365 Days of Columbo: August 31st

Happy Birthday, Richard Basehart

Richard Basehart was born on August 31st, 1914, in Zanesville, Ohio.

Columbo fans know him as theatrical actor Nicholas Frame in 1972’s Dagger of the Mind, the series’ memorable excursion to London.

Basehart is ideally cast as the flamboyant, increasingly frazzled Frame, giving a performance considerably broader than many of Columbo’s usual killers. Opposite Honor Blackman, he helps give the episode its deliberately theatrical quality.

Outside Columbo, Basehart had an impressive film and television career. His movie credits included Federico Fellini’s La Strada and John Huston’s Moby Dick, while television audiences knew him particularly well as Admiral Harriman Nelson in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Basehart died in 1984 at the age of 70.

Happy Birthday, Warren Berlinger

Another Columni born on August 31st was Warren Berlinger, who arrived in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937.

Berlinger appeared in 1991’s Death Hits the Jackpot as Detective Jack Stroller, one of the officers involved in the investigation of lottery winner Freddy Brower’s death.

Berlinger had been acting since childhood and accumulated an extensive résumé in film and television, appearing in everything from Happy Days and Charlie’s Angels to Murder, She Wrote.

Berlinger died in 2020 at the age of 83.

Remembering Richard Drout Miller

August 31st, 2026, also marks 25 years since the death of character actor Richard Drout Miller.

Credited as Drout Miller, he appeared briefly in 1973’s The Most Dangerous Match as the first reporter covering the much-publicized chess match between Emmett Clayton and Tomlin Dudek.

It was a small role, but Miller was one of those familiar television faces who accumulated credits across many of the era’s best-known crime and drama series. His other television appearances included The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, Kojak and Emergency!

Richard Drout Miller died on August 31st, 2001, at the age of 61.