I'm always disappointed when I check which episode of Columbo is airing on Cozi-TV Saturday night. I'm hoping one has slipped through the cracks only to find I've seen what's running several times. Last night was different. I knew I'd seen Prescription Murder (1968), written by series creators Richard Levinson and William Link, but perhaps only once. I wondered if it were the debut. It's actually the TV movie that introduced the iconic character, which Peter Falk would change slightly in time. The photo above is a still from the flick. His hair is slick and raincoat not so rumpled. At one point he badgers a suspect much more forcefully, like most TV cops, than he does down the line. Gene Barry plays a psychiatrist, Nina Foch the wife he victimizes, Katherine Justice the dupe, Virginia Gregg, the secretary, and the ubiquitous William Windom a friend of the perp. IMDb lists 254 titles under Windom's name, but that doesn't come close to telling his story. His career spanned 1949-2006, largely on the small screen. He made multiple appearances on many prime time shows and starred in a few series. He did 101 episodes alone of The Farmer's Daughter, and 53 of Murder, She Wrote. He won an Emmy for My World and Welcome to It, which, opposite Gunsmoke, lasted only one season, 27 episodes. More impressive than any of that, during WWII he was a paratrooper in a division of the 101st Airborne and saw action at The Battle of the Bulge. He was married five times, the last for 37 years, until his death. In an awesome bit of trivia, his kindergarten teacher was The Wicked Witch - Margaret Hamilton. He passed away at 88 in 2012. Here's a quote attributed to him: "I used to be known in those days as 'Willie the Weeper.' Whenever they needed someone to break down on a show confessing a murder or infidelity, anything where something happened to this guy and we watch him disintegrate on camera, they would say, 'Get Windom - bring in Willie the Weeper!'" What an awesome life. Kudos.
From foxnews.com, edited by yours truly: In Sambuca, Sicily, officials have put dozens of hilltop homes on the market for the equivalent of $1.29 American. What's the catch? The houses are dilapidated and prospective buyers must invest $17,000 within three years to refurbish. The city owns all the properties up for sale. The proposition aims to revive the area, which suffered depopulation when locals moved to larger cities. Here's a pic:
Zero accumulation in NYC - yay!
I lucked into the second best parking spot, which allowed me to set up shop at my usual nook under the scaffold, but no one was interested in buying books. My thanks to Andy F-Bomb and Herbie Milquetoast, who stopped to chat.
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