Levinson & Link

Last updated

Richard Levinson and William Link were American television producers and writers who collaborated for 43 years, until Levinson's death. They wrote for the CBS anthology drama The DuPont Show with June Allyson , [1] and they created classic television detective series such as Columbo ; Mannix ; Ellery Queen ; Murder, She Wrote ; Scene of the Crime; and Blacke's Magic ; and made-for-TV movies including The Gun , My Sweet Charlie , That Certain Summer , The Judge and Jake Wyler , The Execution of Private Slovik , Charlie Cobb: A Nice Night for a Hanging, Rehearsal for Murder , and Guilty Conscience . They also collaborated on two feature films: The Hindenburg (1975) and Rollercoaster (1977).

Contents

Levinson and Link occasionally used the pseudonym "Ted Leighton", most notably on the telefilm Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You, where their work was substantially re-written by other hands, and Columbo when they came up with stories to be scripted by their collaborators.

In 1979, Levinson and Link received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for their work on Ellery Queen and Columbo. During the 1980s, they were three-time winners of the Edgar for Best TV Feature or MiniSeries Teleplay, and in 1989 they were given the Mystery Writers of America's Ellery Queen Award, which honors outstanding mystery writing teams. In November 1995, they were jointly elected to the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellery Queen</span> Detective fiction writer (joint pseudonym)

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murder mysteries. Dannay and Lee wrote most of the novels and short story collections in which Ellery Queen appears as a character, and these books were among the most popular American mysteries published between 1929 and 1971. Under the pseudonym Ellery Queen, they also edited more than thirty anthologies of crime fiction and true crime. Dannay founded, and for many years edited, the crime fiction magazine Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which has been published continuously from 1941 to the present. From 1961 onwards, Dannay and Lee commissioned other authors to write thrillers using the pseudonym Ellery Queen, but not featuring Ellery Queen as a character; some such novels were juvenile and were credited to Ellery Queen Jr. They also wrote four mysteries under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross, which featured the detective Drury Lane. Several movies, radio shows, and television shows were based on their works.

<i>Columbo</i> American crime drama television film series

Columbo is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of The NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo then aired less frequently on ABC from 1989 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen J. Cannell</span> American television producer and writer (1941–2010)

Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist, occasional actor, and founder of Cannell Entertainment and The Cannell Studios.

The NBC Mystery Movie is an American television anthology series produced by Universal Pictures, that NBC broadcast from 1971 to 1977. Devoted to a rotating series of mystery episodes, it was sometimes split into two subsets broadcast on different nights of the week: The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie and The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie.

<i>Ellery Queen</i> (TV series) American mystery television series

Ellery Queen is an American TV drama series, developed by Richard Levinson and William Link, who based it on the fictional character of the same name. The series ran for a single season on NBC from September 11, 1975, to April 4, 1976. Jim Hutton stars as the eponymous sleuth, along with David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen.

<i>The Cosby Mysteries</i> American mystery drama television series

The Cosby Mysteries is an American mystery drama television series starring Bill Cosby that aired on NBC from September 21, 1994, to April 12, 1995. 19 episodes were made. It was the first television series to star Cosby since The Cosby Show and lasted just one season (1994–1995). Actor/rapper Mos Def appeared in several episodes.

William Theodore Link was an American film and television screenwriter and producer who often worked in collaboration with Richard Levinson.

Tenafly is a crime-drama series starring James McEachin that was part of The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie wheel for the 1973-74 season. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of popular mystery television shows such as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. It was the one of the first television series that season to feature an African-American character as the protagonist. Due to low ratings, NBC removed Tenafly from the wheel when it moved the mid-week Mystery Movie block to Tuesdays in January 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Goldberg</span> American writer

Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels Lost Hills and True Fiction and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk.

Richard Leighton Levinson was an American screenwriter and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link.

Peter Steven Fischer was an American television writer, producer, and novelist. He was best known for the series Murder, She Wrote, which he co-created with Richard Levinson and William Link.

<i>The Mandarin Mystery</i> 1936 film by Ralph Staub

The Mandarin Mystery is a 1936 American mystery crime film directed by Ralph Staub, loosely based on The Chinese Orange Mystery, a novel featuring detective character Ellery Queen.

<i>The Boys</i> (1991 film) American TV series or program

The Boys is a drama/black comedy television film starring James Woods and John Lithgow. It was directed by Glenn Jordan, who had previously worked with Woods on the 1986 TV movie Promise and later worked with Woods again in 1994 for the TV drama film Jane's House. The film first aired on September 15, 1991 on the ABC Network.

Robert Van Scoyk was an American television writer, producer and story editor active during the Golden Age of Television from the late 1940s until the late 1990s.

Here is a list of episodes from the first season of the American television detective series Columbo.

<i>The Eddie Capra Mysteries</i> American TV series or program

The Eddie Capra Mysteries is an American mystery television series starring Vincent Baggetta as a lawyer who investigates murders and has a knack for solving them. Original episodes aired on NBC from September 8, 1978, to January 12, 1979.

<i>Mrs. Columbo</i> 1979 American television series

Mrs. Columbo (1979–1980), later called Kate Columbo, Kate the Detective, and Kate Loves a Mystery, is an American crime drama television series, initially based on the wife of Lieutenant Columbo, the title character from the television series Columbo. It was created and produced by Richard Alan Simmons and Universal Television for NBC, and stars Kate Mulgrew as a news reporter helping to solve crimes while raising her daughter.

Rosanna Huffman was an American actress and voice-over artist. Huffman's film credits as a voice actress included Oliver & Company in 1988, The Fabulous Baker Boys in 1989, FernGully: The Last Rainforest in 1992, and Babe in 1995. She also appeared in recurring roles in Murder, She Wrote, Hill Street Blues, and Murder One. Huffman was the widow of Richard Levinson, the co-creator of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, who died of a heart attack in 1987.

Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You is a 1971 TV film adaptation of Ellery Queen's novel Cat of Many Tails. It aired on NBC.

References

  1. Marc, David; Thompson, Robert J. (1995). Prime Time, Prime Movers: From I Love Lucy to L.A. Law—America's Greatest TV Shows and the People Who Created Them. Syracuse University Press. p. 182. ISBN   978-0-8156-0311-5 . Retrieved February 24, 2022.