Walter Koenig played Chekov in Star Trek. He also had a small part in the TV show Columbo. In the episode “Fade In to Murder,” he played a police officer named Morella. Another Star Trek actor, William Shatner, appeared in the same episode.
Shatner played Ward Fowler, a famous TV actor. A former lover threatened to tell people that he left the army without permission during the Korean War. Fowler put on a mask and killed her during a false robbery at a food store.
Morella's job in the story was to explain the crime. Koenig filmed his scene with Peter Falk at two in the morning. Falk wanted to change Koenig's words. They sounded too much like Columbo's own words about the crime.
There was no time to write new lines for the scene. Falk explained what he wanted, and Koenig made up his words as they filmed. He described the robbery and the shooting. He finished the whole scene after filming it just once.
