365 Days of Columbo: January 16th

Happy Birthday Michael Pataki 

Character actor Michael Pataki was born on January 16, 1938. He has a lot list of acting credits over the years, but Columbo fans can be forgiven for not knowing him. Some sites list him with a brief uncredited role in Agenda for Murder (1990), where he plays Sergeant Sam Meyer, very briefly. 

Some filmographies also credit Pataki as “Sam” in the season-two opener Étude in Black (1972)—though it appears those scenes were deleted. He passed away in 2010.

Farewell Bradford Dillman

January 16 is also the anniversary of the death of Bradford Dillman (1930–2018). Dillman plays Tony Goodland in The Greenhouse Jungle (1972), the cuckolded nephew of Ray Milland’s Jarvis Goodland.