Peter Falk’s Columbo had quite the unprecedented run spanning decades… and just one more thing: the guest star list is an embarrassment of riches.
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Of course, Columbo flipped the whodunnit formula on its head by revealing the killer right from the start. This bold choice put the villains front and center, and with iconic guest stars filling those roles, the tension was always butt clinching.
Here are some of the guest stars that might surprise modern TV fans.
A Horror Icon and Writing Legend Both Had Guest Star Turns on ‘Columbo’
Where better to start than with the master of macabre himself? Vincent Price plays David Lang in Columbo season 3, episode 1, “Lovely But Lethal.” Lang is a cosmetics CEO and bitter rival to Viveca Scott, the self-proclaimed “Queen of the Cosmetics Industry.” When Scott’s ex-boyfriend, Dr. Karl Lessing (played by a young Martin Sheen), steals her miracle wrinkle cure, the very formula she hoped would topple Lang’s empire, she does what any reasonable cosmetics mogul would do: she kills him.
One surprise for modern TV fans: in the 1970s, a guest star could be a popular author. Enter Mickey Spillane, crime novelist and creator of the iconic detective Mike Hammer, widely known as the “king of pulp fiction.”
Spillane guest-starred as murder victim Alan Mallory in the January 1974 Columbo episode “Publish or Perish.” Fittingly, the king of pulp fiction played a successful pulp writer who meets his end courtesy of a hired killer, all at the behest of his disgruntled publisher, played by Jack Cassidy.
Short of Stephen King, could an author in the year of our lord 2026 do a guest spot on a TV show and have mainstream audiences have any idea who they are?
An Iconic Mother-Daughter Scream Queen Duo Separately Guest Starred on ‘Columbo’
Next up is a mother-daughter scream queen duo who each made a guest appearance on Columbo.
Psycho legend Janet Leigh (who further cemented her scream queen status in John Carpenter’s The Fog) plays Grace Wheeler Willis in Columbo season 5, episode 1, “Forgotten Lady.” Grace is a former movie star eager to revive her career. When her husband dares to rain on her comeback parade, Grace takes matters into her own hands… enter sleeping pills, a well-placed bullet, and a creative suicide staging.
@belinlbg4dw Best Scenes of 'Psycho' Star Janet Leigh | Columbo #Columbo #JanetLeigh #ForgottenLady #PsychoStar #CrimeDrama #DetectiveSeries #ClassicTV #EmotionalTwist #MysteryShow #ColumboMoment #InvertedDetective #JanetLeighPerformance #TVSuspense #DementiaPlot #SympatheticKiller #ColumboFarewell #TVIcon #GoldenAgeHollywood #ColumboEpisode #fyp ♬ The Beauty of Minimalist Design – AMIRA HAZIMAH BINTI FAIZAL
If you’re a horror fan, you know where this is going. Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, also guest-starred on Columbo before her original scream queen turn in 1978’s Halloween.
At just 18 years old, Curtis made one of her earliest on-screen appearances in Columbo, playing a blink and you’ll miss it role as a grumpy waitress in “The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case” (Season 6, Episode 3), which aired on May 22, 1977.
@theemeryemery Replying to @Emery Emery ♬ original sound – Emery Emery
Not quite a scream queen moment, but everyone has to start somewhere… even Janet Leigh’s daughter.
An Actor Who’s Officially Blowing Up Guest-Starred on the Last Episode of ‘Columbo’
Finally, we’ll stick the landing of this surprising Columbo guest star round-up with an actor who has been simmering for some time before absolutely blowing up this year. The Americans star Matthew Rhys (whose brilliant comedy horror series Widow’s Bay dropped earlier this year on Apple TV) played murderer and rave promoter Justin Price in “Columbo Likes the Nightlife” (2003).
Price helps his girlfriend cover up the accidental death of a mobster backing their new nightclub, but a tabloid reporter photographs them and tries to shake them down for cash. Price then murders the photographer to keep him quiet. Rhys, famously, plays the role with his natural Welsh accent… at Falk’s urging, according to Rhys himself.
This served as the show’s final episode…