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The actors who played the killer
Guest star of the week was the whole point of the format: each film gave one well-known actor ninety minutes to be outsmarted. 60 of them did it across the run, and 14 have a full page here. The series also had its own supporting company — cops, waiters and witnesses you recognise from film to film: the familiar faces.
Patrick McGoohan 4 roles 4×03 · 5×03 · 9×03 · 10×12 
Jack Cassidy 3 roles 1×01 · 3×05 · 5×05 
Robert Culp 3 roles 1×02 · 2×03 · 3×04 
George Hamilton 2 roles 4×06 · 10×02 
William Shatner 2 roles 6×01 · 10×08 
Dick Van Dyke 1 role 4×02 
Donald Pleasence 1 role 3×02 
Faye Dunaway 1 role 10×07 
Janet Leigh 1 role 5×01 
John Cassavetes 1 role 2×01 
Johnny Cash 1 role 3×07 
Leonard Nimoy 1 role 2×06 
Ricardo Montalbán 1 role 5×04 
Ruth Gordon 1 role 7×01Everyone else
| Actor | Roles | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick McGoohan | 4 | By Dawn’s Early Light · Identity Crisis · Agenda for Murder · Ashes to Ashes |
| Jack Cassidy | 3 | Murder by the Book · Publish or Perish · Now You See Him |
| Robert Culp | 3 | Death Lends a Hand · The Most Crucial Game · Double Exposure |
| George Hamilton | 2 | A Deadly State of Mind · Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health |
| William Shatner | 2 | Fade in to Murder · Butterfly in Shades of Grey |
| (No murderer. Daniel McDonald plays the kidnapper Rudy Strassa.) | 1 | No Time to Die |
| Andrew Stevens | 1 | Murder in Malibu |
| Anne Baxter | 1 | Requiem for a Falling Star |
| Anthony Andrews | 1 | Columbo Goes to the Guillotine |
| Billy Connolly | 1 | Murder With Too Many Notes |
| Clive Revill | 1 | The Conspirators |
| Dabney Coleman | 1 | Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star |
| David Rasche | 1 | A Trace of Murder |
| Dick Van Dyke | 1 | Negative Reaction |
| Donald Pleasence | 1 | Any Old Port in a Storm |
| Ed Begley Jr. | 1 | Undercover |
| Eddie Albert | 1 | Dead Weight |
| Faye Dunaway | 1 | It's All in the Game |
| Fisher Stevens | 1 | Murder, Smoke and Shadows |
| Fred Draper | 1 | Last Salute to the Commodore |
| Gene Barry | 1 | Prescription: Murder |
| George Wendt | 1 | Strange Bedfellows |
| Héctor Elizondo | 1 | A Case of Immunity |
| Helen Shaver | 1 | Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo |
| Ian Buchanan | 1 | Columbo Cries Wolf |
| Jackie Cooper | 1 | Candidate for Crime |
| James Read | 1 | Uneasy Lies the Crown |
| Janet Leigh | 1 | Forgotten Lady |
| John Cassavetes | 1 | Etude in Black |
| Johnny Cash | 1 | Swan Song |
| José Ferrer | 1 | Mind Over Mayhem |
| Joyce Van Patten | 1 | Old Fashioned Murder |
| Laurence Harvey | 1 | The Most Dangerous Match |
| Lee Grant | 1 | Ransom for a Dead Man |
| Leonard Nimoy | 1 | A Stitch in Crime |
| Lindsay Crouse | 1 | Sex and the Married Detective |
| Louis Jourdan | 1 | Murder Under Glass |
| Martin Landau in a dual role | 1 | Double Shock |
| Matthew Rhys | 1 | Columbo Likes the Nightlife |
| Nicol Williamson | 1 | How to Dial a Murder |
| Oskar Werner | 1 | Playback |
| Patrick Bauchau | 1 | Murder, A Self Portrait |
| Patrick O'Neal | 1 | Blueprint for Murder |
| Ray Milland | 1 | The Greenhouse Jungle |
| Ricardo Montalbán | 1 | A Matter of Honor |
| Richard Basehart | 1 | Dagger of the Mind |
| Richard Kiley | 1 | A Friend in Deed |
| Rip Torn | 1 | Death Hits the Jackpot |
| Robert Conrad | 1 | An Exercise in Fatality |
| Robert Foxworth | 1 | Grand Deceptions |
| Robert Vaughn | 1 | Troubled Waters |
| Roddy McDowall | 1 | Short Fuse |
| Ross Martin | 1 | Suitable for Framing |
| Ruth Gordon | 1 | Try and Catch Me |
| Stephen Caffrey | 1 | Columbo Goes to College |
| Susan Clark | 1 | Lady in Waiting |
| Theodore Bikel | 1 | The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case |
| Trish Van Devere | 1 | Make Me a Perfect Murder |
| Tyne Daly | 1 | A Bird in the Hand… |
| Vera Miles | 1 | Lovely But Lethal |