Lieutenant Columbo, played with average Joe charm and unshowy, easy-to-miss dexterity by Peter Falk, is more than meets the eye — to the bad guys, not us, because we know how things will turn out.

The late great Peter Falk was born on September 16, 1927, and his detective drama "Columbo" is as timeless as it is entertaining. In the whole of television history, few actors have been as identified ...