Who does not know him, the man in the rumpled raincoat smoking a cigar and driving the battered Peugeot 403 convertible accompanied by the incredibly slow Basset Hound named Dog? We are, of course, referring to Columbo, the eponymous hero of a TV crime series, in which the actor Peter Falk has been playing the role of Inspector Columbo in a remarkable way since 1968. Although the series does not have any of the typical features of the crime genre, such as car chases, fights and shootouts with suspects and comprises no sex scenes whatsoever, Columbo was a huge success.

Columbo is working for the homicide department of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and has been successfully solving about 70 highly complicated murder cases since 1968 in his pleasant, endearing and rather clumsy manner with a wide-awake mind and pure logic.

Clearly, Columbo may appear as a messy and sometimes even inept policeman, looking for notes or a pen in the pockets of his worn and wrinkled raincoat but stumbling upon boiled eggs, which he then eats at the crime scene (without salt).

In the first 20-25 minutes of each episode, the audience usually learns about the victim, the offender and his preparations and know the execution of the murder. Usually, the story is set in the high society of Los Angeles and the locations are mostly fashion shows, television, film sets, large and lucrative companies or magnificent villas.

Contrary to his appearance and the nature of his behaviour towards suspects, Columbo is actually highly intelligent and solves the cases assigned to him by very accurate observation. It helps him pay particular attention very quickly to even the smallest details and minimal contradictions.

Unless Columbo is asked about his first name in the series, he just introduces himself as “inspector”. His real name is of no relevance to him. Would you like to know Inspector Columbo's actual first name? We'll tell you this secret, though the writers had originally intended for Columbo to bear no first name.

Again and again, the inspector speaks of family members throughout the series, but the first name of Mrs. Columbo never comes up, and she is also never seen on screen. Read more about Mrs. Columbo and her first name here. Of all the relatives the audience hears Columbo speak of, the viewer gets to see none.

Inspector Columbo appears mostly ignorant or distracted during conversations in order to weigh the words of the person with whom he is talking to. Finally his conversations almost always lead to the famous phrase "I still have a question" (originally "Just one more thing"). Not infrequently, the suspect believes that the conversation will come to an end once they answer this final question. That is why some suspects answer recklessly, thus making a crucial mistake.

Their vanity is irritated through this seeming ignorance and lack of concentration and by the flattering compliments expressed by Columbo. Given this seeming stupid and incompetent appearance, the arrogant perpetrators often see it as necessary to help the investigator and present him with some pieces of information prematurely.

Inspector Columbo’s character first appeared in the TV movie Prescription: Murder, which aired in 1968 on the American television network NBC. Bing Crosby, for whom the character was actually written, declined the role due to time constraints, so it was offered to Peter Falk, who agreed to play the grumpy inspector. Columbo was an instant success on American television and Peter Falk won an Emmy Award for his role as Inspector Columbo in the first year of the series.

Unfortunately, the highly successful series, re-run on television again and again, was dropped after the 69^th episode, Columbo Likes the Nightlife, because Peter Falk was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. A sequel is ruled out because Peter Falk, aka Columbo, died on 23/06/2011.

Inspector Columbo was dubbed by Uwe Friedrichsen, Klaus Schwarzkopf, Hans Sievers, Horst Sachtleben and Claus Biederstaedt in the German episodes.

UK Imports

The detective series Columbo presents the audience almost always the crime and the offender at the beginning of its episodes. The audience then follows how the investigator tries to solve the crime and convict the perpetrator. Detectives series following this scheme are called howcatchem. The series Columbo (with few exceptions) is a consistent example of howcatchem. These exceptions are:

Blood Wedding - in this episode, there is no murder, for Columbo manages to prevent it.

The Old Man and the Death - the audience only learns towards the end about the identity of the offender.

He Who Laughs Last... - in this episode, the initial murder was a sham and it was only performed at the end of the episode.

A Bird in the Hand - the murderer seen by the audience at the beginning of the episode later becomes a victim himself.

In the episode Subsequently Deadly, Columbo does not allow the arrest of the perpetrator, because he knows that she is terminally ill and in the episode It’s All in the Game, he lets the accomplice escape in order to extract a confession from the main perpetrator, her mother.

In the course of almost 70 Columbo episodes, the audience finds out quite a lot about the investigator. Columbo seems to enjoy classical music and waltzes like Strauss. He should be able to play the piano (although not very well) and pool, which he had learned from his father. Columbo likes to eat chili, with and without beans, and toast with peanut butter and raisins. He does not listen to the radio anymore because he no longer understands the music. He loves his job particularly because he has the opportunity of meeting famous personalities. As a child, Columbo used to throw stones at street lights until they were broken and liked gangster films, which is perhaps the reason why he became a cop. Columbo buys his cigars in the supermarket.

Moreover, the audience learns that Columbo likes fishing and bowling, gets seasick, and has both a fear of heights and of flying. He drinks his coffee black only - only in a single episode with milk. Even though he always wears a tie, he does not like it.

The series Columbo is known for featuring every now and then celebrities as victims or perpetrators, and sometimes even as episode directors.

Famous Guest Stars

Anne Francis, Dick Van Dyke, Donald Pleasence, Eddie Albert, Faye Dunaway, Forrest Tucker, Gene Barry, George Hamilton, Harold Gould, Hector Elizondo, Heidi Bruhl, Ida Lupino, Jack Cassidy, James Gregory, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie Royce Landis, Johnny Cash, John Cassavetes, John Fiedler, Kate Reid, Leonard Nimoy, Leslie Nielsen, Marcia Wallace, Martin Landau, Martin Milner, Martin Sheen, Pat Morita, Patricia Crowley, Patrick McGoohan, Ray Milland, Rip Torn, Robert Culp, Robert Vaughn, Roddy McDowall, Rosemary Forsyth, Shera Danese (Peter Falk’s wife), Susan Clark, Suzanne Pleshette, William Shatner and many more.

Famous Directors

John Cassavetes (Co-Director), Jonathan Demme, Patrick McGoohan, Peter Falk, Steven Spielberg.

Awards

In 1972, Peter Falk was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best TV actor for his interpretation of Inspector Columbo. In addition to Emmy Award received in the first year of the series’ broadcast, he received the Emmy for Best Actor in a Television Series in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1990. Moreover Peter Falk was nominated 8 times for a Golden Globe Award and 7 times for an Emmy Award.

You may find all episodes of Inspector Columbo here.