Happy Birthday Cynthia Sikes Yorkin
Actress and producer Cynthia Sikes Yorkin was born on January 2, 1954. Columbo fans know her as Della Santini in Now You See Him (1976), the Magic Castle-set episode with Jack Cassidy as The Great Santini.
Farewell Steven Gilborn
January 2 is also the anniversary of the death of actor and educator Steven Gilborn, who passed away on January 2, 2009. In Columbo, Gilborn is best remembered as “George,” the medical examiner Columbo consults in several early-1990s outings—a welcome bit of dry, procedural grounding in the ABC-era movies.
If you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that coroner feels like a
regular,” you’re not imagining it: Gilborn shows up as George in four different
Columbo films—“Uneasy Lies the Crown” (1990), “Columbo Goes to College” (1990),
“Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health” (1991), and “Columbo and the
Murder of a Rock Star” (1991). It’s a fun micro-continuity: the lieutenant’s
cases change, but George’s steady (and slightly weary) professionalism stays
the same.
In memory of Anne Francis
Finally, January 2 marks the anniversary of the death of
Anne Francis, who passed away on January 2, 2011. Francis is one of those
classic-TV stars who feels tailor-made for Columbo: smart, poised, and able to
sell both vulnerability and steel.
She appeared twice on the series: as Valerie Bishop in
“Short Fuse” (1972), and as Nurse Sharon Martin in “A Stitch in Crime” (1973).
That’s a terrific two-episode snapshot of early Columbo—one story rooted in
corporate sabotage and bruised ego, the other in hospital politics with a
killer who thinks he can outsmart everyone in the room (including Columbo). If
you’re doing a January 2 marathon, Francis is an easy excuse to revisit two
very different flavors of the show’s first seasons.
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