A Friend in Deed is the eighth and final episode of the third season of Columbo and the twenty-fifth episode overall. It first aired on May 5, 1974 and was directed by Peter Falk's good friend Ben Gazzara.
Columbo faces one of the toughest cases of his career in A Friend in Deed when a murder is committed by his own boss. Richard Kiley stars as the murderer, with Michael McGuire as his reluctant accomplice and Val Avery as a local thief the villains attempt to frame.
Cast[]
- Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo.
- Richard Kiley as Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Halperin, who agrees to cover up a murder in return for help in the murder of his own wife.
- Michael McGuire as Hugh Caldwell, Halperin's close personal friend and neighbour who fatally chokes his wife, Janice, in a fit of rage and reaches out to Halperin for help. Halperin agrees in return for Caldwell assisting in the cover-up of Mrs. Halperin's murder.
- Val Avery as Artie Jessup, a cat burglar framed for the murders by Halperin and Caldwell.
- Rosemary Murphy as Margaret Halperin, Deputy Commissioner Halperin's wife who he drowns in the bathtub before making it look like she fell victim to the so-called "Bel Air Burglar."
- John Finnegan as Lieutenant Duffy, Columbo's colleague in the L.A.P.D.'s Robbery Division.
- Eric Christmas as Wexler the Jeweller.
- Arlene Martell as the Jeweller's assistant.
- John Calvin as Charlie Shoup, the lover of Janice Caldwell
| Columbo (season 3) |
|---|
| 1."Lovely But Lethal" 2."Any Old Port in a Storm" 3."Candidate for Crime" 4."Double Exposure" 5."Publish or Perish" 6."Mind Over Mayhem" 7."Swan Song" 8."A Friend in Deed" |