Search results
Feb 17, 2018 · Bing Crosby was famously offered the role but turned it down as he was enjoying retirement (and the lure of the golf links) too much. Instead, and despite reservations about him being ‘too young’, Levinson and Link turned to Peter Falk, who had just turned 40.
Nov 29, 2021 · They wanted seasoned character actor Lee J. Cobb to star, but since he was unavailable, Link and Levinson pursued Crosby. He passed on starring on the show, renamed "Columbo," because he considered himself semi-retired, and he was content to spend his days playing as much golf as possible.
LINK: Yes, yes. Dick and I, proving how crazy we were - our first choice was Bing Crosby. GROSS: (Laughter). LINK: And we contacted his agent and contacted Bing. But he wanted to play golf.
- Bing Crosby Was Originally Eyed For The role.
- Peter Falk Was An Unexpected Sex Symbol.
- Falk Was A Government Worker Before Becoming An Actor.
- Columbo's Dog Wasn't A Welcome Sight at first.
- Falk's Real-Life Wife Played A Role in The Series.
- The Character's Trademark Raincoat Came from Falk's Closet.
- Steven Spielberg Got An Early Break on Columbo.
- Columbo's First Name Wound Up The Subject of A Lawsuit.
- The Series Didn't Follow A Standard Mystery Format.
- There Was A Spinoff That Kind of Was But Then wasn't.
Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link's first choice to play their low-key detective was crooner Bing Crosby. Der Bingle loved the script and the character, but he feared that a TV series commitment would interfere with his true passion—golf. It was probably providential that Crosby turned the role down, since his death in 1977 occurre...
Character actor Lee J. Cobb was also consideredfor the role, until Peter Falk phoned co-creator William Link. Falk had gotten a copy of the script from his agents at William Morris and told Link that he’d “kill to play that cop.” Link and Levinson knew the actor back from their days of working in New York, and even though he was the opposite of eve...
Peter Falk wasn’t too far removed from the character he played. In real life he tended to be rumpled and disheveled and was forever misplacing things (he was famous for losing his car keys and having to be driven home from the studio by someone else). He was also intelligent, having earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse Un...
When Columbo was renewed for a second season, NBC brass had a request: They wanted the lieutenant to have a sidekick. Perhaps a young rookie detective just learning the ropes. Link and Levinson were resistant to the idea, but the network was pressuring them. They conferred with Steven Bochco, who was writing the script for the season opener, “Etude...
Falk first met Shera Danese, the woman who would become his second wife, on the set of his 1976 film Mikey & Nicky. The movie was being filmed in Danese’s hometown of Philadelphia, and the aspiring actress had landed work as an extra. They were married in 1977, and she was able to pad out her resume by appearing on several episodes of Columbo. Her ...
The initial wardrobe proposed for Columbo struck Peter Falk as completely wrong for the character. To get closer to what he wanted for Columbo, the actor went into his closet and found a beat-up coat he had bought years earlier when caught in a rainstorm on 57th Street. And he ordered one of the blue suits chosen for him to be dyed brown. The drab ...
“Murder by the Book” was the second Columbo episode filmed, but it was the first one to air after the show was picked up as a series. Filming was delayed for a month, though, when Falk refused to sign off on this “kid”—a 25-year-old named Steven Spielberg—to direct the episode. Finally he watched a few of Spielberg’s previous credits (all of them T...
Fred L. Worth, author of several books of trivia facts, had a sneaking feeling that other folks were using his meticulously researched facts without crediting him. He set a “copyright trap” and mentioned in one of his books that Lt. Columbo’s first name was “Philip,” although he had completely fabricated that so-called fact. Sure enough, a 1984 edi...
The premise of Columbo was the “inverted mystery,” or a “HowCatchEm” instead of a “WhoDunIt.” Every episode began with the actual crime being played out in full view of the audience, meaning viewers already knew “WhodunIt.” What they wanted to know is how Lt. Columbo would slowly zero in on the perpetrator. This sort of story was particularly chall...
The 1979 TV series entitled Mrs. Columbo was not technically related to the original Peter Falk series. In fact, Levinson and Link opposed the entire concept of the series; it was NBC honcho Fred Silverman who gave the OK to use the Columboname and imply that Kate Mulgrew was the widowed/divorced wife (the series changed names and backstories sever...
- Ethan Trex
- Bing Crosby got his name from a comic strip. The entertainer was born Harry Lillis Crosby on May 3, 1903, in Tacoma, Washington. The nickname "Bing" found him when he was just 7 years old, after he had moved with his family to Spokane.
- Bing Crosby was almost Columbo. When television fans think of Columbo, they probably envision Peter Falk starring as the title character. But the job could have been Crosby's.
- Bing Crosby took his golf seriously. Maybe turning down an iconic role for golf isn't so surprising, considering what an avid golfer Crosby was. Crosby wasn't just any old amateur player; he was serious about his game and whittled his handicap down to two while playing in both the British and U.S. amateur championships.
- "Peace on Earth," Bing Crosby's Christmas duet with David Bowie, almost fell apart at the last minute. The Thin White Duke was set to appear on Crosby's Christmas TV special in 1977 when the production hit a snag.
The writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because he felt it would take too much time away from golf. Director Richard Irving convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who excitedly said he "would kill to play that cop", could pull it off even though he was much ...
People also ask
Who is Bing Crosby?
Who played Bing Crosby in Columbo?
Why did Bing Crosby stop acting in movies?
Why did Bing Crosby refuse to play Columbo?
Was Bing Crosby a real golfer?
What are some interesting facts about Bing Crosby?
Apr 11, 2017 · 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.
