This Columbo trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the beloved detective series and its star, Peter Falk. It takes in Lieutenant Columbo's trademarks (the beige raincoat, the cigar, the battered Peugeot, the basset hound, the unseen wife), his catchphrases and habits, the inverted 'howcatchem' format that shows the murder first, the creators Richard Levinson and William Link, the actors who turned the role down, and the guest stars and directors (including a young Steven Spielberg) who worked on it. Early questions are for anyone who has caught a few reruns. Later ones reward fans who know the detective's obscured first name and the theme he whistles. Use it for a classic-TV trivia night or a mystery-lover's quiz. Every answer has been checked against a documented source shown under the explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Lieutenant Columbo is a detective of what specific kind?
Homicide
He was played by Peter Falk for over three decades.
Q 02For which police department does Columbo work?
Los Angeles
He is a homicide detective who mostly investigates wealthy suspects.
Q 03What is Columbo's most famous item of clothing?
A rumpled beige raincoat
It, the cigar and a battered old car are his trademarks.
Q 04Columbo drives a battered old car of which make?
Peugeot
It is a Peugeot 403 convertible.
Q 05Which food does the show repeatedly mention Columbo loving?
Chili
His wife is often mentioned but never seen on screen.
Q 06Columbo often leaves a room and returns with which catchphrase before a key question?
Just one more thing
The line has become the character's signature.
Q 07The show popularised which storytelling format, in which the viewer sees the crime committed first?
The inverted detective story
It is sometimes called a 'howcatchem' rather than a whodunit.
Q 08Who created the character of Columbo?
Levinson and Link
The pair said the detective was partly inspired by Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment.
Q 09On which network did Columbo first air as part of a rotating 'Mystery Movie' block in 1971?
NBC
It later moved to ABC for its 1989-2003 revival.
Q 10How many Primetime Emmy Awards did Peter Falk win for playing the detective?
Four
He won in 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1990, plus a Golden Globe in 1973.
Q 11Besides Lee J. Cobb, who was suggested for Columbo but turned it down to protect his golf time?
Bing Crosby
Cobb was unavailable, so the younger Falk got the part.
Q 12The 1968 TV movie that launched the character was adapted from which stage play by the creators?
Prescription: Murder
They had first written it as a short story called 'May I Come In?'.
Q 13In later episodes Columbo is accompanied by a basset hound. What does he call it?
Dog
He never gives the animal a proper name.
Which future blockbuster director directed the first-season episode 'Murder by the Book'?
Q 21The very last new Columbo episode aired in which year?
2003
By then it appeared only occasionally on ABC.
Q 22In the 1971 pilot 'Ransom for a Dead Man', who played the killer?
Lee Grant
Its success led NBC to commission the regular series.
Q 23The creators said Columbo was partly inspired by a character in which Dostoevsky novel?
Crime and Punishment
That character is the investigator Porfiry Petrovich.
Q 24A statue of Columbo and his dog was unveiled in 2014 in which European capital?
Steven Spielberg
The episode was written by a young Steven Bochco.
Q 15Columbo's first name is almost never spoken, but identification props show it as what?
Frank
A trivia book once falsely claimed it was 'Philip' as a copyright trap.
Q 16Unlike most TV detectives, Columbo does what?
Never carries a gun
He relies on observation and persistence instead.
Q 17The 1979 spinoff Mrs. Columbo starred which actress as the detective's wife?
Kate Mulgrew
It was cancelled after only thirteen episodes.
Q 18When the pieces start to fall into place, Columbo often begins whistling which tune?
This Old Man
The tune was introduced in the 1973 episode 'Any Old Port in a Storm'.
Q 19Peter Falk had a distinctive squint. What was the cause?
A childhood glass eye
His right eye was removed at age three because of a tumour.
Q 20The show's murderers are usually drawn from which social group?
Wealthy high society
Critics have seen class conflict as a theme.
Budapest
It stands on Miksa Falk Street, a nod to the actor's surname.
Q 25Richard Irving argued for Falk despite him being what, compared with the writers' idea of the character?
Much younger
Falk said he 'would kill to play that cop'.
Q 26For what did Peter Falk first win an Emmy in 1962?
The Dick Powell Theatre
He had been Oscar-nominated for the films Murder, Inc. and Pocketful of Miracles.
Q 27Falk frequently collaborated with which filmmaker friend on movies like A Woman Under the Influence?
John Cassavetes
Cassavetes even appeared as a murderer in the Columbo episode 'Etude in Black'.
Q 28Falk played the grandfather who reads the story in which 1987 fantasy film?
The Princess Bride
He also starred in the comedy The In-Laws and Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire.
Q 29How many times in its run does the show abandon the 'howcatchem' format and hide the killer?
Once
The exception is 'Last Salute to the Commodore', where a character covers for someone else.
Q 30Between its two networks, Columbo's original NBC run lasted from 1971 to which year?
1978
It returned on ABC in 1989.