The Barbara Colby Murder

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LANGUAGE WARNING

Barbara Colby was a talented television, film and Broadway actress. Her infectious personality and hard work spawned relationships with the likes of Mary Tyler Moore, Cloris Leachman and Jack Klugman. All signs pointed to her becoming a superstar until she was tragically murdered in Los Angeles, California at the age of 36. That’s today on Death in Entertainment.

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The unsolved 'celebrity murder' of fifty years

Fifty years ago on July 24, 1975, actress Barbara Colby - newly cast in a main role on the upcoming CBS sitcom 'Phyllis' - was murdered outside an acting class in an unsolved shooting. Her colleague who was walking through the parking lot with her, also died from the shooting.

On July 24, 1975, Colby and acting colleague James Kiernan were walking to their car following an acting class in the Palms district of Los Angeles when they were shot inside a parking area. The murders occurred some time after the first three episodes of the upcoming TV series Phyllis had been filmed.

Colby was killed instantly, but Kiernan was able to describe the shooting to police before he died of his wounds. Kiernan said that he did not recognize the two men who shot them and that the shooting had occurred without warning or provocation. It was normal for Colby and classmates to congregate in the parking lot after acting class and talk. Kiernan told investigators they were approached by two black men in a light-colored van and were each shot once. Police said there was no attempt to rob the pair and concluded it was a random drive-by shooting or a targeted killing. The killers were never identified and the case remained an open cold case. Colby was separated from her husband Bob Levitt at the time, who was Ethel Merman's son. She left behind her mother and half-sister.

Colby had already filmed three episodes of 'Phyllis' that summer, as owner 'Julie Erksine' of the photo studio where Phyllis worked, and they all aired the first three weeks of September. Actress Liz Torres took over the role to replace Colby. By the end of season one, the character was written out of the series.

Years later, actress Cloris Leachman who starred as 'Phyllis', said she wanted to pay tribute to Colby at the very end of the third episode before the credits rolled. She said CBS would not allow it, and never acknowledged Colby's death to viewers. She claimed CBS didn't want to end a 30 minute sitcom with a 'sad' tribute.

[Howard]

I remember her being in at least the first five episodes and then it continued with Liz Torres. I don't think they had a pause in production because the series just kept rolling along without being pre-empted by Specials. I would've loved to have seen Cloris' eulogy but I understand the network has the final say.