Is Columbo really married?

TLDR: Yes.

This question comes up WAY too often in the Columbo forums and I get tired of answering it, so I figured I'd just write this post which we can share anytime it comes up in the future.

Columbo undoubtedly exaggerates about his various nieces, nephews, and even in-laws, but there's no serious doubt that he's married. Even though we never actually see her.

What's the evidence that Mrs. Columbo actually exists?

There are distinct reasons we know she exists (other than Columbo says she does):

She's not just for suspects

He refers to her when only in the presence of other police officers in Candidate for Crime, Butterfly in Shades of Grey, The Most Crucial Game, Murder of a Rock Star, and Now You See Him. There's no reason for him to invent her for their benefit, and there's a good chance they know him well enough to know if he's got a wife or not.

In A Trace of Murder he mentions her at the crime scene, and the killer is in the room, but the killer is a police forensics guy and at this point in the story Columbo has no reason to suspect him, and no reason to invent a fake wife for his benefit.

In Make Me a Perfect Murder, Columbo mentions Mrs. Columbo to Sgt. Burke when nobody else is in earshot. And later in that episode he mentions her to the TV repairman, who's not involved in the case, when only he and Dog are in the room.

In Swan Song he tells Inspector Pangborn that Mrs. Columbo was a big fan of Tommy Brown. At that point he's not sure a murder has been committed and nobody at the scene would be a suspect even if he already knew.

At the very end of Last Salute to the Commodore he tells two fellow detectives (Mac and Kramer) that he's meeting his wife at the yacht club. They're the only people there, the case is already solved, and the killer is already in custody. No reason for pretense.

Near the beginning of A Matter of Honor he talks about Mrs. Columbo with Commandante Sanchez. At this point Columbo doesn't know a murder has occurred or any of the participants. And Commandante Sanchez is a fellow police officer, albeit from a different department/country.

He talks to her on the phone

It COULD be an act to throw a suspect off, but...

In Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo he talks to her on the phone at the very end of the episode AFTER the murderer has already been arrested and led away. He's alone in the house at that point, and the case is solved. No reason to fake a phone call to an imaginary wife.

In Troubled Waters he talks to her on the phone just after they've boarded the ship. Not only is there nobody he knows within earshot but the murder hasn't even been committed yet. As far as he knows he's just on vacation, no reason to fake a phone call to an imaginary wife.

In Exercise in Fatality he receives a phone call from her and talks to her while he's alone in Gene Stafford's office. The suspect isn't even in the building, and even if he was...he's alone when he carries on a conversation with her. Plus, if he doesn't have a wife...who called him? In this instance he didn't make the call, he received the call.

In No Time to Die he talks about her, and their wedding reception, with other family members at the wedding reception. No crime has been committed, and he's among family and friends (some of whom would know if he were really married).

Other characters claim to have seen, heard, or talked to her

The dog groomer in Caution: Murder can be Hazardous to your Health says he talked to Mrs. Columbo and she asked to have Dog's nails trimmed. There's no reason for him to lie about that; he's not a suspect or even tangentially related to the crime.

Nelson Brenner in Identity Crisis says he knows what his wife's favorite song is because he had Columbo's house bugged. He would surely have known if the wife didn't actually exist as he undoubtedly would have overheard conversations.

The captain and purser on the Sea Palace in Troubled Waters repeatedly claim to have seen or met her. They're not suspects, nor involved in any crime. When they first say it they've only just met Columbo, and have no idea who he is, so they have no reason to play along with any kind of odd delusion; if that's what she is.

But he doesn't wear a wedding ring!

Especially in the 1970s many men didn't. And many police officers, in particular, don't wear rings on the job either because it can be an issue if things get physical, or because they don't want the crooks they deal with to know they're married.

And if you look at photos of Peter Falk in real life, with his real wife Shera Danese, you'll notice that he doesn't wear a ring.


Odds and ends

In Now You See Him Columbo has a new raincoat, which he hates, that he says was a gift from his wife. The suspect, Santini, never even sees the new raincoat and Columbo never refers to the raincoat in front of Santini. Its only role in the episode is to be a comedic prop. It's possible he bought himself a new raincoat that he disliked, but there's no reason for him to lie to other police officers about it. And why wouldn't he just return it if he bought it for himself?

And then there's this...

Often those who argue his wife doesn't exist explain it as some sort of complicated delusion of Columbo's and that mysteriously the entire police department, and even total strangers, go along with illusion of the imaginary wife just to humor him.

Setting aside how absurd that explanation is, in Columbo's line of work he has to be competent and reliable. He's going to have to testify at the trial of each of these murderers and if he's mentally ill to the extent that he hallucinates a non-existent wife, every defense attorney is going to tear him to shreds on the stand.

He won't get to stay a homicide detective for long if his cases keep getting tossed out because he's an unreliable witness with a documented history of hallucination.

What does Peter Falk say about it?

In this interview on Inside the Actor's Studio, Peter Falk was asked about the possibility that Mrs. Columbo doesn't exist and he replied...
I disagree. I think he does have a wife. But I'm not sure how many relatives he has.
Here's the video:


Conclusion

The preponderance of evidence is that Mrs. Columbo does indeed exist. You have to believe there's some kind of bizarre deception where Columbo has a woman he CLAIMS is his wife, but she isn't. There's no reason to think that would happen.



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