Fifty years after the broadcast of the first episode of the television series Columboa detail continues to animate controversy on the Web: the mysterious first name of the main character, worn by actor Peter Falk.
From 1968 – when the first episode aired – to 2003, viewers around the world followed the investigations carried out by the inspector in the eternal beige overcoat in the soap opera Columbo. In thirty-five years of existence, the detective series has been able to renew itself and has won over more than a generation of fans, which obviously did not resist the charisma and humor of the main character, the lieutenant of the Los Angeles crime squad, Columbo, worn by actor Peter Falk. Only now, fifty years after the broadcast of the first episode of the series, a mystery continues to animate the fans and is debated on the Web : what is the real first name of the famous inspector whom no investigation can resist?
Would Columbo be called Philip?
In 2002, during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation, William Link – one of the creators of the detective series – confided: “I never had a first name and I never will. Columbus never had one. We tried that with cop shows from the 1960s and 1970s.“Only, the will of the screenwriter and producer of the series has been somewhat disturbed with the arrival of a”canadian board game that everyone played“, which had implied that the famous lieutenant Columbo was named Philip. But this hypothesis was quickly denied by the authors and the main actor, Peter Falk, themselves! Moreover, in 1999, when he was the guest of James Lipton, on the set of the talk show Inside the Actors StudioPeter Falk confessed: “There’s something I like about this character, and that’s the fact that he is embarrassed by his first name. I like this ! I don’t know what it is, but it embarrasses him.“
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Columbo, a detective named Frank?
If some fans have come to terms with this mystery, others, on the other hand, have done everything to elucidate it! And it is during the fifth episode of the series – named “Dead Weight” – that some viewers had fun freeze-frame when Inspector Columbo brandishes his police card on which is inscribed the first name “Frank“. This hypothesis has moreover been confirmed by Universal Studios, which, by offering a box set of the first four seasons of the series during the 2000s, included a few illustrations, one of which corresponded to the famous insignia of the lieutenant, on which was written: “Frank Columbo“. But once again, this speculation has been neither confirmed nor denied by the creators of the saga. Fans should then make up their minds: only Madame Columbo has the privilege of using the first name of the lieutenant!
Article written with the collaboration of 6Medias.
