COLUMBO: The End of the Series

COLUMBO was an American TV series starring Peter Falk, which had its premiere  as a TV Movie of the Week on February 20, 1968 under the title PRESCRIPTION MURDER and also starring Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming, a psychiatrist who murders his wife when she discovers he's having an affair with one of his patients. The movie pretty much establishes the character of Lt. Columbo of the LAPD. Here, Columbo establishes two of his most famous trademarks by needing to borrow a pencil and, just before leaving the psychiatrist's office, by saying, "There's one more thing . . . ". 

With Gene Barry

Three years later, on March 1st, 1971, the second COLUMBO TV Movie was telecast, starring Lee Grant as attorney Leslie Williams, who is so bored with her husband, she decides to fake his kidnapping after killing him and then plans to keep the ransom.

 Lee Grant

Finally, COLUMBO became one of three rotating programs of The NBC MYSTERY MOVIE and the first episode titled MURDER BY THE BOOK with guest star Jack Cassidy premiered on September 15, 1971. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

 Jack Cassidy

Robert Culp

 Robert Vaughn

 Dick Van Dyke

 John Cassavetes

Kim Hunter, Don Ameche and Ross Martin

 Susan Clark and Leslie Nielsen

Robert Vaughn

 Martin Landau

Jackie Cooper

 Patrick O'Neal

Donald Pleasence

Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

Sally Kellerman, Patrick McGoohan and Rue McClanahan

And eventually, after some 69 episodes, COLUMBO appeared solving his last case, exactly twenty years ago, on January 30, 2003 in the episode COLUMBO LIKES THE NIGHTLIFE.

Peter Falk passed away on June 23rd, 2011 at 83.

After so many years it is understandable that some episodes were not as good as others but for me, the first seven seasons, from 1971 to 1978, were all winners.  Peter Falk had a long and distinguished career playing all sorts of roles, in comedy and drama but his ultimate legacy will always be as Lt. Columbo, the classic and unforgettable lieutenant who solved murders by sheer ingenuity, logic, lots of luck, and his uncanny powers of observation.

"Oh, there's one more thing!..."

LESLIE NIELSEN : FROM DRAMA TO COMEDY

BORN ON THIS DAY:

Leslie Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor, comedian, and producer. He appeared in more than 100 films and 150 TV programs. He worked as a disc jockey before receiving a scholarship to study theatre at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his acting debut in 1950.

His performances in the films include Forbidden Planet, The Poseidon Adventure, Creepshow,  Airplane!, Dracula - Dead and Loving It, The Naked Gun film series, plus many others. Nielsen received a variety of awards and was inducted into the Canada and Hollywood Walks of Fame.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Although his notable performances in the films Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure gave him standing as a serious actor, Nielsen later gained enduring recognition for his deadpan comedy roles during the 1980s, after being cast for the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker comedy film Airplane! In his comedy roles, Nielsen specialized in portraying characters oblivious to and complicit in their absurd surroundings. Nielsen's performance in Airplane! marked his turning point, which made him "the Olivier of spoofs" according to film critic Roger Ebert, and leading to further success in the genre with The Naked Gun film series, based on the earlier short-lived television series Police Squad!, in which Nielsen also starred. Nielsen received a variety of awards and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As Francis Marion in THE SWAMP FOX (1959) 

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

CREEPSHOW (1982)

                                                          

AIRPLANE! (1980)

Nielsen passed away on November 28, 2010 at age 84.  His body was interred in Fort Lauderdale's Evergreen Cemetery. As a final bit of humour, Nielsen chose "Let 'er rip" as his epitaph.

TRUTH HURTS!

1970s TV CARICATURES

Back in 1970, I did a weekly one page strip about local TV shows for a national television schedule magazine in the TV Guide mold, called TV FARÁNDULA. Sometimes I had the chance to do a piece on American TV series and these are two samples from those articles.