I watched Columbo when it first aired in 1971, and never got tired of it, but I really loved him (along with everybody else) in The Great Race.

But my favorite movie of his was this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CrSQ...eature=related
In a cast full of standouts, he held his own admirably.

Oh, I just realized - he's the same age as my dad.

And that they had the same name!
:rotfl2:

Two words: The In-Laws.

Also if you have not seen Wings of Desire (orig title was, IIRC, Der Himmel über Berlin) he is also in that, essentially playing himself... but with a lovely little twist. A wonderful film in its own right and he is marvelous in it.

(For those who are so inclined, it will also afford you a chance to yell "Das ist Thomsen!" at the screen whenever Otto Sander appears.)

:damn: How could I have forgotten one of his best performances?! "Serpentyne! Ya gotta run serpentyne!" (Deliberately misspelled to accentuate his pronunciation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2_w-...eature=related

Also:

"General, that's a hell of an act." :rotfl2:

Looks like he got parts in all of the same movies, too. Well, you know what they say, in show business it's really who you know that counts. :D

I might just have to watch Robin and the Seven Hoods again. :yep:

Aaah I was so sad to hear this. As a 'youngster' I only watched the reruns back in the late '90s, but really enjoyed them.
"Just one last thing...."

I'll never forget the Columbo series episode (can't remember the name) when he visits a convent via the rear kitchen door and the nuns take one look at him and mistake him for a vagrant/homeless person because of his dress appearance and offer him a meal and a change of clothes....hilarious (in the acting context).

One of the joys of that character was watching the murderer - who was usually someone who thought they were far too clever to be outwitted by such an apparent bumbler - continually underestimate him to the point where they finally gave him exactly what he needed to prove their guilt.

I always felt that Terry Pratchett drew on the Columbo character just a little for Sam Vimes, at least in the early years when everyone in Ankh-Morpork still thought of him as being too thick to figure out what was really going on.

He was good in Anizo.

Forgot about that one.

:)