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    1000 Columbo Facts
    1000 Columbo Facts
    1000 Columbo Facts
    Ebook223 pages2 hours

    1000 Columbo Facts

    By Phillip Allan

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Columbo is an iconic police procedural show which ran from 1968 to 2003. The show was very popular during its run, especially in the 1970s and remains very popular today throughout the world.

     

    The show has a wonderful performance by Peter Falk as the disheveled, eccentric but extremely able detective. The world depicted is colourful and often surreal with Columbo chasing murderers who are often rich and highly intelligent. Columbo has high production values, great writing, wonderful guest stars and many famous personalities involved in production.

     

    Find out more about the world of Columbo with this book with information on the cast and crew, anecdotes, episodes, characters, locations, mistakes and other fascinating Columbo facts in this book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookRix
    Release dateAug 29, 2023
    ISBN9783755451389
    1000 Columbo Facts

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      Book preview

      1000 Columbo Facts - Phillip Allan

      Copyright

      © Copyright 2023 Phillip Allan

      All Rights Reserved

      Contents

      Introduction

      The Facts

      Introduction

      Columbo is an iconic police procedural show which ran from 1968 to 2003. The show was very popular during its run, especially in the 1970s and remains very popular today throughout the world.

      The show has a wonderful performance by Peter Falk as the dishevelled, eccentric but extremely able detective. The world depicted is colourful and often surreal with Columbo chasing murderers who are often rich and highly intelligent. Columbo has high production values, great writing, wonderful guest stars and many famous personalities involved in production.

      Find out more about the world of Columbo with this book with information on the cast and crew, anecdotes, episodes, characters, locations, mistakes and other fascinating Columbo facts in this book.

      The Facts

      1

      In Candidate for Crime (1973) the shadows of the microphone/boom can be shown on the front door when Mrs Haywood lets Columbo in for the first time.

      2

      Ed Asner was going to be cast as Colonel Rumford in By Dawn’s Early Light? (1974) but he pulled out. Patrick McGoohan took the role.

      3

      Peter Falk was a fan of the tune This Old Man and whistled it during filming Any Old Port in a Storm (1973) as an ad-lib. It became a part of the series and Columbo's theme tune.

      4

      In 2013 a Writers Guild of America list of the 101 Best Written TV Series included Columbo at 57.

      5

      The initial pilot episode of Columbo, titled Prescription: Murder, aired on February 20th 1968. The final installment of Columbo, titled Columbo Likes the Nightlife aired January 30th 2003. The show spanned 34 years.

      6

      In Butterfly in Shades of Grey (1994) Fielding Chase's mansion was located at 3469 Cross Creek Rd, Malibu, California, USA. The house was built in 1983 by Linda Thompson. It had nine bedrooms and eleven bathrooms. A railway linked the garden and house. The house changed hands several times since it was built and the site has been extensively renovated with the railway removed.

      7

      The quickest murder in the series is in Suitable for Framing (1971) occurring only about a minute into the episode.

      8

      Suitable for Framing (1971) has the only murder victim with no lines of dialogue.

      9

      In A Friend in Deed (1974) and Undercover (1994) the first murders occur before the episode begins.

      10

      In 1999, TV Guide magazine ranked Lt. Columbo No. 7 on a 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time poll.

      11

      Only 504 of Columbo's Peugeot 403 Cabriolet convertible car were made in 1959.

      12

      Peter Falk enjoyed the running gag in Now You see Him (1976) in which Columbo's wife had bought him a new raincoat which Columbo dislked. Columbo kept unsuccessfully trying to lose it.

      13

      In Old Fashioned Murder (1976) the Lytton Museum is located at Mount St. Mary's College, Doheny Mansion - 10 Chester Pl, Los Angeles, California, USA.

      14

      In a A Friend in Deed (1974) there was this interesting conversation about Columbo’s vintage Peugeot car:

      "Charlie Shoup (used car salesman): Yes, indeed. It's a real honey. You know we don't get to see many of these around anymore - especially in this condition.

      Columbo: Well, I try to take good care of it."

      15

      Columbo normally drinks coffee black and strong. On occasion he drinks it with cream (milk).

      16

      For the second season of Columbo executives at NBC thought it would be a good idea to give Columbo a sidekick. Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link had the idea of a dog as a sidekick.

      Peter Falk chose the basset hound at a dog pound.

      17

      The Carsini Winery in Any Old Port in a Storm is the Mirassou Winery in real life. This is situated at Mirassou Winery, 3000 Aborn Road, San Jose, California, USA.

      18

      For the role of Negative Reaction (1974) Omar Shariff was asked to play murderer Paul Galesko. But Shariff wanted the huge fee of $100,000! Dick Van Dyke played the role.

      19

      In Mind Over Mayhem the boy genius is called Stephen Spelberg. This is a tribute by episode writers Steven Bochco and Dean Hargrove to Steven Spielberg who directed Murder by the Book in 1971.

      20

      In Uneasy Lies the Crown (1990) Colombo states that he is cold as his coat does not have a lining!

      21

      The background music in the jewelry store in A Friend in Deed (1974) is The End of a Love Affair by Edward Redding.

      22

      John Finnegan (1926-2012) was a character actor who made thirteen appearances in the Columbo series. He appears in more episodes than any other of the supporting cast.

      He had a wide variety of roles from Season One’s Blueprint For Murder (1971) to the last episode Columbo likes the Nightlife in 2003. He played various characters such as a workman and garbage collector. He had several parts as a police chief. In later Columbo's he played Barney of Barney's Beanery where Columbo ate his chilli.

      He became close friends with Peter Falk at the Actors Studio in his native New York City.

      23

      The children's song This Old Man appears in almost every episode of the Columbo series, sometimes as background music, but most often with Lt. Columbo singing, humming, or whistling the tune. Candidate For Crime (1973) is the only episode where the murderer (Jackie Cooper as political candidate Nelson Hayward) is heard using it; in this case, he is whistling it as he prepares to film a campaign commercial.

      24

      Columbo's creators decided to not have Columbo at police headquarters at home when creating the series as it seemed to us much more effective if he drifted into our stories from limbo.

      Columbo was shown at police headquarters on occasion but we never see his home - or wife.

      25

      In season one of Columbo Peter Falk used his influence on casting tried to get bit parts for his actor friends such as Mike Lally. As the series progressed he realised that guest actors had an influence on the reputation of the show and his own performance. Falk therefore asked for big names to guest star in the series.

      26

      Show creators Richard Levinson and William Link stated that they did not give Columbo a first name and did not intend for him to have one. In the first script of season one a reference to Columbo's first name was removed by them.

      .

      27

      Columbo is a fan of British fish and chips. In Dagger Of The Mind (1973), Columbo says to Supt. Durk by the Embankment in London: Those fish and chips are greasy but they're sure good!

      28

      Columbo creator Richard Levinson stated that Columbo's one more thing catchphrase was invented when he and William Link wrote the original stage play. A scene was too short and Columbo had exited the stage too early. Having him say one more thing was an easy way to get him back on state without having to rewrite lots of dialogue.

      29

      In the 1991 episode Death Hits the Jackpot (1991), Columbo reveals that he and his wife's silver wedding anniversary - 25th - is coming up very soon. This would mean that Columbo married two years before the 1968 pilot Prescription: Murder.

      30

      A Trace of Murder (1997) was presented as a special episode to mark the 25th anniversary of Columbo. It was aired in 1997, 25 years after the first episode in Season One in 1971, and 29 years after the pilot Prescription: Murder in 1968.

      31

      Columbo is famous for his love of chilli con carne. This is a stew made up of meat chili peppers, garlic, tomato, onion and cumin. Pinto or kidney beans are added. Chili is Mexican or Texan in origin and there are many variations such as different meats, meat free, green chills and so forth.

      32

      The lake where negative reaction murderer Paul Galesko and Alvin Deschler meet inn Negative Reaction (1974) is the Hollywood Reservoir, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

      33

      The show has been described by the BBC as timeless

      34

      Theresa Goren's Malibu beach house in Murder in Malibu (1990) is the same house belonging to Joanna & Charles Clay in the Last Salute to the Commodore (1976) aired 15 years earlier.

      The address is 33148 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA.

      35

      The episode Murder by the Book in 1971 was directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg never directed another episode and went on to be one of the most famous figures of all time in the film industry.

      Spielberg said I looked at every television episode I directed as a stepping stone to getting someone to hire me to direct a feature, So I used the television opportunities to try to do things that would make people think I could do feature films. He soon got the job of directing tv movie Duel because of the Columbo episode.

      36

      When the first season of Columbo was in production the original plan was for a new episode to air every week. An episode would have been shot every five days. Peter Falk did not want this as he made films and could not commit to this filming schedule for Columbo. Instead Columbo was shown once a month on a Wednesday.

      37

      In Agenda for Murder (1990) a piece of evidence implicating the murderer involves a bitemark on a piece of cheese. In 1999 doubts about forensic dentistry were raised. Since 2016 bite mark analysis has little support as evidence in legal cases.

      38

      The white house on the water in Dead Weigh (1971) that belongs to Maj. Gen. Hollister was, in real life, actually owned by Peter Falk, and is located in Newport Beach, California.

      39

      Peter Falk planned to make a final episode entitled Columbo's Last Case in the 2000's. But his failing health and lack of interest from tv networks meant it was not made.

      40

      Peter Falk added Columbo's cigar habit. In real life he was a cigarette smoker.

      41

      The quickest murder in the series is in Suitable for Framing (1971) occurring only about a minute into the episode.

      42

      The first episode filmed in the first series of Columbo was Death Lends a Hand (1971). It was the second episode aired in Season One.

      43

      For Season One, the producers Levinson and William Link carefully planned all the episodes. But as the show received great ratings Universal Studios asked for an extra episode for the season. Short Fuse (1972) became an extra episode and was filmed last. This episode was quickly put together and as a result many critics and fans believe it to the weakest in the first season of Columbo.

      44

      Murder by the Book (1971),

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