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Ransom for a Dead Man
Season 1, Episode 1
The second pilot, made three years after the first one. This was the episode that sold the show. Lawyer Leslie Williams comes up with an elaborate kidnapping ruse so that she will get away with the murder of her husband.
Leslie Williams is a popular lawyer and married to a former state Supreme Court Justice, however it would seem that their marriage is all but perfect. She only married him to boost her own career and when the husband wants to end the marriage she comes up with a clever plan to murder him. When the husband arrives home one night she shots him and dumps it off a cliff. To make it look like he has been kidnap she cuts up newspapers to make a ransom note, mailing it herself and leaves the car on a rual road by a stop sign. The next day while at work she pretends to get a call from the kidnappers and the FBI are called in. To fool the investigators to think that her husband is still alive she has a automatic-telephone machine calling them, all they hear is a message that she as made by old answering-machines tapes. It all goes as planned, the agents don't realize that they just listened to a recording. However, Columbo is there as the liaison for the local police - he as some ideas of his own. The agents pay little attention to him and Leslie seems to have answers for everything. Her calm and uenmotional state immediately makes him suspicious of her.
In the ransom note Leslie has prepeared the kidnappers demand 300,000$ and it is to be dropped off by aircraft. Leslie can pilot a aircraft, and she even has a big ready for the money. So the agents don't waste any time and they set up the delivery. They will follow her plane closely with a helicopter. She drops off the money bag, later when the police arrives at the area they just find an empty bag. This fact annoys Columbo, why would the kidnappers not take the bag, why empty it? It all seem to goes as planned for Leslie, until her step-daughter Margaret arrives. When she heared of her fathers kidnapping she had rushed from Zuric to get home. Arriving home and seeing how Leslie is acting she suspects her step-mother of foul play. When the body of her husband is found, Columbo takes over the case. He takes a fresh look at the case and soon finds evidence that this is no kidnapping. Margret finds an alley in Columbo and they play a ruse of themselves to expose Leslie Willaims as the murderer. The one thing she didn't plan for was her own conscience, Columbo says.
Guilt on glass.
In the ransom note Leslie has prepeared the kidnappers demand 300,000$ and it is to be dropped off by aircraft. Leslie can pilot a aircraft, and she even has a big ready for the money. So the agents don't waste any time and they set up the delivery. They will follow her plane closely with a helicopter. She drops off the money bag, later when the police arrives at the area they just find an empty bag. This fact annoys Columbo, why would the kidnappers not take the bag, why empty it? It all seem to goes as planned for Leslie, until her step-daughter Margaret arrives. When she heared of her fathers kidnapping she had rushed from Zuric to get home. Arriving home and seeing how Leslie is acting she suspects her step-mother of foul play. When the body of her husband is found, Columbo takes over the case. He takes a fresh look at the case and soon finds evidence that this is no kidnapping. Margret finds an alley in Columbo and they play a ruse of themselves to expose Leslie Willaims as the murderer. The one thing she didn't plan for was her own conscience, Columbo says.
Writers
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Richard Levinson
story
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Dean Hargrove
teleplay
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Producers
Actors
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Patricia Mattick
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Margaret Williams
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Harold Gould
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Agent Carlson
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John Fink
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Michael Clark
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Peter Falk
Columbo
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General Information
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| Name | Ransom for a Dead Man |
| Season | 1 |
| Episode Number | 1 |
| Type | Pilot |
| Is Pilot | False |
| Air Date | Jan. 3, 1971 |
More Season 1
- Jan. 3, 1971Ransom for a Dead Man
- Feb. 20, 1968Prescription: Murder
- Sept. 15, 1971Murder by the Book
- Oct. 6, 1971Death Lends a Hand
- Oct. 27, 1971Dead Weight
- Nov. 17, 1971Suitable for Framing
- Dec. 15, 1971Lady in Waiting
- Jan. 19, 1972Short Fuse
- Feb. 9, 1972Blueprint for Murder
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Links Around the Web
Top Editors
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Marnox
212 points
