Columbo: Ransom for a Dead Man **** (1971, Peter Falk, Lee Grant) – Classic Movie Review 13,641

Lee Grant stars as a brilliant but arrogant attorney who kills her boring husband, disposes of the body, fakes his kidnapping and keeps the ransom money, in Ransom for a Dead Man (1971). the second pilot for Peter Falk’s original Columbo series.

An arrogant esteemed trial attorney called Leslie Williams (Lee Grant) commits what she thinks is the perfect murder of her boring husband, dumps the body in a remote area, and makes look like a kidnapping for a large ransom, and then coolly keeps the ransom money. But shabby detective Lt Columbo (Peter Falk) gets doggedly on her trail.

Ransom for a Dead Man (1971) is the exceptional second pilot and the first for the original Columbo series that ran 1971-77, following the first 1968 pilot TV movie, Columbo: Prescription Murder.

It has virtually the same story as the pilot, except with a woman as protagonist. The story is gripping and the handling compelling. Peter Falk is perfect and Lee Grant is excellent, brilliantly chilling, in an Emmy-nominated performance.

It is followed by the historic Spielberg directed first episode, Columbo: Murder by the Book.

Cast: Peter Falk, Lee Grant, John Fink, Harold Gould, Patricia Mattick.

Lee Grant might well have won the Emmy for this but she was competing against herself. Here’s the story:

In 1971 Lee Grant was a Primetime Emmy nominee for Columbo for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, but she actually won in this same category for playing Carrie Miller in The Neon Ceiling.

She won the 1952 Cannes award as Best Actress in Detective Story and the 1976 Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for Shampoo.

Grant reunited with Peter Falk on the Broadway stage in the original 1971 production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, written by Neil Simon.

Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31 mid-1920s)

Columbo: Ransom for a Dead Man is directed by Richard Irving, runs 98 minutes, is made by Universal Television, is released by NBC (US), is written by Dean Hargrove, is shot by Lionel Lindon, is produced by Richard Irving and Dean Hargrove, and is scored by Billy Goldenberg.

Release: March 1, 1971 (US).

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,641

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