The "Lovely But Lethal" thread makes me wonder again how many characters were inspired by real people, at least loosely. I can think of a handful.
Abigail Mitchell - Agatha Christie
Milo Janus - Jack LaLane
Adrian and Ric Carsini - Ernest and Julio Gallo
Grace Wheeler - Janet Leigh herself? (You even see one of her musicals on the screen.)
Emmett Clayton - Bobby Fischer
Findlay Crawford - Leonard Bernstein
Hugh Creighton - Johnny Cochrane (SP?)
Beau Williamson- Lorne Greene
Tommy Brown - Johnny Cash of course!!
Sgt.Wilson - Howdy Doody
Quid pro quo, I agree that Gerry Spence was used as a model in "Murder of a Rock Star," but I thonk you're right to suggest that he appears more as Creighton's lawyer (the one with the cowboy look), more than Creighton himself.
I know nothing about chess, but even I know about the famous Bobby Fischer / Boris Spassky match. So I guess if Emmett Clayton is Fischer, then Tomlin Dudek is Spassky. The episode even came out the same year, or at least very close.
Just to get it mentioned here as well as the original thread. Viveca Scott = Arlene Dahl.
Dahl's resume in the beauty/cosmetics line was this (from mostly reliable though not always Wiki):
"She began writing a syndicated beauty column in 1952, and opened Arlene Dahl Enterprises in 1954, marketing cosmetics and designer lingerie......After closing her company in 1967, she began working as a vice president at ad agency Kenyon and Eckhardt that same year....Dahl moved to Sears Roebuck as director of beauty products in 1970, earning nearly $750,000 annually, but left in 1975 to found her short-lived fragrance company Dahlia."
Combine that with making Vera Miles wear an unnatural looking red wig (to match Dahl's color and style), and also having a beauty mark (which Dahl had too) and that cinches it.
I forget the name of Carsini Wine’s rivals, but “They don’t make wine, they don’t even make good mouthwash!” I think that those brothers were the ones who were inspired by Ernest and Julio Gallo. Adrian Carsini would NEVER produce discount wine.
I’d also like to add:
Ward Fowler - Peter Falk
Joe Devlin - Luck Charms leprechaun
Riley Greenleaf - William Hanley (real-life President of Greenleaf Publishing). Greenleaf published “trashy” books with smutty plots, suggestive covers, etc. Btw, above I meant to type the “Lucky Charms leprechaun”.
The Columbo writers already poked fun at the young genius Stephen Spielberg (Spelberg) in Mind Over Mayhem, but I think the older Spielberg also got a nod as Alex Brady.
Max Barsini - Pablo Picasso (He was notorious with women)
Sean Brantley - Hugh Heffner
Nicholas Frame and Lillian Stanhope - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Ken Franklin and Jim Ferris - Richard Levinson and William Link.
Levinson said in Columbo Phile, "The fun we all had that this was Link and Levinson that this show was about: two mystery writers. Everyone would say, 'Which of you is the writer and which of you is the talker?' Of course it's not us literally but we thought it was a novel idea for a show. There was a constant string of Link and Levinson jokes during that show." The very names, "Franklin and Ferris" were meant to evoke the same alliterative ring.
Astaire-Rogers is I'm sure the best generic connection in terms of a famous real-life dance team. Its easier to overlook that because of the distinctiveness of Ned and Grace and how other than the profession there aren't real life similarities to their counterparts (unlike the more blatant Viveca Scott-Arlene Dahl ones).
I know so little about football (during ANY year) that I wonder whether Eric Wagner was inspired by an actual heir to a football team, one who was criticized for paying too little attention to the game as opposed to "swinging" with the money. Maybe someone could answer that.