Jour: 1 juin 2025

Following up on our article in which we presented three American cultural icons that in fact were French creations we now turn to Maigret and Columbo, two famous detectives of book and film. Was the American Columbo inspired from French Maigret? Well, Maigret certainly came first in time and Columbo certainly shares quite a few of his characteristics plus he has a French car! The son of Georges Simenon, the author of the Maigret series, says that because his father wouldn’t sell the rights for Maigret, Columbo was created as a different character but inspired by the famous Maigret. Maybe that’s why Columbo drives a Peugeot that winks back towards Maigret and Paris. John Simenon is quoted in 2016 : « Les explications d'Alain Sachs, qui a interprété Le Petit Docteur [another Maigret character] à la télévision française, sont peut-être un peu approximatives, mais c'est bien à la suite d'un refus de mon père de céder les droits du personnage du Petit Docteur, comme de Maig…