Columbo Episode 5
Original Air Date: October 27, 1971
Written by: John T. Dugan
Directed by: Jack Smight
Produced by: Everett Chambers
Created by: Robert Levinson and William Link

Starring:

Peter Falk as Columbo

Eddie Albert as Martin Hollister (Murder)

Suzanne Pleshette as Helen Stewart (Witness)

John Kerr as Colonel Rodger Dutton (Victim)

Kate Reid as Mrs. Walters

Murder Weapon: Pistol
Location of Murder: Major General Martin Hollister’s Living Room
Time of Murder: Afternoon

Synopsis of Columbo: Dead Weight

A Major General (Played by Eddie Albert) who has been conspiring with a military purchasing contract officer (Played by John Kerr) with win procurement contracts, kills the contractor officer when his visits him to tell him he’s leaving the country because he’s being investigated. Things quickly go afoul for the General because there was a witness to the murder, Helen Stewart (Played by Suzanne Pleshette), who along with her mother were out sailing, and Helen sees the gunshot and the body fall. Columbo is about ready to dismiss the report of a murder, when General Hollister starts dating Helen Stewart and convinces her she was seeing things. Columbo gets his man when he finds the murder weapon in the General’s museum exhibit.

Detail Storyline for Columbo: Dead Weight

Peter Falk as Columbo
Eddie Albert as Martin Hollister [Murder]
Suzanne Pleshette as Helen Stewart [Witness]
John Kerr as Colonel Rodger Dutton [Victim]
Kate Reid as Mrs. Walters

Val Avery as Harry Barnes

Timothy Carey as Bert
Clete Roberts as TV Newsman
Ron Castro as Officer Sanchez
Glen Vernon as 1st Officer
Jimmy Pelham as 2nd Officer
Jim Halferty as 1st Marine Cadet

Associate Producer: Robert F. O’Neill
Story Editor: Steven Bocho
Columbo Theme Music By Henry Mancini
Filmed at Universal Studios, Universal City, California USA