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Favorite Columbo Episodes #1

TV Show list created by kathy Avatar

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Director: James Frawley
Starring: Peter Falk, Ruth Gordon, Mariette Hartley, G.D. Spradlin, Charles Frank and Mary Jackson


Successful mystery writer Abigail Mitchell suspects that her niece's husband, Edmund Galvin, murdered her and she exacts revenge by asphyxiating him in her house safe.
kathy's rating:


Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Starring: Peter Falk, Johnny Cash, Ida Lupino, John Dehner, Sorrell Booke, Bill McKinney, Vito Scotti, Janit Baldwin and John Randolph


Gospel singer Tommy Brown wants to be rid of his zealous wife Edna Brown. But a murder made to look like an airplane accident does not fool the wily Lt. Columbo.
kathy's rating:


Director: Harvey Hart
Starring: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Bob Dishy, Nehemiah Persoff, Robert Loggia, Cynthia Sikes and Thayer David


Magician 'The Great Santini' murders his employer who has found some damning evidence against him. Columbo strongly suspects the magician but Santini has a cast iron alibi - he was doing his "piece de resistance" escaping from a box routine.
kathy's rating:


Director: Leo Penn
Starring: Peter Falk, Donald Pleasence, Joyce Jillson, Gary Conway, Dana Elcar, Robert Donner, Robert Walden and George Gaynes


Wine connoisseur Adrian Carsini, co-owner of a California winery, murders his younger half-brother Rick to prevent him from selling the family business. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Hy Averback
Starring: Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy, Anne Francis, Nita Talbot, Will Geer and Jared Martin


A surgeon has an ingenious plan for murdering his partner in a research project but a nurse catches onto the scheme.
kathy's rating:


Director: Robert Butler
Starring: Peter Falk, Martin Landau, Jeanette Nolan, Tim O'Connor, Julie Newmar, Paul Stewart and Dabney Coleman


Dexter Paris, a smarmy TV chef, and his identical twin brother Norman, a rigidly proper banker, are suspects in the electrocution of their rich uncle.
kathy's rating:


Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: Peter Falk, William Shatner, Bert Remsen, Alan Manson, Lola Albright and Walter Koenig


An egotistical but successful star of a TV detective show murders his blackmailing producer and makes it look like a robbery.
kathy's rating:


Director: Alf Kjellin
Starring: Peter Falk, Dick Van Dyke, Don Gordon, Larry Storch, Antoinette Bower, Joyce Van Patten, David Sheiner, Joanna Cameron, Michael Strong and Vito Scotti


Photographer Paul Galesko murders his wife Frances and blames her death on a bungled kidnapping. But Lt. Columbo has an even sharper eye than the Pulitzer Prize winner.
kathy's rating:


Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Conrad, Gretchen Corbett, Pat Harrington Jr. and Collin Wilcox Paxton


Health club owner Milo Janus murders Gene Stafford, one of his franchisees. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Hy Averback
Starring: Peter Falk, Ross Martin, Don Ameche, Kim Hunter, Mary Wickes and Vic Tayback


Noted art critic Dale Kingston kills his uncle for his valuable collection of paintings. Despite Columbo's suspicions, all the clues point to the dead man's ex-wife. Can the lieutenant reveal the true culprit before it is too late?
kathy's rating:


Director: James Frawley
Starring: Peter Falk, Nicol Williamson, Kim Cattrall, Joel Fabiani, Tricia O'Neil and Ed Begley Jr.


Dr. Eric Mason, a behavioural psychologist whose wife died under suspicious circumstances, trains his dogs to kill on command using a telephone.
kathy's rating:
People who added this item 31 Average listal rating (24 ratings) 8 IMDB Rating 7.7


Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Starring: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, James Olson, Blythe Danner, Anjanette Comer, Myrna Loy, James McEachin, Pat Morita and George Gaynes


Amoral conductor Alex Benedict murders Jenifer Welles, the gifted pianist with whom he is having an affair, and tries to make it look like she committed suicide. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Sam Wanamaker
Starring: Peter Falk, Theodore Bikel, Kenneth Mars, Sorrell Booke, Samantha Eggar, Basil Hoffman and Jamie Lee Curtis


Columbo tries to tackle Sigma Society member Oliver Brandt, a murderer who has one of the highest IQs in the world. The victim is his business partner, Bertie Hastings, who threatened to expose him for stealing money from his clients. Brandt uses all of his intelligence to plan the perfect murder and construct a seemingly foolproof alibi.
kathy's rating:


Director: Boris Sagal
Starring: Peter Falk, Jackie Cooper, Joanne Linville, Tisha Sterling, Ken Swofford and Vito Scotti


Senatorial candidate Nelson Hayward murders Harry Stone, his domineering campaign manager, staging it to appear that Hayward himself was the intended victim of a mob hit gone wrong. Columbo hits the campaign trail to catch the killer.
kathy's rating:


Director: Edward M. Abroms
Starring: Peter Falk, Roddy McDowall, Anne Francis, Ida Lupino and William Windom


Chemist Roger Stanford rigs a bomb in his uncle, David L. Buckner's, car so he can gain control of his uncle's company.
kathy's rating:


Director: Richard Quine
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Robert Middleton, Chuck McCann, Louise Latham and George Wyner


Self-styled "motivation research specialist" Dr. Bart Keppel uses subliminal cues to commit a murder. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Richard Irving
Starring: Peter Falk, Gene Barry, Nina Foch, Katherine Justice and William Windom


Psychiatrist Dr. Ray Fleming murders his wife and persuades his mistress, who is an actress and a patient, to support his alibi by impersonating her.
kathy's rating:


Director: Robert Douglas
Starring: Peter Falk, Joyce Van Patten, Jeannie Berlin, Tim O'Connor and Celeste Holm


Ruth Lytton, the unmarried head of a family-run museum, murders her brother Edward when he threatens to dissolve the financially strapped institution.
kathy's rating:


Director: Patrick McGoohan
Starring: Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, Otis Young, Val Avery, Leslie Nielsen, David White, Bruce Kirby, Vito Scotti, Barbara Rhoades and Paul Gleason


A top CIA operative commits murder the way only a brilliant spy can, never guessing he'll have to contend with a man like Lt. Columbo.
kathy's rating:


Director: Ben Gazzara
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Vaughn, Jane Greer, Dean Stockwell, Bernard Fox, Robert Douglas, Patrick Macnee and Poupée Bocar


Lt. Columbo takes a trip to Acapulco but finds himself on a new case when used car dealer Hayden Danziger murders singer and ex-lover Rosanna Wells on the cruise ship, as she has been blackmailing him.
kathy's rating:


Director: James Frawley
Starring: Peter Falk, Trish Van Devere, Laurence Luckinbill, James McEachin, Ron Rifkin, Lainie Kazan, Bruce Kirby, Kip Gilman and Patrick O'Neal


Kay Freestone, an Emmy-winning TV executive, kills her lover Mark McAndrews in revenge after he is promoted but does not recommend her for his old job.
kathy's rating:


Director: Peter Falk
Starring: Peter Falk, Patrick O'Neal, Janis Paige, Pamela Austin, John Fiedler and Forrest Tucker


Elliot Markham, a brilliant architect and con-man, murders a Texas millionaire and hides his body in order to keep his visionary construction project financed.
kathy's rating:
People who added this item 169 Average listal rating (128 ratings) 7.3 IMDB Rating 7.7


Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Rosemary Forsyth, Martin Milner and Barbara Colby


When one member of a mystery writing team wants to break from his less talented partner, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery.
kathy's rating:


Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: Peter Falk, Oskar Werner, Gena Rowlands, Martha Scott, Robert Brown, Patricia Barry, Trisha Noble and Herbert Jefferson Jr.


A gadget-happy inventor murders his mother-in-law; Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Alf Kjellin
Starring: Peter Falk, José Ferrer, Lew Ayres, Robert Walker Jr., Lee Montgomery and Jessica Walter


The director of a government institute that employs various scientific geniuses commits a clever murder. But another kind of genius is on the case: Lt. Columbo.
kathy's rating:


Director: Jack Smight
Starring: Peter Falk, Eddie Albert, John Kerr, Suzanne Pleshette, Kate Reid, Val Avery and Timothy Carey


A war hero shoots and kills his business partner; an easily manipulated young divorcée is the only witness.
kathy's rating:


Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Dean Stockwell, Susan Howard, Dean Jagger, James Gregory, Valerie Harper and Val Avery

The manager of a football team murders its callow owner, making it look as if the young man had had an accident in his swimming pool. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Norman Lloyd
Starring: Peter Falk, Susan Clark, Richard Anderson, Leslie Nielsen and Jessie Royce Landis


A mousy heiress murders her brother, pretending she thought he was a burglar. Lt. Columbo unravels her alibi.
kathy's rating:


Director: Robert Butler
Starring: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Mickey Spillane, Mariette Hartley, Jacques Aubuchon, Alan Fudge and John Chandler


Publisher Riley Greenleaf decides to murder his client Alan Mallory, a successful writer and is his principal asset, after learning that Mallory has decided to change publishers.

Riley publically threatens to kill Mallory. Then he hires Eddie Kane, a disturbed Vietnam veteran, to murder Mallory and to leave evidence that the killer is Riley himself, who has an excellent alibi. But a key will betray him.
kathy's rating:


Director: Patrick McGoohan
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Vaughn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Diane Baker, Fred Draper, John Dehner, Dennis Dugan, Bruce Kirby and John Finnegan


Charlie Clay runs a ship-building business owned by his father-in-law, Commodore Otis Swanson, who is not happy with his profiteering son-in-law's shady dealings. Nor is he pleased with any of the people closest to him including his alcoholic daughter Joanna Clay, his elderly nephew Swanny Swanson or his lawyer Kittering.

Soon the Commodore is murdered and Charlie Clay covers it up by impersonating the Commodore, taking the corpse out on the man's yawl at night and throwing the body overboard. Lt. Columbo investigates this case with the help of a veteran sergeant and a 29-year-old novice. The rumpled, redoubtable detective knows Clay covered up the murder but his assumption that Clay committed the crime may prove premature.
kathy's rating:


Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Starring: Peter Falk, Vera Miles, Martin Sheen, Sian Barbara Allen, Vincent Price, Fred Draper, Gino Conforti, Bruce Kirby, John Finnegan and Richard Stahl


The formula for a miracle wrinkle cream leads the founder of a cosmetics company to murder. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Starring: Peter Falk, Clive Revill, Jeanette Nolan, Bernard Behrens, Michael Horton, Albert Paulsen and L.Q. Jones

An IRA terrorist executes an arms dealer he considers traitorous; Lt. Columbo is on the case.
kathy's rating:


Director: Vincent McEveety
Starring: Peter Falk, Faye Dunaway, Claudia Christian, Armando Pucci, Bill Macy, John Finnegan and Doug Sheehan


Lauren Staton and Lisa Martin kill their two-timing lover Nick Franco. Lauren's the one who pulled the trigger and they've made it look like Franco was killed by a burglar in his apartment. They've prepared well with both having solid alibis.

Lt. Columbo is in charge of the case and is very much attracted to the beautiful Lauren. She uses that to her advantage and is soon buying him gifts and giving him the odd kiss. Columbo is flattered but begins to see anomalies in some of the physical evidence. He becomes certain that Laura is involved in Franco's death but realizes he will only be able to make an arrest if he gets a confession. He manages to get that but even he is surprised when learns of her true relationship to Lisa.
kathy's rating:


Director: Sam Wanamaker
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Foxworth, Andy Romano, Janet Eilber, Stephen Elliott and James Lashly


After the head of a private paramilitary think tank who is embezzling funds murders a blackmailer, he has to match wits with the persistent Lieutenant Columbo.
kathy's rating:


Director: Patrick McGoohan
Starring: Peter Falk, Billy Connolly, Richard Riehle, Charles Cioffi, Chad Willett and Hillary Danner


Findlay Crawford, a Hollywood film composer and conductor, murders a talented composer/musician who has been ghostwriting most of Crawford's work in recent years, including the entire score for the last film, which won an Oscar. Crawford is jealous of the young musician whose talent outshines his own. Will Columbo find out who did it?
kathy's rating:


Director: Leo Penn
Starring: Peter Falk, Anthony Andrews, Karen Austin, James Greene, Alan Fudge, Robert Costanzo and Anthony Zerbe


An egocentric psychic murders his old mentor, a magician charged to expose him as fraud, by beheading him while he's rehearsing his guillotine trick.
kathy's rating:


Director: Alan J. Levi
Starring: Peter Falk, James Read, Jo Anderson, Paul Burke, Mark Arnott, James A. Watson Jr., Steven Gilborn, Nancy Walker, Dick Sargent, Ron Cey and Marshall R. Teague


A dentist is threatened by a divorce, because his wife loves another man, and his father-in-law, who wants to collect his gambling debts. He decides to kill his wife's lover and frame his wife for it to get out of the situation. Columbo tries to solve the murder.
kathy's rating:


Director: Patrick McGoohan
Starring: Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, Denis Arndt and Bruce Kirby


Columbo is put on a murder that was made to look like a suicide. However, he notices some loose ends, and asks a lawyer and a governor to clear these problems up.
kathy's rating:


Director: Vincent McEveety
Starring: Peter Falk, Helen Shaver, Ian McShane and Edward Winter


A woman who blames Lt. Columbo for the loss of her husband sets out to get back at him. First she murders the man who informed on her husband and then she plans to show Columbo how it feels to lose a loved one by killing his wife.
kathy's rating:


Director: James Frawley
Starring: Peter Falk, Fisher Stevens, Molly Hagan, Nan Martin, Jeff Perry and Steven Hill


Egocentric wunderkind director Alex Bradey murders a childhood friend who threatens to expose his negligent complicity in the death of his sister years earlier.
kathy's rating:


Director: Patrick McGoohan
Starring: Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, Rue McClanahan, Sally Kellerman, Richard Riehle, Spencer Garrett, Aubrey Morris, Ron Masak, Richard Libertini and Catherine McGoohan


After a much maligned Hollywood gossip columnist is murdered by her funeral director former lover, Columbo tries to find a way to prove he was responsible for the crime.
kathy's rating:


Director: Harvey Hart
Starring: Peter Falk, John Payne, Janet Leigh, Maurice Evans, Sam Jaffe and Linda Gaye Scott


A faded dance star of film and stage murders her husband and makes it look like a suicide; Lt. Columbo doubts her seemingly perfect alibi.
kathy's rating:


Director: Boris Sagal
Starring: Peter Falk, Ray Milland, Bob Dishy, Bradford Dillman, William Smith, Arlene Martel and Sandra Smith


Columbo arrives at a kidnapping case, which at some point turns into a murder.
kathy's rating:
People who added this item 17 Average listal rating (15 ratings) 8.3 IMDB Rating 8.2


Director: Ben Gazzara
Starring: Peter Falk, Richard Kiley, Rosemary Murphy, Michael McGuire, Val Avery, Eric Christmas, John Finnegan and Arlene Martel


A police commissioner provides a false alibi for a wife killer but then expects an alibi in return.
kathy's rating:
People who added this item 25 Average listal rating (20 ratings) 7.7 IMDB Rating 7.7


Director: Richard Irving
Starring: Peter Falk, Lee Grant, John Fink, Harold Gould, Patricia Mattick, Paul Carr, Richard Roat, Jean Byron and Timothy Carey


A brilliant tort attorney gets rid of her boring husband by faking his kidnapping and keeping the ransom. The FBI may be fooled but not Columbo.
kathy's rating:


Director: Edward M. Abroms
Starring: Peter Falk, Laurence Harvey, Lloyd Bochner, Jack Kruschen, Heidi Brühl and Paul Jenkins


Chess grandmaster Emmett Clayton's title, not to mention his ego, are threatened when an ex-girlfriend convinces retired Soviet player Tomlin Dudek to challenge him. Dudek is Clayton's superior in every way at chess, but Clayton refuses to accept defeat. He plots to murder his erstwhile rival before the match can take place.
kathy's rating:


Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Pat Crowley, Ray Milland


When the CEO of a private detective agency tries to blackmail the wife of a publisher, she threatens to expose him and he accidentally kills her.
kathy's rating:


Director: Harvey Hart
Starring: Peter Falk, George Hamilton, Lesley Ann Warren, Stephen Elliott, Karen Machon, Bruce Kirby, William Wintersole, Ryan MacDonald, Jack Manning, Fred Draper and Glorie Kaufman


A psychiatrist, who specializes in hypnosis, murders the husband of his mistress and convinces her to lie to the police; it's up to Lt. Columbo to discover the truth.
kathy's rating:

Director: Jonathan Demme  
Starring: Peter Falk, Louis Jourdan, Shera Danese, Richard Dysart, Mako, Michael V. Grazzo, Larry D. Mann and Frances Nuyen 

Food critic Paul Gerard, who has been extorting money from restaurant owners in exchange for good reviews, murders one when threatened with exposure.
kathy's rating:


Director: Harvey Hart
Starring: Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, Burr DeBenning, Tom Simcox, Mark Wheeler, Bruce Kirby, Madeleine Sherwood, Robert Clotworthy, Sidney Armus, Karen Lamm and Bruno Kirby


The commandant of a military academy murders the chairman of the board, who wants to oust him. Lt. Columbo takes up residence in the barracks to expose the killer.
kathy's rating:

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A list of my favorite episodes of the classic American television detective series Columbo.

List #2 may be viewed here:
www.listal.com/list/favorite-columbo-episodes-2

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