As reported by Deadline, TV writer and producer William Link—co-creator of Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Mannix, and a number of other things—has died from congestive heart failure. Link frequently collaborated with fellow writer and producer Richard Levinson, with whom he co-created all three of the aforementioned shows, up until Levinson’s death in 1987. Link died on Sunday and was 87.
Link and Levinson somewhat famously began their collaborative writing careers as children, becoming friends in junior high school and quickly working together on scripts for radio dramas. They eventually moved on to plays and short stories, and Deadline says the duo consciously transitioned over to television after recognizing the nascent medium’s ability to “capture the current scene and contribute to the national discussion about such subjects as race relations, student unrest, and gun violence.” They wrote scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Fugitive, and in 1960 they created their own detective character for an episode of NBC’s The Chevy Mystery Show.
That character, Columbo, went on to get his own series. Starring Peter Falk, Columbo originally ran from 1971 to 1978 on NBC before moving to ABC for a more intermittent schedule that went on for a decade, and it has become one of the most iconic crime dramas in TV history. It popularized an “inverted” format that showed a crime being committed and then went back to show how Columbo solved the mystery—with the perpetrators generally being wealthy elites who underestimate Columbo’s apparent ineptitude, right up until he drops a “just one more thing” and reveals that he actually knows exactly what happened.
Stephen Spielberg directed the first episode of Columbo, “Murder By The Book,” and credits Link and the show with giving him a foot in the door into the film industry. In a statement, he said that he “caught a huge break when Bill and Dick trusted a young, inexperienced director to do the first episode of Columbo,” adding, “That job helped convince the studio to let me do Duel, and with all that followed I owe Bill so very, very much.”
In the ‘80s, Link and Levinson were approached by CBS to create a new mystery series, which ended up being Murder, She Wrote. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, the series starred Angela Lansbury as amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher. It ran for 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996, and has made a similarly lasting impact on the TV landscape as Columbo. Over the years, Link won multiple Emmys and Golden Globes, a Peabody, and was inducted into the Television Academy’s hall of fame.
20 Comments
What’s so mysterious about a Chevy?
Man who do I look like, Christopher Columbo?
Why do they keep making those damn Real People commercials?
“In the ‘80s, Link and Levinson were approached by CBS to create a new mystery series, which ended up being Murder, She Wrote. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, the series starred Angela Lansbury as amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher.”And thereby created the greatest serial killer in TV history.
“Stephen Spielberg?” You guys really do suck.
RIP, but just one more thing…
Such a shame that he wasn’t murdered in some exotic, mysterious way that could only be sorted out by an affable, quirky investigator. He probably would have enjoyed it.
Glad I read the thread before I posted the same joke!
I wrote a script for a short film that was heavily inspired by Colombo. The only difference is that it takes place in Korea and Colombo’s an African American woman.
Get out.
I am not Jordan Peele
Columbo relentlessly head fucking with murder suspects is one of my favorite things on television
Link and Levinson really raised the bar for late sixties/early seventies TV. “Mannix” was a Sam Spade character reenvisioned as a decent, caring human being with Gail Fisher as what was probably the first well-rounded black character on television who also clearly had a deep, substantial friendship with her white star. “Columbo” brought back a smartness and richness of character writing, as well as wit, absent from the medium since the early sixties while their short-lived “Ellery Queen” was both a critical darling and genuine mystery lovers show that actually laid out the clues and had Jim Hutton break the fourth wall at the climax to challenge viewers to solve the mystery.Link also wrote the much acclaimed television film, “The Execution of Private Slovik,” about a real American soldier (played by Martin Sheen) who was executed for desertion in WW II. The real high point of his career, though, was probably 1972’s “That Certain Summer,” a truly groundbreaking “Movie of the Week” in which Hal Holbrook played a father coming out to his teenage son (something even theatrical films wouldn’t touch at the time.) Sheen was in this one too as Holbrook’s younger lover.
I loved “Ellery Queen,” especially that moment you mentioned, right before the last commercial break, when he would look right at the audience and ask us if we’d figured out whodunnit.
I remember John Hillerman, pre-“Magnum, PI,” played Simon Brimmer, who saw himself as Ellery Queen’s rival.
Columbo is a masterpiece. Especially the 1970s seasons, but the format was so durable even the 80s and 90s reboots are very watchable. Part of it is Peter Falk–has any role ever been better cast?–but the writing, direction, narrative etc are all top gear. I think the unconventional narrative arc encouraged interesting stories.Which is why I wish more shows would play with the Colombo format. I can sort of see why it’s not done: you actually need to, you know, tell a story well when you essentially know the ending from the start. And the rise of streaming has emphasized ‘content’ rather than quality, so who has the time. But I think of something like that recent HBO Nicole Kidman/Hugh Grant disaster, and how that might have been much better if they’d taken a Columbo route rather than a whodunnit route.
I can’t remember, but did we ever get to meet Columbo’s wife?
Oh so much never ever ever.Some idiots tried a “Miss Columbo” tv series. It got renamed several times (the main character got renamed too) and cancelled. If it had kept on going, the “Columbo” writers had planned for Columbo to straightforward mention that there was an imposter around pretending to be his wife.(But of course if the show was made today, we’d see her. As per the “no stone left unturned” rule of fan service. Gotta bobafett it all.)
Something so wonderfully nostalgic about Columbo and Murder She Wrote. Quality writing, especially Columbo…timeless.