50 Fun Facts About Columbo

Lieutenant Columbo is a detective of what specific kind?

He was played by Peter Falk for over three decades.

For which police department does Columbo work?

He is a homicide detective who mostly investigates wealthy suspects.

What is Columbo's most famous item of clothing?

It, the cigar and a battered old car are his trademarks.

Columbo drives a battered old car of which make?

It is a Peugeot 403 convertible.

Which food does the show repeatedly mention Columbo loving?

His wife is often mentioned but never seen on screen.

Columbo often leaves a room and returns with which catchphrase before a key question?

The line has become the character's signature.

The show popularised which storytelling format, in which the viewer sees the crime committed first?

It is sometimes called a 'howcatchem' rather than a whodunit.

Who created the character of Columbo?

The pair said the detective was partly inspired by Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment.

On which network did Columbo first air as part of a rotating 'Mystery Movie' block in 1971?

It later moved to ABC for its 1989-2003 revival.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did Peter Falk win for playing the detective?

He won in 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1990, plus a Golden Globe in 1973.

Besides Lee J. Cobb, who was suggested for Columbo but turned it down to protect his golf time?

Cobb was unavailable, so the younger Falk got the part.

The 1968 TV movie that launched the character was adapted from which stage play by the creators?

They had first written it as a short story called 'May I Come In?'.

In later episodes Columbo is accompanied by a basset hound. What does he call it?

He never gives the animal a proper name.

Which future blockbuster director directed the first-season episode 'Murder by the Book'?

The episode was written by a young Steven Bochco.

Columbo's first name is almost never spoken, but identification props show it as what?

A trivia book once falsely claimed it was 'Philip' as a copyright trap.

Unlike most TV detectives, Columbo does what?

He relies on observation and persistence instead.

The 1979 spinoff Mrs. Columbo starred which actress as the detective's wife?

It was cancelled after only thirteen episodes.

When the pieces start to fall into place, Columbo often begins whistling which tune?

The tune was introduced in the 1973 episode 'Any Old Port in a Storm'.

Peter Falk had a distinctive squint. What was the cause?

His right eye was removed at age three because of a tumour.

The show's murderers are usually drawn from which social group?

Critics have seen class conflict as a theme.

The very last new Columbo episode aired in which year?

By then it appeared only occasionally on ABC.

In the 1971 pilot 'Ransom for a Dead Man', who played the killer?

Its success led NBC to commission the regular series.

The creators said Columbo was partly inspired by a character in which Dostoevsky novel?

That character is the investigator Porfiry Petrovich.

A statue of Columbo and his dog was unveiled in 2014 in which European capital?

It stands on Miksa Falk Street, a nod to the actor's surname.

Richard Irving argued for Falk despite him being what, compared with the writers' idea of the character?

Falk said he 'would kill to play that cop'.

For what did Peter Falk first win an Emmy in 1962?

He had been Oscar-nominated for the films Murder, Inc. and Pocketful of Miracles.

Falk frequently collaborated with which filmmaker friend on movies like A Woman Under the Influence?

Cassavetes even appeared as a murderer in the Columbo episode 'Etude in Black'.

Falk played the grandfather who reads the story in which 1987 fantasy film?

He also starred in the comedy The In-Laws and Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire.

How many times in its run does the show abandon the 'howcatchem' format and hide the killer?

The exception is 'Last Salute to the Commodore', where a character covers for someone else.

Between its two networks, Columbo's original NBC run lasted from 1971 to which year?

It returned on ABC in 1989.

The character first appeared on screen in a 1968 TV movie based on the play. What network aired it?

Its success led to the 1971 pilot and then the series.

Actor Ben Gazzara, close to Falk, directed which two mid-1970s Columbo episodes?

A future Oscar-winning director also directed an episode, 'Murder Under Glass'.

During its whole run, how many total award nominations did the series collect?

It won 22 of them.

The very first Columbo story was published as a short story under which title in 1960?

It ran in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine before becoming a play.

Which Oscar-winning director helmed the seventh-season episode 'Murder Under Glass'?

Demme later won an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs.

The ABC revival of Columbo ran under 'The ABC Mystery Movie' banner starting in which year?

After that block was cancelled, episodes appeared occasionally through 2003.

In the Mrs. Columbo spinoff, what job does Kate Columbo have?

The Lieutenant himself never appeared on the show.

Falk's squint came from an artificial eye he wore for most of what?

The eye had been removed when he was a small child.

Peter Falk wore an artificial eye that gave him what recognisable feature?

The eye had been removed when he was three.

In total, Columbo won how many of its award nominations?

Four of the wins were Peter Falk's Emmys.

Which actor was the first to play Columbo, in a 1960 Chevy Mystery Show episode?

Freed's Columbo already wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar in 'Enough Rope', but had few of the other mannerisms Falk later made famous.

Which Oscar-winning actor played Columbo on stage in the 1962 play Prescription: Murder?

Mitchell was 70 and died of cancer while the play toured; Columbo was his last role, and plans for a Broadway run were abandoned.

Which false first name did The Trivia Encyclopedia plant as a copyright trap for Columbo?

When Trivial Pursuit used the fake name, author Fred L. Worth sued for $300 million and lost: facts, the courts ruled, are not copyrightable.

Which actor played the murderer four times and also directed five episodes of the series?

McGoohan, of The Prisoner fame, wrote and produced two episodes as well, making him the show's most prolific guest collaborator.

Who composed 'The Mystery Movie Theme' heard over 38 episodes of the show from 1971 to 1977?

Columbo never had an official theme of its own; composers such as Dick DeBenedictis and Gil Melle wrote their own signature pieces instead.

In which 1973 episode did the detective's signature whistled tune first appear?

Falk said the British children's song was simply a melody he enjoyed, and one day it became part of the character; it later crept into the credits too.

Which country's government reportedly feared riots when new Columbo episodes stopped airing?

The US State Department asked Falk to record a special announcement for Romanian television; whether unrest was really imminent is still disputed.

Which country music star appeared in 'Swan Song', directed by Cheers actor Nicholas Colasanto?

Colasanto, better known as Coach, also directed 'Etude in Black'; 'Swan Song' is one of the few episodes that continues past the proof of guilt.

Two later episodes were adapted from which crime writer's 87th Precinct novels?

'No Time to Die' and 'Undercover' therefore break the usual format: the audience does not watch the crime committed at the start.

In which 1987 Wim Wenders film is Falk greeted as 'Columbo' by passing young men?

Falk plays a version of himself in the film; in another scene children can be heard chanting his detective's name.