On this website it is suggested from the episode "Dead Weight" that his first name is "Frank"; in Wikipedia ("the free encyclopedia")they show a video capture from the same episode which looks (suspiciously, to me) crystal-clear, and sho' nuff their conclusion is that the case is "solved" - his first name is most assuredly Frank. I don't buy it. His name has always been a source of mystery, as is now and ever shall be. (world without end, Amen...)

In the picture of Columbo's ID tag on this site, his first name does look like Frank to me. You may see something different, though.

oh no...not again....

just kidding with you kiddies.

c crisp..i totally agree with you. i don't buy it either. it is a mystery, and it should remain so.
and as far as wikipedia is concerned, we all have to realize that anyone can add facts to the entries. anyone can edit and change the stuff that is on there. my son showed me how the other day. any person who goes on there can change anything on there.

amen, i say again...

It is clearly Frank

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l266/jonnyp90/PDVD_011.jpg

Yep! The word "FRANK" is pretty clear to me!

The fact that this revelation was seen in a very early episode of Columbo can put it to bed.

Many people wish to keep this first name issue as mystery. Can't do it.

This has been over and over(ly) discussed.

Best answer in the past (at least to me) is that it was the Prop-maker's idea.

From the writers, from the creators, from Peter Falk, there never was intended a name.

This website site index takes us through an exhaustive study including the British ? TV guide alteration.

I agree the freeze frame spots pretty clearly look like "FranK" but in the spirit of the series there was no first name.

We can agree to disagree, but the arguments really have to end there. After I first discovered this website I was convinced his name was Frank, but I have evolved to the "unknown" theory.

It has been pointed out that in one episode a character showed an ID to a policeman, and close scrutiny by the blooper experts has revealed that it was Columbo's ID, used probably for lack of another prop in the spur of the moment.

We never really know by his contradictory statements whether Columbo had children or not. People have even questioned did he REALLY have a wife.

Someone made a prop with a particular name on it, which has conme to specific scrutiny, but never ackowledged by Columbo (who said his name was Lou Tenant) or by the creative and copyrighted staff.

It's a prop. Not a very good prop either. The badge numbers are different. The creators are the only people who can give Columbo a first name. They didn't so no-one know's it.

I can't for the life of me see why people can't accept this

thank you mr. osha. i couldn't have said it better myself.

one thing though, in interviews peter falk has said that his name was 'lieutenant'..it was our own beloved Headache who mischievously dubbed him 'lou tenant'.

welshdragon said...
"I can't for the life of me see why people can't accept this "

the topic comes up every month like clockwork!

Also the badge says lou and the ID card says sgt.

I did freeze frame on the Dead Weight episode, did a screenshot, then used Photoshop to sharpen the image.

There is no doubt in my mind that the first name is "Frank". I don't understand why people can argue against it. It is as plain as the nose on your face. Even if Universal prefer not to disclose Columbo's first name, you can't deny the film evidence. If it's in the film, it can't be denied. They wouldn't use more than one first name, otherwise it would be a farce!

andrew...andrew..andrew..you are missing the point.
the creators of columbo, levinson & link, NEVER gave columbo a first name. since they did not give him one then he has no first name.
as was stated above a prop guy made up a badge and that was used in the scene. it was the creation of a prop guy, not of the creators of the columbo character.

If that is the case, then why have Levinson and Link not had the scenes where Columbo shows his badge deleted from the episode(s) in question? Surely, L&L must accept responsibility for not cutting the ID card shots from the episodes?

The prop personnel must have been acting under authority... I know that from working in the theatre business myself. Nothing is used without the express wishes of the director, everything is scrutinised, or should be. The Director is directly responsible for such things. As such, the first name is valid, in my opinion.

I don't want to create a fuss however, as I also know that his first name was always referred to as "Lieutenant". For me though, for the reasons above I choose to believe it is "Frank." All I want is to enjoy watching Columbo... that's more important than identifying his first name!

In most American police departments, Sergeant is the rank junior to Lieutenant.

I am sure that Columbo's photo ID still says sergeant because he has not renewed it. The good lieutenant has been known for letting his paperwork lapse.

then it is all cool andrew
obviously we are all entitled to our opinions...and forums like this one are the places where we can express them.
and of course all these silly things have nothing to do with the show itself...the quality of writing and acting and direction and production is why we love the show so much..but all these little things are fun to mull over sometimes.

i had a thought on columbo's first name, in columbo goes to the guillotine, when he walks into max dysons studio. he speaks to a cop who's wife just had a kid, and says harry thats some terrific name for a baby.. could he be a harry columbo ??

Sorry to throw another spanner in the works but I believed that 'Frank' was made up by some man who had a copyright on trivia questions - and then used it as evidence when the makers of 'Trivial Pursuit' nabbed it as a question? He used it (and a few other questions) to prove that they were plagairised.
Or was it all a dream? Discuss!

Yes, it was "Philip" that was the name at the centre/center of the board game court case.

Your close sarah but the name used was philip. The biggest problem I have with this 1st name debate is when people say IT IS frank. Like Cass said it's just an opinion.

If people want to believe it's Frank cause a prop says it is thats fine. Just don't go round telling people IT IS Frank.

As for erasing all images that have a name that looks like frank would be pointless in my opinion. Its only on screen for a short time.

Inspector Morse's name wasn't revealed until the very end. Maybe columbo will go the same way.

FRANKly, I've had my PHILLIP of this recurring issue.

mercurior said...
"i had a thought on columbo's first name, in columbo goes to the guillotine, when he walks into max dysons studio. he speaks to a cop who's wife just had a kid, and says harry thats some terrific name for a baby.. could he be a harry columbo ??"

i never saw 'columbo goes to the guillotine' so i hadn't known about this line.
in the movie 'mikey & nicky',costarring peter and john cassavetes, there is a scene where mikey(peter) is talking to his wife on the phone about their son 'harry'. when mikey gets off the phone nicky(cassavetes)teases mikey about the child's name and makes a stupid joke comparing the name harry to hairy.
(why am i telling you this??? i don't know!! )

Harry is another form of Henry...
Henry VIII behead quite a few people in his time, albeit not by means of the guillotine.
Still, it makes you think that as the episode in question is centred around a beheading, maybe Columbo was making a loose reference to Henry VIII?

Who knows?

andrew, i knew that about the henry/harry correlation..i'm a bit of a shakespeare freak! ...and that very well could be.
but i will just add another bizarre reference to peter and the name 'harry'....
in the movie 'husbands' which starred peter, and john cassavetes and also ben gazzara..jc asked peter and ben to choose their names for their characters. gazzara picked 'harry'(in a little salute to the owner of a bar he frequented)

and then for some unknown reason peter picked the name archie..he just liked the name. now if we really make a stretch here, we could say that that is why nelson brenner of 'identity crisis' dubs the name of the huge stuffed bear he wins at the amusenment park 'archibald'!!

again..useless information...but i just can't help myself!!!

ok...sorry...i have officially gone insane!!

c crisp said...
"...in Wikipedia ("the free encyclopedia")they show a video capture from the same episode which looks (suspiciously, to me) crystal-clear, and sho' nuff their conclusion is that the case is "solved" - his first name is most assuredly Frank."

well, as i had pointed out, anyone can edit wikipedia information...and our own beloved welshdragon has done just that...check out wikipedia now..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo#First_name

Sorry to bring this up again. I know how people feel about this subject Its a radio interview with Mark Dawidziak. Columbo's first name is discussed at 11mins 30secs into the interview

Dawidziak Radio Interview

you're not sorry welshie!!

yup, pretty darn good explanation there!
(i just want to point out that, yes it does appear at the time you say, and i'll just add that it is in segment 3)

thanks for posting this interview. it was cool.

Sorry, I thought the link would take you straight to the interview. heres one you can copy and paste instead

http://www.worldtalkradio.com/playlistTNG.asp?SegmentID=3783

Might as well settle this.

I have never put this on the site, but I have a scan of Columbo's real, TV ID from the "new" (1980-present) series, smuggled out of Universal by an inside source.

See and believe:

come on ted.....you don't really believe that, do you?

Interesting that his face is so "Pink" in that photo!

I especially like the horrible ID photo -- it shows that, even though nobody expected (even in 1980) that viewers would get such a close look at the ID, somebody was witty enough to give Columbo a classically awful-looking ID photo, like the worst drivers-license picture ever taken. Columbo looks like he just dragged himself in from a 3-night stakeout, and on top of that, as you say, they gave it really bad coloration.

The ID cards might not be official canon on issues like Columbo's name, but clearly somebody is having great fun with the props.

This thread reminds me of Malcolm 'it's just Lovejoy' Lovejoy (Lovejoy tv series)

OK, I know this has been overdiscussed and that people are sick of it. But I just accidentally tripped into this thread while searching for something else and wanted to add some thoughts for the record:

(1) If Columbo's first name were Frank, I would be happy with that. It fits.

(2) I understand and appreciate the point that the show's creators, writers, and Falk himself never gave Columbo a first name and wanted to keep it unknown, and so the ID card was not intended to establish a name. I agree with that logic, except...

(3) You can also argue that intended by the writers or not, the fact remains that the ID card *is there* in the episode. We can speculate all day as to who intended what and whether that was a prop guy's decision and whether the director should have vetoed it if no name was intended to be established...but at the end of the day all we have to go by is what is actually there in the episodes themselves. It doesn't matter what the painter intended to paint or not to paint--all that matters is what ended up on the canvas. So rogue prop-guy or not, a name did get established in an episode. I can certainly see the point that there is no higher authority on "Columbo canon" than the actual content of the episodes, as that *is* Columbo.

(4) I picked up on the Harry thing in Columbo Goes to the Guillotine, too. When the episode first aired on TV (and I was much younger), I felt *certain* they were dropping a hint that Columbo's own name was Harry. He seemed to deliver the line with a (metaphorical) wink. But upon rewatching it now, it doesn't seem as dramatic as I remembered. Cass points out tht it might well be an in-joke, but as a reference to Falk's other non-Columbo work.

(5) FLOYD??? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!