Today in History: American actor Peter Falk was born on this day in 1927. PF was best known for "Columbo", an American crime drama television series that aired mostly from 1971 to 1978, though you can find episodes as late as 2003. Peter Falk also played a detective in one of my favorite movies "Murder By Death." "The movie’s plot is set up around the classic 'locked room' murder mystery. In this case, a group of the world’s greatest detectives is invited to the mansion of an eccentric millionaire, who challenges them to solve a murder that will take place at a dinner party that very night."~Charles McGuinness. Murder by Death came out in 1976 and starred Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood.
The participants in Murder by Death are all pastiches of famous fictional detectives:
Peter Falk plays Sam Diamond who parodies Dashiell Hammett's "Sam Spade".
Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) is based on Earl Derr Biggers' Chinese police detective Charlie Chan.
Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith) are polished, sophisticated society types modeled on Dashiell Hammett's characters Nick and Nora Charles.
Milo Perrier (James Coco) is a take on Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) parodies Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.
Of all the main characters in the movie, only Maggie Smith survives to this day.
See also The 300 Oldest Murder Mystery and Crime Books & Stories on DVDrom
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