Now You See Him is the fifth episode of the fifth season of Columbo and the thirty-sixth episode overall. It first aired on February 29, 1976 and was directed by Harvey Hart in his fourth and final contribution to the series. Jack Cassidy stars a murderous magician in the last of three Columbo appearances as the killer. In addition to Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, the episode also features the return of Sergeant Wilson, played by Bob Dishy. Final clue/twist: Santini is undone by the used carbon ribbon on Jerome's IBM Selectric typewriter. The carbon ribbon has a clear imprint of everything written with it, so it is in effect a copy of the letter Jerome was typing to send to federal authorities, which revealed the motive for the murder. At his arrest Santini remarks that he thought he had created the perfect murder; Columbo remarks that a "perfect murder" is only an illusion
Cast[]
- Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo.
- Jack Cassidy as The Great Santini, a world-famous magician hiding a deadly secret; he was once Stefan Mueller, a German SS camp guard.
- Bob Dishy as Sergeant John J. Wilson, Columbo's eager sidekick. They previously worked together in The Greenhouse Jungle.
- Nehemiah Persoff as Jesse Jerome, the owner of the Cabaret of Magic and Santini's boss; he's also blackmailing him over his dark and sordid past. Or at least, he was until Santini deservedly murdered him.
- Robert Loggia as Harry Blandford, the club's co-owner and chief maitre'd.
- Cynthia Sikes as Della Santini's daughter and glamorous assistant.
- Mike Lally as Michael Lally, Santini's former colleague. A regular bit player on Columbo, Lally was given this role at the suggestion of Peter Falk, who wanted to thank him for all he had done for the show.
- Patrick Culliton as Danny Green, Santini's on-stage announcer who is also courting Della.
- Redmond Gleeson as George Thomas, the backstage assistant.
- Geroge Sperdakos as Thackery, the waiter who brings Santini his nightly sherry.
- Thayer David as the clerk of the magic store.
- Robert Gibons as Rogers, the crime lab expert.
- Catherane Skillen as Miss McCarthy, Santini's next prospective conquest.
- Victor Izay as Lassiter.
Easter egg- has any one noticed that one of the times Santino enters the showroom there is a partridge poster on the right side poster! His wife of course played Shirley Partridge on The Partridge Family!
| Columbo (season 5) |
|---|
| 1."Forgotten Lady" 2."A Case of Immunity" 3."Identity Crisis" 4."A Matter of Honor" 5."Now You See Him" 6."Last Salute to the Commodore" |