Perhaps out of regard for black, brown, red and yellow people who are far too often depicted as the criminal element: thieves, killers, rapists, etc, the Columbo series gave people of color a break and didnt depict them as criminals which the magority are not, but are painted as such time and again.

Actually the answer is given as to why columbo has never had a black killer on any of the episodes quite disconcerting, and worrisome in its attempts to answer a question that is very obvious. Not having a black actor play the role of a killer was a failure to recognize african american contributions to TV and film, a kind of inconvenient "truth" a way of ignoring the fact that african American actors as well as Hispanic American actors could do the same. In the Film "The defiant ones Sidney portier played one half of a convict escaping from a chain gang tied to of all people Tony Curtis, with Sidney playing the smarter one. And there are others. I am always saddened when the establishment thinks for the individual and especially thinks for a whole race of people especially black people, on what would be best for them. Columbo was a great series of mysteries though we knew who did it from the very beginning. The formula tried and true tried not to go too far from that premise. But by the 1980s and 1990s and definitely by 2003 when the last episode aired the excuse of "we were doing black people a favor by not having them in primary or even secondary roles was quite frankly an inconvenient truth. The slovenly character played by columbo had truly run its course and the only "mystery was how he would catch the killer character, who we all knew "did it" a African American actor could have played the role with class and style and still come off as respectable. And as for those that mention the old stand by Roscoe lee, James Earl Jones, I submit Billy Dee williams (a man of the times) Samuel L Jackson, and Denzel Washington just to mention some of several actors who could have pulled off being the "killer" and still cause no ill will to african american causes of the times which really haven't changed since then. In all Levine and company turned their backs on missed opportunities, and maybe even Peter Falk with an inconvenient "we think we know what's best for them" solution.

This is something I am now realising as I am currently watching some of the older versions. Please note that there were many African American bartenders, maids and other servant-like side characters and therefore the show type-casted them as secondary. The height of racism here projected by the creators of this program. The theory behind the show is that the major character is 'more' prominent than Columbo and potentially more intelligent in his/her delivery. So the America in which this was first delivered didn't accommodate for a famous AA trying to outwit the sometimes wily Lieutenant. Such a shame as it could have matured and delivered someone like James Earl Jones, Sammy Davis Jr or Diahann Carroll as the main character.

I message Peter Falk's daughter maybe 3 years ago to ask her the same thing , the woman I think got a little heated with me cause I simply ask her WHY ! She also told me on an after thought that " James Earl Jones was asked but busy at that time" I said - Huh there are a lot other Black American actors/actress other than Mr.Jones .I truly think that my question caught her off guard, she mentioned and I'm busy right now with my family , I told her so am I and I will let my family know her reply.
I use to watch that show every sunday as a kid and on Metv as an adult but after conversing with her I have NOT watched it anymore. I never heard of a Peter Gunn and I started watching that on metv EVEN they had black actors starring on that show & that was from my understanding in the 1950's

Hollywood was still stuck in the "No African Americans " allowed era.

The chauffer in the episode, "Short Fuse" was African/American. He wasn't the main target, but he was still a victim.

Greg Morris, perhaps best known as Barney Collier on "Mission: Impossible" would have made a terrific "Columbo" murderer.

This is an interesting question, and something that had never occured to me.

Like the earlier post I agree that with the episodes in the 70s you can probably attribute the absence of a black actor to the social context of the time.

However, given that there's been another 25 or so Columbo's since it's revival, it is very, very surprising that in near enough 70 episodes there has been not one black actor playing opposite Falk. I don't know what the explanation is.

Interesting that James Earl Jones was considered for a role. He would have been fantastic. Can imagine him being very dismissive and patronising to Columbo throughout the episode making his fall at the end all the sweeter.

Roscoe Lee Browne would also have been good. He had a great way with slick charm and would have made for a similarly entertaining episode.

What exactly is a "Jilted Barfly?"

It's very easy to misuse this phrase, in a sort of "knee-jerk" way, but maybe there was some degree of "reverse discrimination." In other words, maybe it wasn't so much that they didn't decide to have a smart black character, as that they didn't decide to have a black character who commits murder. I'm not saying that's the reason, but it could have figured into it a little.
("Jilted Barfly" is one of my favorite user names too, either here or elsewhere.)

As Columbo might say, "Not bad. Not bad." That's actually a different way to look at it. None of this has ever hampered my enjoyment of this show. As Columbo might say, 'it's just one of those things that gets stuck in my head and rolls around like a marble in there.'

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It's very easy to misuse this phrase, in a sort of "knee-jerk" way, but maybe there was some degree of "reverse discrimination." In other words, maybe it wasn't so much that they didn't decide to have a smart black character, as that they didn't decide to have a black character who commits murder. I'm not saying that's the reason, but it could have figured into it a little.
("Jilted Barfly" is one of my favorite user names too, either here or elsewhere.)

Roscoe Lee Browne would have been a more than formidable villain. He literally screen tested his believable depth in Rest In Peace, Mrs. Columbo. Without opportunity in these lead roles, talent is languishing and ideologies perpetuate about capabilities that couldn't be more farther from the truth. African-Americans didn't lead in the older episodes neither the later episodes ending in 2003. I am a mammoth Columbo fan, but that ostentatious lack of opportunity would have to be my Just One More Thing question and not necessarily for the character himself, but for the stakeholders behind the scenes.

I think there were no Black killers because they couldn't come up with a storyline which would have a brilliant rich Black person devising an intricate murder plot.
They wore the blinders which were common at the time - Black people were considered to be intellectually inferior.
But, consider Johnny Cash's character. They cast a Southern country & gospel musician as a killer who comes up with a plot that almost fools Columbo. A Southerner! Like me! Other than that one part, I don't remember any other time when a Southerner nearly outsmarts Columbo. That's because we were often depicted as laughably ignorant.
What about Ricardo Montalban's Mexican bullfighter? He is rich and has Caucasian facial features. But his victim does not look like an upper class white man. That episode is cringe-worthy because of the stereotypical Mexicans, like the taxi driver and the fat lady.
Black people in Columbo were cops, football players, cab drivers, servants, or background extras.

My sentiments exactly.

Yup

It was crucial that Columbo always be the underdog, and never be seen (even in the viewer's unconscious mind) as "picking on" somebody who is socially disadvantaged compared to himself.

There were real-life black millionaires, even then, but we had not yet reached a point in TV-Land where viewers could readily accept a black character as an oppressor, rather than the oppressed -- especially in a show as "class"-oriented as "Columbo". It's a very, very sticky subject, and it has to do with the archetypes (or if you insist,stereotypes) of TV story-telling in shows that present parables rather than real life. Yet, it's interesting that, as was pointed out, the producers actually did want to do an episode with James Earl Jones.

That's probably true. Of course, along with James Earl Jones, there were some other black actors, even when Columbo started, who were so "high-profile" that what you mention wouldn't have been a problem with them. As far as TV actors in, say, 1971, I can't help thinking of Bill Cosby and Dianne Carroll.

Diahann Carroll would have worked. She could have played the character of the fading dancer who killed her unsupportive husband and was bailed out by her dance partner. It's simple where there is a will there is a way.

I'm glad I posted the original question, because responses like this have given me what I was looking for. It's given me different ways to look at a situation that was really perplexing to me. I have a feeling that each of us who has given their theories have probably hit on the true reasons. I also have no doubt that if Peter Falk were young enough to have Columbo be a regular series again, we would finally have our first black murderer! (Gary Coleman, anyone?? just joking...)

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It was crucial that Columbo always be the underdog, and never be seen (even in the viewer's unconscious mind) as "picking on" somebody who is socially disadvantaged compared to himself.

There were real-life black millionaires, even then, but we had not yet reached a point in TV-Land where viewers could readily accept a black character as an oppressor, rather than the oppressed -- especially in a show as "class"-oriented as "Columbo". It's a very, very sticky subject, and it has to do with the archetypes (or if you insist,stereotypes) of TV story-telling in shows that present parables rather than real life. Yet, it's interesting that, as was pointed out, the producers actually did want to do an episode with James Earl Jones.

Levinson and Link are on record as saying they always wanted to have a black guest star, particularly James Earl Jones or Sammy Davis, Jr.

However, at a panel discussion in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Peter Falk said he would certainly have objected to the idea, had he ever heard it during production. He said, and I am paraphrasing, that the audience roots for Columbo because he is a regular guy, and the murderer is someone with every advantage in the world. Falk said that a black murderer would seem more like Columbo than like a villain who has squandered his advantages in life. He went on to say that it might have become different by the time of the event--perhaps society had evolved enough to allow the lack of sympathy he felt was necessary.

The most interesting part for me was seeing that Falk and Levinson & Link had obviously never discussed the question in 25 years.

Thanks, Lee. I'd say you can't get any more accurate an answer than what you posted...coming from the mouth of Peter Falk, himself. To hear that he was honest enough to say that he would have rejected the notion of a black murderer back then was surprising, but his reasoning makes sense to me, especially given the time period.

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Levinson and Link are on record as saying they always wanted to have a black guest star, particularly James Earl Jones or Sammy Davis, Jr.

However, at a panel discussion in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Peter Falk said he would certainly have objected to the idea, had he ever heard it during production. He said, and I am paraphrasing, that the audience roots for Columbo because he is a regular guy, and the murderer is someone with every advantage in the world. Falk said that a black murderer would seem more like Columbo than like a villain who has squandered his advantages in life. He went on to say that it might have become different by the time of the event--perhaps society had evolved enough to allow the lack of sympathy he felt was necessary.

The most interesting part for me was seeing that Falk and Levinson & Link had obviously never discussed the question in 25 years.

I can understand Falk's comments in the context of the 1970s, but can that same defence be used for the episodes which ran throughout the 90s and the 00s?

I am from the UK so cannot lay claim to being an expert on social class in the US, but it strikes me as bizarre that even in the 1990s a black person, whatever their job or upbringing, would not have enough social status to be a workable Columbo villain.

Thanks Lee for sharing the research information you gathered. I understand what Peter is saying but view it from the angle that Peter was speaking in terms of extreme absolutes when a character such as Tommy Brown or Beth Chadwick to a lesser extent or Kay Freestone, for example, may be considered sympathetic villains. Again, thanks for your research.

I can't help thinking that James McEachin would have made a good killer, along with the two roles he did play. And he was all over TV at the time, so a third COLUMBO wouldn't be strange.
Maybe he never got completely out of the "character actor" category, but in a way that's true of some other actors who played killers, like Clive Revill (at least in this country).

James would have been an excellent choice.

It's late, I'm tired, I want to go to sleep but I don't like your answer Ted for too many reasons. No matter what the 'times' that this particular show was produced, writers are all about creativity and different techniques. They were smart enough to have done a show or shows with African-American lead actors.

I can't speak for Peter Falk but, in fairness, I'm not sure he would have had the same thoughts on this subject in the 1990s, or would have given the same quote, as he did during the original series.

In answering the question at the event I saw, which was in the 1990's, Falk seemed to decide right at that moment that things might have changed enough for it to work. He was not running out to call casting agents, but he acknowledged that race relations had progressed in the previous 20 years.

And just to clarify...there was no implied racism in Falk's analysis at all! Just the opposite, actually, as he cited prejudicial treatment of black Americans as the reason he had not favored the casting choice earlier.