Columbo facts and beginner’s guide
If you’re lucky enough to just be discovering Columbo, congratulations! There’s a whole world of enjoyment ahead of you as you uncover the brilliance of the show episode by episode.
Once hooked, you’ll likely be a fan for life. And if you now can’t get enough of the show and are hankering for more information on it, look no further!
And even if you’re not a newcomer yourself, there may still be some little snippets here you haven’t come across before – and don’t be shy in passing on any facts of your own that you think ought to be included.
Facts about Columbo the show
Columbo ran for 35 years and a total of 69 episodes between 1968’s Prescription: Murder and 2003’s Columbo Likes the Nightlife. You can view the entire episode list here.
Columbo pioneered the inverted mystery technique, by showing the crime first, and then having Columbo solve it. Instead of a ‘who dunnit’, Columbo is said to be a ‘how’s he gonna catch ’em’. The show was created by William Link and Richard Levinson. Link is still with us, but Levinson died in 1987.
Two actors played Lieutenant Columbo before Peter Falk: Bert Freed (in the one-off 1960 TV movie Enough Rope) and Thomas Mitchell (in the stage version of Prescription: Murder in 1962). Bing Crosby famously turned down the role, jokingly saying he preferred to concentrate on his golf game.
Steven Spielberg directed Season 1’s first episode Murder by the Book in 1971 – four years before he became a household name with Jaws.
Peter Falk’s second wife, Shera Danese, appeared in six episodes between 1976-1997.
Patrick McGoohan played a Columbo murderer more times than any other actor – four times. Jack Cassidy and Robert Culp each had three appearances as killers. William Shatner and George Hamilton each played a killer twice.
Peter Falk won 4 Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Lieutenant Columbo in 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1990. His acceptance speech in 1972 was a beauty! View it below.
Peter Falk had a sometimes fractious relationship with Universal. During the filming of Season 1, and believing the studio was trying to renege on an agreement to let him direct an episode, Falk was even barred from the set. Filming of Dead Weight and Lady in Waiting was affected.
Among the other household names who starred as Columbo killers are Leonard Nimoy, Johnny Cash, Billy Connolly, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Jackie Cooper, Dick Van Dyke and Faye Dunaway.
Peter Falk directed just one episode: Blueprint for Murder in 1971. Although it is rumoured that he and John Cassavetes were largely responsible for direction duties on Etude in Black in 1972.
Among the superstars who have had bit-parts in Columbo are Jamie Lee-Curtis, Kim Cattrall, Sal Mineo, Vincent Price, Don Ameche, Myrna Loy, Martin Sheen, Little Richard and Rod Steiger. Read about many more here.
Peter Falk’s own favourite Columbo episodes were Any Old Port in a Storm, Forgotten Lady, Now You See Him and Identity Crisis.
The most recurring Columbo guest star was Mike Lally, who had cameos in at least 23 episodes. Read more about Mike here.
Aside from Columbo and ‘Dog’, the single-most recurring character was Bruce Kirby’s Sergeant Kramer, who featured six times between 1974 and 1990.
Peter Falk was rumoured to be earning $300,000 per episode when he returned for Season 6 of Columbo in 1976. This doubled to $600,000 per episode when the series made its comeback in 1989.
Columbo’s unofficial theme tune is ‘This Old Man‘, which was first ad libbed into a scene in Any Old Port in a Storm, when Columbo hums it while making a phone call.
In 1997, Murder by the Book was ranked at No. 16 in TV Guide‘s ‘100 Greatest Episodes of All Time’ list. Two years later, the magazine ranked Lieutenant Columbo No. 7 on its ’50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time’ list.
Facts about Columbo the character
Mrs Columbo is often talked about but never seen on screen. She is, however, on the same cruise ship as the Lieutenant in Troubled Waters from 1975.
Before joining the police force, Columbo was in the US Army and served in the Korean War.
His favourite food is chilli, ideally with saltine crackers. He also has a penchant for hard boiled eggs. Black coffee is his drink of choice.
Columbo only lets a killer get away with murder once: in Forgotten Lady from Season 5, when a terminally ill Grace Wheeler (Janet Leigh) cannot even recall she committed the crime. He also lets accomplice Lisa Martin escape to Europe in It’s All in the Game in order to extract a confession from her mother, Lauren Staton (Faye Dunaway).
In 1972, Columbo earned $11,000 per year as a police Lieutenant, or so he tells Alex Benedict in Etude in Black.
Columbo hates guns, doesn’t carry one and gets a colleague to take his gun test on his behalf in Forgotten Lady. We only see the Lieutenant pull the trigger once – in 1975’s Playback, when he conducts an experiment to help crack the case. He carries a gun in No Time to Die, but doesn’t fire it.
According to Sex and Married Detective, Columbo is an excellent tuba player! His other interests include bowling, pool and pinball.
Peter Falk famously only had one eye after losing one to cancer at the age of three. Many fans wonder whether Columbo also had just one eye. The answer may be yes, as Columbo states that ‘three eyes are better than one’ when helping a colleague conduct a search for evidence in 1997’s A Trace of Murder. Or was this just an Easter Egg for fans? I consider this topic in more depth here.
Columbo was from a big family, having 5 brothers and 1 sister. His sister was called Mary, but she had died before No Time to Die in 1992, when Columbo attended her son Andy’s wedding.
It’s unknown whether Columbo had any children. He references having kids in several episodes, including Any Old Port in a Storm, Most Crucial Game and Mind Over Mayhem. However, in Rest In Peace Mrs Columbo, he says that he never had children. As with many aspects of the show, you can never tell what’s true and what isn’t.