By Dawn's Early Light is the third episode of the fourth season of Columbo and the twenty-eighth episode overall. It first aired on October 27, 1974 and was directed by Harvey Hart. In addition to Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, the episode stars Patrick McGoohan, Mark Wheeler and Tom Simcox.
In By Dawn's Early Light, the head of an all-boys military school tries to save his job by murdering the President of the Board of Trustees and, having made it look like a tragic accident, pins the blame on a particularly unruly young cadet. Columbo himself stays at the school while investigating the suspicious death.
This is the first time that Patrick McGoohan appeared on Columbo; he would go on to make a total of four appearances, each time as the murderer, a record number. He would also direct five episodes; the next three in which he appeared and two in which he did not. This was the only episode to feature McGoohan that he did not direct himself. Additionally, this episode makes the first performance by Bruce Kirby as Sergeant George Kramer, Columbo's most recurring sergeant, who also became a staple of McGoohan episodes. His son Bruno Kirby appears in the scene where Columbo is at the sinks shaving. However, Kirby's first appearance on Columbo was in the previous season's Lovely But Lethal, where he played a lab attendant named Doug.
| Columbo (season 4) |
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| 1."An Exercise in Fatality" 2."Negative Reaction" 3."By Dawn's Early Light" 4."Troubled Waters" 5."Playback" 6."A Deadly State of Mind" |