Columbo: Lovely But Lethal (1973) Peter Falk & Vera Miles Star

Source:Columbo Phile- left to right: Vera Miles & Sian Barbara Allen.

"Beauty industry Empress Viveca Scott (Vera Miles) has fallen on comparatively troubled times. Sales are down, she’s lost some high-profile outlets, and the vultures – namely arch-rival David Lang (Vincent Price) – are circling. She needs a miracle, and she seems to have found one in the shape of a ground-breaking skin cream that makes wrinkles disappear!

There’s a fly in the ointment, though. The formula has been stolen by handsome young chemist Karl Lessing (Martin Sheen looking very young and handsome), who has diddled Viveca and and co out of the correct formula and is willing to sell it to the highest bidder – who just happens to be David Lang." 

From Columbo Phile 

"Viveca Scott runs Beauty Mark, the cosmetics company whose products are in every woman's home. With sales dropping, she's counting on the miraculous new beauty cream created by her chief chemist to boost sales and overtake her rival, David Lang, but the chemist's assistant steals the formula. Scott attempts to negotiate with him but, in a rage, knocks him over the head with a heavy microscope, killing him. Her rival's secretary finds out and attempts to blackmail her, but the cosmetics queen's worst news is that the rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo is on the case." 

Source:IMDB- Vera Miles stars.

From IMDB

"A cosmetics manufacturer is suspected of murdering an employee (Martin Sheen) who stole a wrinkle-removing formula." 

Source:Columbo- Vera Miles & Peter Falk. Perhaps you can tell for yourself which one is which.

From Columbo 

In one of these photos the caption coming from Viveca Scott (played by Vera Miles) is: "I couldn't kill a fly." That's not completely true. More like Viveca Scott (played by Vera Miles) couldn't scare a fly. She's so cute and sweet and to a certain extent charming on this show, that you would think that she would be one of the last people in the world, (or perhaps just one of the last people in Los Angeles) who could kill anyone. 

But Vera's adorableness in this film is one thing that makes her a perfect murderer suspect, if not murderer, because no one would expect that 5'3, maybe 110 pound babydoll like Vera Miles, (even though she's 44 at this point) could murder anyone. For that reason alone, Vera would've made a great CIA assassin, a TV vice detective, perhaps a detective sergeant with her own crew, similar to Angie Dickinson on Police Woman in the mid 1970s.

I got into this episode of the Columbo series 4-5 years ago and was blown away by the fact that Vera Miles was on it. And thanks to Sundance and COZI-TV, probably seen this film 10 times now and even have it on DVD. Only 70 minutes, not a dull moment in it and that plus Vera's presence and her being so cute and beautiful on it and just comes off as a total sweetheart on it, (at least for a two-time murderer) I can see it over and over again, to the point that I wanted to write about it.  

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