A Deadly State of Mind 

A psychiatrist, who specializes in hypnosis, murders the husband of his mistress and convinces her to lie to the police; it's up to Lt. Columbo to discover the truth.

Director:

Harvey Hart

Writers:

Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson (created by)

Stars:

Peter Falk, George Hamilton, Lesley Ann Warren

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
George Hamilton	...	Dr. Mark Collier
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Nadia Donner (as Lesley Warren)
Stephen Elliott	...	Carl Donner
Karen Machon	...	Dr. Anita Borden
Bruce Kirby	...	Sergeant George Kramer
William Wintersole	...	Dr. Hunt
Ryan MacDonald	...	Charles Whelan
Jack Manning	...	Daniel Morris
Fred Draper	...	David Morris
Glorie Kaufman	...	Brenda
Redmond Gleeson	...	Arnold
Vance Davis	...	Officer Hendryx
Danny Wells	...	Gary Keppler
Morris Buchanan	...	Lab Man

Storyline

A clinical hypnotist kills the husband of one of his patients during a violent confrontation after the victim uncovers his wife's affair with the hypnotist. The patient, who witnessed the event, is convinced by the hypnotist to lie to the police but when she eventually becomes a liability, he kills her by encouraging her to take a 'swan dive' off her hotel balcony.

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Plot Keywords:

fireplace poker | beach house | mistress | balcony | cigarette lighter | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Schlaf, der nie endet

Filming Locations:

605 Paseo Del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min 74 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first of George Hamilton's two appearances. In this episode, he portrays a murderer with a great tan. 16 years later in Columbo: Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991), he portrays a murderer with a... (you know).

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Goofs

Dr Borden explains to a visitor that laboratory mice are being tested to learn a new route in a maze. This requires that the mouse be able to distinguish between a red line and a green line. Mice are not able to distinguish red from green.

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Quotes

Sergeant George Kramer: You got a European car?
Columbo: That's a French car. Yeah, my car's a French car.

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Soundtracks

Mazurka No.6 in A Minor, Op.7 No.2
(uncredited)
Composed by Frédéric Chopin
From the audio unit which Columbo switches on

User Reviews

Top-Notch Columbo TV Thriller

A brilliant psychotherapist kills his lover's husband at her home and tries to make it look like a robbery, but when she fails to convince the police with their story he uses hypnotic suggestion to murder her too. However, he has not reckoned with Lieutenant Columbo's tenacity in exposing the conspiracy and getting his man.

One of the best of ABC's classic Columbo mysteries, expertly written by Peter S. Fischer, and beautifully played by the cast. Hamilton is ideal as the suave, amoral research psychologist, seducing his patient purely for her literary worth to him. A very young Warren is fabulous as the flaky, child-like rich man's wife, unable to make the cover story stick despite her best efforts. And Falk is simply unforgettable as Columbo - affable, idiosyncratic, painstaking and brilliant. As with the best of these mysteries, it is the details of the investigation that make viewing so pleasurable - the broken flint, the thin tyre track, the jewellry in the stocking and the final masterstroke with the blind man. A fine example of some of the best TV crime drama ever made.