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    What was Columbo's first name in the show 'Columbo'?

    Question #26268. Asked by wonderwoman. (Jan 11 03 4:03 PM)


    mk2norwich

    		Philip.

    Jan 11 03, 4:07 PM
    Linus

    		I get the feeling that the Internet may have propagated the 'first name Philip' line in much the same way as it is confidently asserted that a duck's quack does not echo.

    I have watched probably more than my fair share of the world's greatest detective and have never heard his name mentioned. Without fail, when he is asked his first name, he always replies 'Lieutenant' and when asked his wife's name, he always answers 'Mrs. Columbo'.

    Jan 11 03, 7:38 PM
    IndieQueen

    		Columbo never had a first name. The 'Columbo's name is Phillip' thing came from a trivia book. The guy who wrote it was sure that Trivial Pursuit was stealing questions from his book, but couldn't prove it. He made up this question to catch them in act.

    Source: http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/firstnamecourt.htm

    Jan 11 03, 8:10 PM
    terryproantrim

    		If we accept 'The Penguin TV Companion' as an authority, Philip is correct. I quote from its article on Columbo, "Peter Falk stepped in to take the role, appearing in two TV movies titled 'Prescription: Murder' in 1968 in which we learn that Columbo's name is Philip."

    Jan 11 03, 10:11 PM
    gmackematix

    		The name "Philip Columbo" does not appear in the play, the teleplay or the 1968 TV film of "Prescription Murder" (or the earlier 1960 Columbo.
    The fact that "The Guinness TV Companion", "The Penguin TV Companion", "TV Heaven" and other TV reference works all repeat this "fact" in the same words suggests they all copied it from the same source.
    "Frank Columbo" appears as the signature on Columbo's police badge in the episode "Dead Weight".

    Mar 08 06, 8:30 PM
    satguru

    		There are two of these threads but I'll update this with the latest from Wikipedia which finally showed the source I saw in the Radio Times ages ago.

    1) Phillip was a red herring by a writer put in to see who was copying his material and naturally spread like wildfire

    2) The Radio Times showed the badge clearly with Frank

    3) The writers said it was a mistake to release that and he was never meant to have a name.

    But the closest he got was Frank as it was the only time his name appeared in the whole series.

    Also see Question #44468
    http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question44468.html

    Jan 09 07, 7:37 PM

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