"Phantom" Role Players and other Mysteries in TV Series (or Movies)

[Rune Blackwings]

He was frequently shown, but you could never see his whole face.

an aside: I told my dad that Wilson was modeled after him

[TheH]

Was he actually known as "Inspector" Columbo in your country?

Of course he is know as "Inspektor" Columbo here (German ain't that far removed from English anyway)

[Rune Blackwings]

Yeah. I remember that show. Me mum watched it. I was a fan of Columbo as a kid and thought was a dumb idea. Peter Faulk hated it. I remember him on a TV interview regarding some movie he was in and the subject came up and he didn't want to make any comments but wore his opinion on his sleave. The show was repackaged as Kate Loves A Mystery after one year but died a quick and deserved death. I didn't know that they tried to ditch the Columbo connection but never really paid much attention. Never warmed up to Mulgrew's attempt at channeling Katherine Hepburn then or later.

It was the last few shows of it I think, but the show had floundered by then


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[tdotdo]

Buddy Sorrel's wife "Pickles" from the Dick Van Dyke Show.

Carl Reiner voiced the part of Alan Brady on the Dick Van Dyke Show but was never shown on camera for the first few seasons.

Pickles was in one episode in the 1st season(1.13). She was played as a dumb blonde. A friend of mine and I started watching them a month or so ago.

Looking again and IMDB shows her appearing in some other episodes as well.

[Obscured]

Cousin Jeffery on Seinfeld.

Among many others on Seinfeld were Kramer's friends Bob Sacamano and Lomez.

[Dave (in MA)]

Of course he is know as "Inspektor" Columbo here (German ain't that far removed from English anyway)

In the USA, he was "Lieutenant Columbo". When Star Trek Voyager came on, I'd refer to Janeway as "Captain Mrs. Lieutenant Columbo".

There are probably others, but I can really only think of one American TV or movie character who was known as "Inspector":

[Scott Bails]

There are probably others, but I can really only think of one American TV or movie character who was known as "Inspector":

[TheH]

In the USA, he was "Lieutenant Columbo". When Star Trek Voyager came on, I'd refer to Janeway as "Captain Mrs. Lieutenant Columbo".

OK didn't know that. Lieutenant would translate to Leutnant in German but that would be a strict Military rank only here.

[Rune Blackwings]

Not sure of the movies and TV shows, but "She Who Must Be Obeyed"

[JKL2000]

Throughout the series, Columbo's first name is thought to be either Phil or Frank, depending on the episode and, according to people who obsess over this, you can see his name in several episodes when he flashes a badge that has his ID....I will take their word for it.

Mrs. Columbo sort of appears....but not in her husband's show. Kate Mulgrew played in a show that went through several incarnations because the first concept had people figuring out that Columbo was a closet pedophile when they actually did the math on their ages. They eventually worked it away from being Columbo related at all before canning it. Columbo never appears in the show in any incarnation, but his car and basset hound do.

Murder She wrote has a recurring legend character, Joshua Peabody, whose existence is questioned.

That's so stupid. Using that kind of reasoning you could say Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes was paired with a corpse as Watson -- Nigel Bruce. Obviously actors portray roles at different real times that are supposed to exist in the same fictional times. Ok, the Cumberbatch example isn't good but you get the idea.

[Rune Blackwings]

That's so stupid. Using that kind of reasoning you could say Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes was paired with a corpse as Watson -- Nigel Bruce. Obviously actors portray roles at different real times that are supposed to exist in the same fictional times. Ok, the Cumberbatch example isn't good but you get the idea.

Wasn't Columbo's Wife Played By Kate Mulgrew?

Not Mrs Columbo

No. The official pronouncement of everyone associated with "Columbo" is thatthe character played by Kate Mulgrew, in the series initially called "Mrs Columbo," was married to some other cop who happened to also be named Columbo.

"Mrs Columbo" was the brainchild of NBC entertainment president Fred Silverman, who hoped to carry on a little of the "Columbo" mystique without Columbo, soon after "Columbo" ended its NBC run.. Richard Levinson and William Link regarded the idea as heresy, but Silverman said he'd do it without them. "The magic of Columbo's wife is that you never see her," Levinson protested.

The "Columbo" creators wanted no part of the concept, but they urged Silverman that if the show had to be done at all, a suitable actress would be Maureen Stapleton. Fred Silverman refused, insisting that Mrs Columbo would be young
and gorgeous. Link and Levinson stormed out, and the talented but miscast Kate Mulgrew got the role.

Mulgrew's Kate Columbo was a part-time reporter for a pennysaver newspaper, who often found herself engaged in crime-solving.

Peter Falk was blunt: "It was a bad idea. It was disgraceful."

The show ran from February, 1979 through December, 1979. In that short time, the show underwent several major overhauls and had four titles, going from "Mrs Columbo" to "Kate Columbo" to "Kate the Detective," then "Kate Loves a Mystery."

The show was long gone before the real "Columbo" made his return on ABC, but Levinson and Link had an idea of how to treat this series on "Columbo". They wanted to have Columbo complaining, "There's a woman who's running around pretending to be my wife. She's a young girl. She's charging things. I wish my wife was like that. She's an imposter."


Apart from the off-camera statements by the "Columbo" creators, the shows themselves provide evidence that the Kate Mulgrew character was not the wife of the famous Lieutenant. In one of several major changes over the series, Kate Mulgrew's character was DIVORCED and took on the name Kate Callahan.
But it is clearly known in "Columbo" that the Lieutenant has never been divorced -- "Heaven forbid!"

As further proof that Mulgrew's "Kate" was not married to the "Columbo" character, consider her age. Even if we accept Fred Silverman's notion that Columbo married a younger woman, Kate was so young that the marriage not only would be a stretch -- it would be illegal almost anywhere in America!

Kate Mulgrew was age 24 when cast by Silverman in 1979, which means that when we first heard Columbo discussing his wife in "Prescription: Murder," she was 13 years old.

So, "Columbo" fans are welcome to enjoy the Kate Mulgrew show on its own merits, or as an amusing footnote in "Columbo" history. But do not be fooled -- the real Mrs Columbo has never been seen, and probably never will be.

http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/mrsc.htm

[JKL2000]

^ That left out the title "Female Columbo."

<<As further proof that Mulgrew's "Kate" was not married to the "Columbo" character, consider her age. Even if we accept Fred Silverman's notion that Columbo married a younger woman, Kate was so young that the marriage not only would be a stretch -- it would be illegal almost anywhere in America!>>

But it obviously was supposed to begin about 20 years before Columbo. She was Columbo's wife!! She might even have been a little older than him.

There's probably a lot of x-rated Columbo and Mrs. Columbo fanfiction out there...

[Gruno]

Married With Children -- Peggy's mom. Although, I think she was shown in the final season.

[Rune Blackwings]

^ That left out the title "Female Columbo."

<<As further proof that Mulgrew's "Kate" was not married to the "Columbo" character, consider her age. Even if we accept Fred Silverman's notion that Columbo married a younger woman, Kate was so young that the marriage not only would be a stretch -- it would be illegal almost anywhere in America!>>

But it obviously was supposed to begin about 20 years before Columbo. She was Columbo's wife!! She might even have been a little older than him.

There's probably a lot of x-rated Columbo and Mrs. Columbo fanfiction out there...

I am not going to argue what it was or wasn't. They ran the show on one nostalgia channel and I saw it and it was really dumb. That is about the only thing that I truly knew of it until recently.

[JKL2000]

I am not going to argue what it was or wasn't. They ran the show on one nostalgia channel and I saw it and it was really dumb. That is about the only thing that I truly knew of it until recently.

Didn't she have a dachshund or something too?

[Rune Blackwings]

Bassett

There was also a Peugeot in the driveway

"It's not Colombo! Just another police lieutenant named Colombo....with a bassett hound....and a 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible..."