365 Days of Columbo: February 11th

Paging Dr. Mayfield

February 11 is the original U.S. airdate of A Stitch in Crime (Season 2), first broadcast on February 11, 1973. It’s the episode that pairs Columbo with Leonard Nimoy’s ice-cold surgeon Dr. Barry Mayfield.

Happy Birthday, Leslie Nielsen

Actor Leslie Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926—and long before the world came to know him as a deadpan comedy icon, he dropped into Columbo early on as Peter Hamilton in Lady in Waiting. In that episode, Hamilton is the ambitious fiancé caught in the gravitational pull of the Chadwick family’s power and paranoia. 

A couple of seasons later Nielsen returned, this time as "operator" Geronimo in Identity Crisis. In that one he gets killed on the beach by Patrick McGoohan.

Happy Birthday, Sergeant Burke

Born on February 11, 1927 Todd Martin who Columbo fans may know as Sgt. Burke in Murder Under Glass (Season 7), an episode with a tasty culinary backdrop. 

It's a pretty brief role, you only meet him at the crime scene when Gerard returns from the airport. In fact you hardly see any other police officers at all after that.

Happy Birthday, Terry G. Warren 

For the later-era Columbo movies, February 11 also marks the birthday of Terry G. Warren (born February 11, 1964), who appears briefly as a Policeman in Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991). 

In Memoriam: Sorrell Booke (1930–1994)

February 11 is also an anniversary of loss for Columbo fans: actor Sorrell Booke died on February 11, 1994. He appears very briefly in Swan Song as J.J. Stringer—Tommy Brown's manager. Three seasons later he's back for a more substantial role, as Bertie the victim in The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case. 

Booke was best known outside of Columbo as Boss Hogg, the nemesis of Bo and Luke Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard.