Richard Levinson

Writer

August 7, 1934 (52 years)

† March 12, 1987

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Biography

Richard Leighton Levinson (August 7, 1934 – March 12, 1987) was an American screenwriter and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Levinson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

8.1

Columbo

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.

7.3

The Fugitive

Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.

7.5

Murder, She Wrote

An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.

7.8

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries.

6.3

Burke's Law

Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.

7.0

The Name of the Game

The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series.

7.2

McCloud

Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud of the small western town of Taos, New Mexico is assigned to the metropolitan New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a special investigator.

7.2

Honey West

After her father's death, Honey West takes over his high-tech private-detective firm, assisted by rugged Sam Bolt--and her pet ocelot Bruce.

6.8

Stoney Burke

Stoney Burke is an American western television series broadcast on ABC from October 1, 1962 until May 20, 1963. Six years before the premiere of his CBS crime drama, Hawaii Five-0, Jack Lord starred in the title role.

6.1

Adventures in Paradise

Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962, starring Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III, which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. USA Network aired reruns of this series between 1984 and 1988. The plots deal with the romantic and detective stories of Korean War veteran Troy. The supporting cast, varying from season to season, features George Tobias, Guy Stockwell, and Linda Lawson.

7.8

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.

7.5

Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen is an American television detective mystery series based on the fictional character Ellery Queen. It aired on NBC during the 1975-76 television season and stars Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen, and Tom Reese as Sgt. Velie. Created by the writing/producing team of Richard Levinson and William Link, the title character "breaks" the fourth wall to ask the audience to consider their solution.

5.9

Johnny Ringo

Johnny Ringo is an American Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It is loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter and outlaw Johnny Ringo, also known as John Peters Ringo or John B. Ringgold, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Buckskin Franklin Leslie.

6.2

Black Saddle

Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.

8.0

The Rogues

The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964, to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young as a related trio of former conmen who could, for the right price, be persuaded to trick a very wealthy and heinously unscrupulous mark. Although it won the 1964 Golden Globe award for Best Television Series, the show was cancelled after one season consisting of thirty episodes.

5.3

Cassie & Co.

Cassie & Co. is an American drama series broadcast on NBC as a mid-season replacement. 13 episodes were produced, but it was pulled after four episodes in February 1982, with the rest airing in the summer. Angie Dickinson stars as Cassie Holland, a tough, divorced ex-cop who becomes a private detective, taking over a detective agency with her ex-con secretary Meryl (Dori Brenner) and gym instructor Benny (A. Martinez).

7.2

Darkroom

'You're in a house. Maybe your own... maybe one you've never seen before. You feel it. Something evil. You run, but there's no escape... nowhere to turn. You feel something beckoning you... drawing you into the terror that awaits you in the Darkroom!' Darkroom is an American horror/thriller anthology broadcast on ABC from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982. Similar in style to Rod Serling's Night Gallery, each hour-long episode featured two or more stories of varying length with a different story and a different cast, but James Coburn hosts all the wraparound segments.

6.3

The Hindenburg

Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.

9.0

Stone

Dennis Weaver is a Joseph Wambaugh-type novelist cop and Pat Hingle is his hard-nosed superior who wants him to stick to police work or get off the force in this pilot to the short-lived series.

7.8

Prescription: Murder

In Columbo's first outing, a psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.