I own a copy of “The Columbo Collection,” a set of short stories written by William Link (and the bonus story that came from buying an early edition). They’re OK; print is a different animal than TV. One thing it did make me realize: as far as I remember, there are only two non-Caucasian Columbo murderers. I thought of it because one of the stories featured what would’ve been his first East Asian culprit.
“He’s the guy!”
Namely?
Do you guys know that the guys who created murder she wrote ? id of loved to see that crossover
And id of loved to see monk and Colombo on the same case …
Luis Montoya (“A Matter of Honor”) and Hassan Salah (“A Case of Immunity”). I don’t think I’m missing any.
I guess I’m wondering whether to count the murderer played by Academy Award winner José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón…
Good question! Considering the casting of his character’s son, their shared last name, and the general attitude toward interracial marriage at the time, probably not…?
The actor’s name for these are Ricardo Montalban and Hector Elizondo.
And speaking of Monk and Hector Elizondo, he played Dr. Bell on Monk.
“Charlie X”?!? 
Here is a somewhat older Matthew Rhys on The Graham Norton Show, talking about that episode (and doing a pretty good Peter Falk impersonation):
Another inspiration for the character: the detective in 1955’s Diabolique:
I’ve avoided all but one of the post-season-7 episodes—I caught the one starring Lindsay Crouse, possibly shortly after seeing the movie House of Games. As I recall the plot was very similar to that of one of the pre-1979 eps, though I don’t remember which one.
The Levinson-Link era episodes–the 45 from seasons 1 through 7–had some clinkers, but overall the quality was amazing. Even the art direction and costuming made for a “timeless” quality; just look at other shows made in the seventies and the faddishness of their look contrasts sadly with Columbo.
I have several favorite episodes, but top-of-mind at the moment is Season 3’s “Any Old Port in a Storm,” starring Donald Pleasence.
Considering how often the 1970s fashions in Columbo make me, someone born in the early 1980s, fall down laughing, I’m afraid to watch these “faddish” shows you talk about. I still haven’t recovered from Suzanne Pleschette’s matching red kerchief and jacket from the first season episode “Dead Weight.”
Sure, the 70s Columbo shows do clearly signal ‘made in the 70s’—but, truly, not to the extent of other 70s shows. Compare with The Brady Bunch, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and even dramas like Dallas and Fantasy Island.
(I’m looking for a site to link, but most pages highlighting 70s fashion seem to be on sites such as Pinterest, which aren’t accessible except to account-holders. For example:
ETA:
Examples from shows mentioned can be found on this Google image search page:
https://www.google.com/search?q="television"+"fashion"+1970s&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiU18n9j5n0AhVI0FMKHYgsBN0Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq="television"+"fashion"+1970s&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIGCAAQCBAeOggIABAIEAcQHjoICAAQBxAFEB46BQgAEIAEOgYIABAHEB5QwAhY8Spgpi5oAHAAeACAAWiIAaAOkgEEMjMuMZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=iauRYdTuHMigzwKI2ZDoDQ&bih=834&biw=835&safe=active
There’s an outfit worn by Jo Ann Pflug in “The Night Strangler” that cracks me up every time I watch that movie. Basically tablecloth-style red and white checks with a Sly Stone hat.
The fashions in the later Columbo episodes are even more outlandish than those filmed in the '70s. They’re on a par with the clothing in Matlock, which ran from 1986 to 1995.
As far as I remember the '70s, a lot of the crap shown in the links above was worn only by models in ads for “trendy” fashions. I don’t recall ever seeing most of it in real life.