March 10, 2025: Our Columbo rewatch continues with… Lady in Waiting!

This episode first aired December 15, 1971

The drive-in burger joint where Columbo and Peter Hamilton grab lunch was also featured in the original Star is Born and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

Actress Susan Clark, who played Beth Chadwick, was a relative unknown at the time she landed this role. According to Clark: “When that script came down, I knew it was a plum. It interested me because it was the mouse that roared. You started of as one character and then became another. It was fun to get into different looks and attitudes.”

She reflected back warmly on her time working with Peter Falk: “Peter had a lot of energy. The show was ahead of its time in a lot of ways, so it was very challenging. Peter loved improvisation. You had to be up to work with him. He didn’t compete, but he did test you. I had it, then everything clicked.”

This was Jessie Royce Landis’s final role. She passed away months after “Lady in Waiting” aired.

This was yet another episode that saw things get heated between Peter Falk and the studio owing to ABC’s reluctance to allow him to direct an episode. Unlike “Dead Weight” however, this episode was not marked by any animosity between Falk and the director, guest cast, or crew. Susan Clark recalled: “He made a point of coming up to me and saying “Nothing personal. I think you’re a terrific actress, but we have problem.” […] They had promised him he could direct. He knew the writing on the wall. They had kept putting him off. He wasn’t born yesterday. He just said “Let me know when you’re ready to talk.””

ABC grew so annoyed with Falk that then head of television, Frank Price, floated the idea of having Falk play Columbo for the first and final episodes of the season but having someone else play the role in the intervening episodes. Series co-creator Richard Levinson recalled Price’s pitch: “Art Carney was Columbo one week. Orson Welles as Columbo in the next episode. He said, somewhat sardonically, “It’s like Hamlet. Let different actors play it.” ” Spoiler alert: The studio eventually caved and allowed Falk to direct the series finale.

My thoughts on “Lady in Waiting” in chronological viewing order…

Is that Oscar Goldman of The Six Million Dollar Man fame? Why yes, it IS Richard Anderson (not to be confused with Richard Dean Anderson).

The brother is kind of an asshole and deserving of his fate.

It’s hard to take Leslie Nielsen seriously in a straight role. I keep waiting for him to do something funny.

Not a big fan of the dreamy imagined murder plot sequence, although I understand why they did it. Still, I’m wondering if the episode would have worked just as well without it.

The wonky PUSH IN on those door chimes is a little OTT.

Ah, the timing of that alarm will sink her.

That look Beth throws the departing Columbo after their first encounter makes it pretty clear – she knows she she’s in trouble.

I like this extended sequence with Mrs. Chadwick, her ordering Columbo to pay the cab fare and bring her bags in, the fact he only has $11 in his wallet, his dogged insistence on being repaid, and her offer to write him a cheque…for eleven dollars!

“I must say, you hardly look the role.” Spot on.

Loved Columbo’s: “Ma’am, would you like me to take your bags upstairs?”

I honestly thought we’d get a nice arc with Enrico, the angry little dog finally coming around to Columbo in the end but – nope. Not even those treats did the trick.

Beth does’t seem particularly broken up about her brother’s death. Certainly a red flag for Columbo.

I don’t understand why Beth was so tripped up by the newspaper. Yes, she was home all day, but that wouldn’t have prevented her from opening the door and bringing the newspaper in when it arrived.

Assuming this isn’t an actual trial but a coroner’s inquest so she won’t be facing double jeopardy later on?

I’m a big fan of the scenes where Columbo goes out and grabs a bite to eat, be it chili, hot dogs or, in this case, a burger.

“Her brother’s death is the best thing that ever happened to her.” True.

Pre-ordering that fancy car was a mistake. It’s clear that Beth is not a mastermind on the level of most of Columbo’s previous murderers. Hell, I think she’s even more inept that Suitable for Framing’s Dale Kingston.

The receptionist held on to his cigar throughout his entire interview? The actress is rewarded with a part as a crime scene photographer in a later episode.

He should have had grass clippings on his shoes because the day he was killed just happened to coincide with the day the gardener cuts the lawn? Hmmm. This feels a little convenient.

“Just one more thing.” That potted plant…

Beth doesn’t do a particularly good job of thinking on her feet throughout this episode, but she acquits herself nicely here, explaining she removed the extra key for fear that a burglar might come across it. I absolutely buy that.

I love her in this purple outfit. Much less so in that garish boardroom get-up that makes her look like a villain from the 1960’s Batman series.

What a perfunctory way to announce the engagement. “Sales are down, supply costs are up, Pete Hamilton and I are engaged, and please remember to sign out at the front desk on your way out tonight.”

I find it hilarious how hilarious she finds it that Columbo brought the light bulb with him.

Susan Clark and writer Steven Bochco do a nice job with the devolution of Beth’s character, going from sympathetic victim to arrogant manipulator.

Columbo: “I don’t drink.” Wut? In “Murder by the Book” you requested a glass of bourbon from Ken Franklin after dropping by his place unannounced!

Why would she suspect Columbo of attempting to break into her house as opposed to, say, a burglar?

Columbo takes a chance here, but saves himself by appealing to her vanity (“You’re too classy”). Also, her sense of logic given his assertion that the police are outside. So love the little reveal at episode’s end that he actually came alone.

A solid episode with a lot to love including the overall performances and the aforementioned humorous moments. The murder, alas, was a little too sloppy, so I don’t feel Columbo was really challenged here. Also, did not love the linchpin clue conveniently (and finally) falling into his lap in the closing moments.

My Columbo episode rankings thus far: #1 Death Lends a Hand, #2 Suitable for Framing, #3 Prescription: Murder, #4: Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), #5 Lady in Waiting, #6 Dead Weight. And you?

Finally, it’s time to assess whether or not Columbo has enough evidence for a guilty verdict – or is our murderess Beth looking at an acquittal? Well, I think that in this case, her ex-fiance’s testimony about the timing of the alarm will do her in. So – GUILTY!

 

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