365 Days of Columbo: January 12th

Happy birthday Bob Dishy

Born on January 12th, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, Bob Dishy appeared in two episodes of Columbo, though with slightly different names. We first meet him in Season 2 as the eager young detective, Sgt. Freddy Wilson in The Greenhouse Jungle.

He's back in Season 5's Now You See Him, this time as Sgt. John J. Wilson, though the dialogue makes it clear that it's intended to be the same character.

Dishy is pretty popular with Columbo fans and it always seemed to me that the Columbo producers missed a trick by not having him join our hero more often.

Last time I checked, Bob Dishy is still alive.

Happy birthday to Anthony Andrews

You can send him a birthday card if you want to, or if you just think "Happy birthday" he'll know. He was born January 12th, 1948, in London, UK.

Andrews is, of course, best known to Columbo fans as the fake psychic (and real killer) Elliott Blake in Season 8's opener Columbo Goes to the Guillotine which aired on February 6th, 1989.

Fun Fact: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine was not only the first episode of Season 8 but it marked the return to TV of the series. It was the first episode aired since the final episode of Season 7, The Conspirators, which aired in May of 1978.

Aside from Columbo Andrews is best known for The Kings Speech and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

As far as I can tell he's still with us, though he doesn't have any acting credits since 2020.