Western Daily Press (Saturday)
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
MARION McMULLEN celebrates 50 years of Columbo with a look at top cops of the 1970s
had his raincoat, Kojak his lollipop and McCloud his horse.
The American TV detectives of the 1970s were a distinctive and colourful bunch and Columbo was one of the decade’s trailblazers.
The Los Angeles homicide cop made his first unkempt appearance 50 years ago and proved an instant hit with viewers
His rambling manner hid a sharp mind and lured suspects into a false sense of security as they unwittingly revealed more than they ever intended. Film director Steven Spielberg even directed the first episode called Murder By The Book and Jeff Goldblum made his network television debut with a nonspeaking role in the episode A Case Of Immunity.
Peter Falk, who played the cigarchomping detective, said: “Being chased by Columbo is like being nibbled to death by a duck.”
He played Columbo in 68 episodes over 13 seasons and mainly wore his own clothes for the part. The famous shabby raincoat he bought for $15 in 1967 when he got caught in a rainstorm in New York.
He summed up his appeal saying: “Columbo is an a**-backward Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had a long neck, Columbo has no neck. Holmes smoked a meerschaum
pipe, Columbo chews up six cigars a day at a quarter apiece.”
While Columbo had his cigar, Kojak had his lollipop. Telly Savalas first made his mark as the bald, lollipoploving cop Theo Kojak in 1973 and ended up starring in 117 episodes.
Sylvester Stallone was among the future stars to find work on the show.
Marlon Brando was first offered the role before Telly was signed up.
He became famous for the catchCOLUMBO phrase “Who loves ya, baby?” and once explained he introduced the lollipops as a prop because he was trying to quit smoking at the time.
The star was 51 when the show started and once said of Kojak’s success: “Everybody’s always telling me they have an Uncle Harry who looks just like me. That’s 90% of my appeal”.
The Streets Of San Francisco in 1973 saw a young Michael Douglas as Inspector Steve Keller teamed with Karl Malden’s veteran cop Detective Lt Mike Stone. The police drama ran for five seasons and Michael said of his co-star: “He was fantastic. He just had a tremendous discipline, tremendous ethics. He insisted that next week’s script would be there when we were shooting that week’s scripts. Between set-ups, between breaks, we’d go in the trailer and run lines for next week’s show.”
Meanwhile, Karl called Michael “the son I never had” and they developed a strong relationship off screen.
The buddy cops set-up was also at the heart of the success of Starsky and Hutch, which began in 1975 with Paul Michael Glaser as Dave Starsky and David Soul as Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson. The plainclothes cops drove a customised red and white 1974 Ford Gran Torino although Paul later said: “I thought
it was ridiculous that undercover police guys would drive a striped tomato.”
David Soul remembered that before Starsky and Hutch came along “Paul and I were both struggling actors. One night he would serve me in a restaurant and the next night I would serve him, It was what out-ofwork actors did”.
McCloud saw Dennis Weaver as horse-riding deputy marshal Sam McCloud, assigned from New Mexico to Manhattan. The show ran for seven seasons and was a TV spin-off of the 1968 Clint Eastwood film Coogan’s Bluff.
The show’s publicity described him as “the toughest cowboy to ever take on the mean streets of New York City”.
James Garner was the affable excop turned private detective Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files and played the role across 119 episodes in the 1970s. It was his voice that was heard at the start of each episode on the outgoing message on the answering machine.
Rockford lived in a mobile home in Malibu and his work patch covered the whole of Los Angeles. James did many of his own stunts for the TV series, but later developed health problems which led to The Rockford Files being cancelled.
Rockford charged £200 a day plus expenses and guest stars who appeared on the show over the years included Ned Beatty, singer Isaac Hayes, West Side Story Oscar winner Rita Morena and future Magnum star Tom Selleck.
Meanwhile, in the words of Columbo ... “just one more thing”.
The dishevelled TV favourite was originally envisioned as a stylish, smooth-talking cop.
Bing Crosby was first choice for the role of a cultured Columbo but turned it down because he did not want to commit to a series.
He joked that it would interfere with his golf game.
Being chased by Columbo is like being nibbled to death by a duck
Peter Falk