<P> Although Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer and appeared immediately after the first commercial . This delayed entry of the character into the narrative of the screen play became a defining characteristic of the structure of the Columbo series . This teleplay is available for viewing in the archives of the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles . </P> <P> Levinson and Link then adapted the TV drama into the stage play Prescription: Murder . This was first performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on January 2, 1962, with Oscar - winning character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo . Mitchell was 70 years old at the time . The stage production starred Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as the victim . Mitchell died of cancer while the play was touring in out - of - town tryouts; Columbo was his last role . </P> <P> In 1968, the same play was made into a two - hour television movie that aired on NBC . The writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because he felt it would take too much time away from the golf links . Director Richard Irving convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind . </P> <P> Originally a one - off TV - Movie - of - the - Week, Prescription: Murder has Falk's Columbo pitted against a psychiatrist (Gene Barry). Due to the success of this film, NBC requested that a pilot for a potential series be made to see if the character could be sustained on a regular basis, leading to the 1971 hour and a half film, Ransom for a Dead Man, with Lee Grant playing the killer . The popularity of the second film prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC, that premiered in the fall of 1971 as part of The NBC Mystery Movie wheel series rotation: McCloud, McMillan & Wife, and other whodunits . </P>

Who was first offered the part of columbo