365 Days of Columbo: October 21st

Happy Birthday Hy Averback

Director Hy Averback was born on October 21st, 1920, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His name may be less familiar than those of the guest stars, but his two Columbo episodes should be familiar to just about everybody.

First came Suitable for Framing (1971), featuring Ross Martin as the spectacularly smug art critic Dale Kingston. There’s a lot to enjoy in this one, but that ending is hard to beat. 

Averback returned for A Stitch in Crime (1973), with Leonard Nimoy as Dr. Barry Mayfield. Nimoy makes a wonderfully cold and calculating adversary, and the danger to his surgical patient gives the investigation an urgency we don’t always get on Columbo. 

Two episodes, two memorable killers, and two very satisfying confrontations. That’s a pretty good contribution to the series.

Happy Birthday Art Kassul

Actor Art Kassul was born on October 21st, 1925, in Chicago. His Columbo contribution was considerably smaller: he appears in It’s All in the Game (1993), credited as “First Drunk.”

Not everybody gets to be the wealthy murderer. Somebody has to be First Drunk.

In Memoriam: Daryl Duke

October 21st also marks the anniversary of director Daryl Duke’s death. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 77.

Duke directed Columbo Cries Wolf (1990), with Ian Buchanan and Deidre Hall, and Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991), featuring George Hamilton’s return to the series as television crime-show host Wade Anders.