directed an episode.  Two episodes were based upon novels by Ed McBain for his 87th Precinct series.  Columbo's first name is never mentioned in the series, but when he flashed his credentials, if you were quick to see, his name was listed as Frank Columbo.  The show ran on ABC February 6, 1989 until January 30, 2003.  From Columbo's first appearance in 1960 until his last in 2003, there were 70 episodes and TV-movies.  During the series run the show attracted many great actors and actresses who wanted to be on the show, many of whom had won Oscars and Emmys over the course of their careers.  Columbo was one of a kind.