Lieutenant Columbo

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1936—2014 · three parts, and Spock’s bride

Arlene Martel

Casting directors called Arlene Martel the Chameleon: her looks and her way with accents let her play almost anyone. Star Trek fans know her as T’Pring, Spock’s betrothed — opposite Leonard Nimoy, who would later play a Columbo killer. In Columbo itself she has three parts.

Arlene Martel
George Capalbo · CC BY 2.0

Parts in Columbo

EpisodeSeasonYearCharacterRating
The Greenhouse Jungle2×0221972Gloria7.5
Double Exposure3×0431973Tanya9
A Friend in Deed3×0831974Salesgirl9.5

Three parts

Gloria in The Greenhouse Jungle — the “pretend girlfriend” of the murdered nephew, Tony Goodland. Tanya in Double Exposure and a salesgirl in A Friend in Deed.

Before Columbo: two Twilight Zone episodes, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek, where she played T’Pring in “Amok Time” (1967).

Facts

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Cast data from TMDB. Biographical details from open reference sources.