William Link
Writer and producer known for co-creating Columbo and Murder, She Wrote.
Works
Peter Falk Versus Columbo
For millions of viewers, Peter Falk is Columbo. Despite playing the quintessential blue-collar TV detective of the '70s and '80s, his early career is rarely explored. Using archive footage, interviews and extracts from his films and the TV show, the documentary pays tribute to the immortal character of Columbo, while shedding light on the actor’s life, one full of twists and turns, ups and downs.
Release Date: 2019-03-31
Character: Self (archive footage)
Vote Count: 7
The Cosby Mysteries
The Cosby Mysteries was an American television mystery series that starred Bill Cosby. It is the first television series to star Cosby since The Cosby Show and lasted only one season. Actor/Rapper Mos Def appeared in several episodes.
Release Date: 1994-09-21
Department: Creator
Job: Creator
Vote Count: 6
Whispers in the Dark
Psychiatrist Ann Hecker is ending one relationship and possibly starting an important new one, while finding that some of the sexual exploits her patients relate are weighing on her. Turning to a married friend from her research days for guidance, she finds his help increasingly important when a female patient is murdered and it turns out that her new boyfriend was also seeing the dead woman.
Release Date: 1992-08-06
Department: Production
Job: Executive Producer
Vote Count: 43
The Boys
When Walter's diagnosed with lung cancer, despite his squeaky clean lifestyle, he has to tell his screenwriter partner, because that partner is a chain-smoker. As Walter fights cancer he also tries to put his affairs in order by teaching writing to prison inmates, talking to his son and ex-wife, and getting his partner to quit smoking.
Release Date: 1991-04-15
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Gideon Oliver
Gideon Oliver is a prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between February 1989 and May 1989 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie rotation, along with B.L. Stryker, Kojak and Columbo. On the air for only five episodes, the series starred Emmy- and Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr., and was created by Dick Wolf. The title character first appeared in the novel series by mystery writer Aaron Elkins.
Release Date: 1989-02-20
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Episode Count: 5
Vote Count: 2
B.L. Stryker
B.L. Stryker is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989 to May 5, 1990 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie along with Gideon Oliver, Columbo and Kojak. The series was executive produced by Tom Selleck.
Release Date: 1989-02-13
Department: Production
Job: Producer
Episode Count: 12
Vote Count: 8
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defence attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Davi will receive a scrupulously fair trial when the terrorist is extradited to America. The defence mounted by Leibman confounds and aggravates government prosecutor Sam Waterston--but he, like Leibman, remains a man of judiciary integrity.
Release Date: 1988-12-30
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 2
Probe
Probe is a 1988 American television pilot and subsequent TV series, created by television mystery writer William Link and noted science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It aired on ABC. Michael B. Wagner, a veteran television writer, wrote the two-hour pilot, and became Executive Producer for the series. The pilot and series starred Parker Stevenson as Austin James, a misanthropic genius who solved high tech crimes, and Ashley Crow as James' new secretary Mickey Castle. The show began as a mid-season replacement and was canceled after a two-month run of the pilot and six episodes. Entire episodes have made their way on the internet through video-sharing sites such as YouTube. Some episodes of the show revolved around Serendip, a company founded by Austin that he has no interest in running. Mickey, his Serendip-appointed secretary, plays Watson to Austin's Holmes.
Release Date: 1988-03-07
Department: Creator
Job: Creator
Vote Count: 4
Vanishing Act
A man honeymooning with his new wife in the Rockies reports her disappearance to the police. A few days later, a woman escorted by the local priest claims to be his missing wife, despite the man's failure to recognize her. Is a stranger impersonating her or is he delusional?
Release Date: 1986-05-04
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
Vote Count: 12
Guilty Conscience
Amid acrimonious divorce proceedings, Louise (Blythe Danner) unwittingly puts her life in danger when she contests the prenuptial agreement she signed before marrying attorney Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins). He plans to kill her to resolve the situation. Armed with information on how her cheating husband conducts his business and personal affairs, she demands more money from him -- but will Arthur have the final word?
Release Date: 1985-04-02
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 16
The Guardian
The residents of a New York apartment building are shocked when one of them is shot during a burgulary. They decide to hire a security expert to patrol the building, but he seem a little over-committed to his work.
Release Date: 1984-10-20
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 4
Murder, She Wrote
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
Release Date: 1984-09-30
Department: Production
Job: Executive Producer
Episode Count: 264
Vote Count: 388
Prototype
An intelligent android (Michael) constructed by a research team is taken outdoors and successfully passed off as human in a trial run. When the government hears of this, they order their own set of tests in Washington. When the project leader realizes the military want the android for a soldier, he can't accept it, and he and Michael go into hiding to avoid their clutches.
Release Date: 1983-12-07
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 8
Take Your Best Shot
An actor whose career has gone flat resolves to pursue a more stable occupation while also trying to save his troubled marriage.
Release Date: 1982-10-12
Department: Production
Job: Executive Producer
Vote Count: 1
Rehearsal for Murder
A year after his fiancée's death, a playwright schedules a rehearsal for his new play, which proves to be a trap for her killer.
Release Date: 1982-05-26
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 14
Crisis at Central High
The historic federal-state controversy over the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, as seen through the eyes of Elizabeth Huckaby, one of the teachers and girls' vice principal.
Release Date: 1981-02-04
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 1
Stone
Dennis Weaver is a Joseph Wambaugh-type novelist cop and Pat Hingle is his hard-nosed superior who wants him to stick to police work or get off the force in this pilot to the short-lived series.
Release Date: 1979-08-26
Department: Writing
Job: Story
Mrs. Columbo
Mrs. Kate Columbo, wife of the famous lieutenant, solves crimes as a reporter, while raising her little daughter.
Release Date: 1979-02-26
Department: Creator
Job: Creator
Vote Count: 8
Murder by Natural Causes
An elaborate mystery involving a famous mentalist, his unfaithful wife who is trying to literally scare him to death, the best friend of the family, and the wife's ham-actor lover -- not only an intriguing who- (or whether) dunit, but also a literate, adult dramatic puzzle with an endless series of twists.
Release Date: 1979-02-17
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 16
The Storyteller
A television writer is troubled by accusations that a young boy's death resulted from actions the boy copied from the writer's teleplay.
Release Date: 1977-12-05
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Rollercoaster
A young terrorist kills and injures patrons of a Norfolk amusement park by placing homemade explosives on the track of one of its roller coasters. After staging a similar incident in Pittsburgh, he sends a tape to a meeting of major amusement park executives in Chicago, demanding $1 million to make him stop.
Release Date: 1977-06-10
Department: Writing
Job: Screenplay
Vote Count: 143
Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging
A California rancher hires a private detective to deliver the rancher's long-lost daughter to him. However, several people, including the rancher's new wife, his foreman and a crooked sheriff, don't want the girl--who would inherit the rancher's large spread if he died--to make it to the ranch alive.
Release Date: 1977-06-09
Department: Writing
Job: Story
Vote Count: 1
The Hindenburg
Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
Release Date: 1975-12-25
Department: Writing
Job: Screenstory
Vote Count: 130
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is an American television detective mystery series based on the fictional character Ellery Queen. It aired on NBC during the 1975-76 television season and stars Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen, and Tom Reese as Sgt. Velie. Created by the writing/producing team of Richard Levinson and William Link, the title character "breaks" the fourth wall to ask the audience to consider their solution.
Release Date: 1975-09-11
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 3
Vote Count: 39
Ellery Queen: Too Many Suspects
When a famous fashion designer is found murdered, Inspector Richard Queen of the NYPD is baffled by her dying clue, prompting him to bring in his son, mystery writer Ellery Queen, to help in the investigation. This was the pilot film for the short-lived TV series.
Release Date: 1975-03-23
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
A Cry for Help
A talk-radio host, who specializes in abusing and insulting his audience, gets a call from a disturbed teenage girl who says she is going to commit suicide. After first encouraging her, he has a change of heart and frantically tries to get his listeners to help find the girl before she makes good on her threat.
Release Date: 1975-02-12
Department: Production
Job: Executive Producer
Vote Count: 5
The Gun
The odyssey of an American handgun and the dramatic way it reshapes the lives of its various owners.
Release Date: 1974-11-13
Department: Writing
Job: Story
Vote Count: 2
The Execution of Private Slovik
The story of Eddie Slovik, who was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.
Release Date: 1974-03-13
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 15
Tenafly
Tenafly is a crime-drama series that was part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel for the 1973-74 season. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of popular mystery television shows such as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. It was the one of the first television series that season to star an African-American character as the main protagonist. Due to low ratings, Tenafly only lasted one season.
Release Date: 1973-10-10
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 1
Savage
A TV reporter investigates compromising photographs of a nominee to the Supreme Court.
Release Date: 1973-03-31
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
Vote Count: 8
Partners in Crime
A retired judge who opens a private detective agency and her ex-con associate try to track down $750,000 in bank robbery loot.
Release Date: 1973-03-24
Department: Production
Job: Executive Producer
Vote Count: 1
The Judge and Jake Wyler
A retired lady judge runs a private detective agency with a charming ex-con as her leg man and various parolees helping in the day-to-day operation.
Release Date: 1972-12-02
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 1
That Certain Summer
The first US teleplay to deal sympathetically with homosexuality. Divorced San Francisco contractor Doug Salter is looking forward to a summer visit from his fourteen-year-old son Nick, who lives in Los Angeles with his mother Janet. The boy does not know that his father is gay and committed to Gary McClain, his life partner of several years.
Release Date: 1972-11-01
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 14
Ransom for a Dead Man
A brilliant attorney gets rid of her boring husband by faking his kidnapping and keeping the ransom. The FBI may be fooled, but not Columbo.
Release Date: 1972-10-09
Department: Writing
Job: Story
Vote Count: 44
Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You
Detective Ellery Queen has to solve a series of murders where the victims were killed in numerically descending ages, the male victims were strangled with blue cords and the female victims with pink ones.
Release Date: 1971-11-19
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 1
Two on a Bench
An outgoing young girl and a square stockbroker meet on a park bench in Boston and are mistaken for international spies and chased by both sides.
Release Date: 1971-11-02
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 2
Columbo
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.
Release Date: 1971-09-15
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 8
Vote Count: 711
Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster?
An alcoholic drifter decides to run for sheriff in a small town. However, in order to get elected, he must find out who killed a visiting preacher.
Release Date: 1971-02-01
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 1
The Psychiatrist: God Bless the Children
A hip psychiatrist teams up with an ex-addict to combat drug addiction in a small town in this pilot for "The Psychiatrist."
Release Date: 1970-12-14
Department: Writing
Job: Story
McCloud
Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud of the small western town of Taos, New Mexico is assigned to the metropolitan New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a special investigator.
Release Date: 1970-02-17
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 51
My Sweet Charlie
A pregnant white Southern girl and a black New York lawyer, both on the run in rural Texas, meet up in a boarded-up, abandoned house and realize they both need each other in order to survive.
Release Date: 1970-01-20
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
Vote Count: 4
The Whole World Is Watching
In this second pilot of "The Lawyers," a rotating segment of "The Bold Ones" series, the firm of Nichols, Darrell & Darrell defends the leader of a student protest movement charged with the murder of a campus policeman. The problem is that the student, and his supporters, may be more interested in making a statement about their grievances than about his acquittal.
Release Date: 1969-03-11
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
Istanbul Express
An art dealer on a special mission is pulled into dangerous intrigue while railway detective Cheval tries to help and pursues criminals on the Istanbul Express.
Release Date: 1969-03-07
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Vote Count: 7
Trial Run
A slice-of-life drama involving a young lawyer, his adoring secretary who tries to help to advance his career, and his employer, a famed lawyer burdened with an unfaithful wife.
Release Date: 1969-01-18
Department: Writing
Job: Story
The Name of the Game
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series.
Release Date: 1968-09-20
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 2
Vote Count: 12
Prescription: Murder
In Columbo's first outing, a psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.
Release Date: 1968-02-20
Department: Writing
Job: Teleplay
Vote Count: 29
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
Release Date: 1967-09-16
Department: Creator
Job: Creator
Vote Count: 51
Jericho
Jericho is an American espionage series set during World War II. The series stars John Leyton, Don Francks and Marino Masé as secret agents, and aired on CBS from September 1966, to January 1967.
Release Date: 1966-09-15
Department: Creator
Job: Creator
Vote Count: 2
Honey West
After her father's death, Honey West takes over his high-tech private-detective firm, assisted by rugged Sam Bolt--and her pet ocelot Bruce.
Release Date: 1965-09-17
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 3
Vote Count: 15
The Rogues
The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964, to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young as a related trio of former conmen who could, for the right price, be persuaded to trick a very wealthy and heinously unscrupulous mark. Although it won the 1964 Golden Globe award for Best Television Series, the show was cancelled after one season consisting of thirty episodes.
Release Date: 1964-09-13
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 5
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
Release Date: 1963-09-20
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 3
Vote Count: 11
The Fugitive
Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
Release Date: 1963-09-17
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 2
Vote Count: 56
Stoney Burke
Stoney Burke is an American western television series broadcast on ABC from October 1, 1962 until May 20, 1963. Six years before the premiere of his CBS crime drama, Hawaii Five-0, Jack Lord starred in the title role.
Release Date: 1962-10-01
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 4
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries.
Release Date: 1962-09-20
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 5
Vote Count: 67
The Devil and the Ten Commandments
The film consists of seven roughly 15 minute episodes, each showing what will happen if one or more of the Ten Commandments will be broken: Jérome Chambard is warned that he will lose his job if he continues to swear; Françoise Beaufort enamored of a stripper calls on her only to find her married to a janitor who doesn't know what kind of dancing his wife performs; Denis, a Jesuit novice, leaves the order to avenge his sister's suicide, which was provoked by Garigny, who seduced her into prostitution and drug addiction; Philip buys a necklace for Micheline though he is bored with her; a young man find out that his real mother is not Madeleine, but actress Clarisse Ardant; Didier Marin, cashier of a bank, was fired by his boss; the Devil appears as a serpent for Jérome Chambard and the bishop are eating.
Release Date: 1962-09-14
Department: Writing
Job: Short Story
Vote Count: 30
The Chevy Mystery Show
The Chevy Mystery Show is an American television anthology series featuring a different mystery each week that aired on NBC in 1960 as a summer replacement.
Release Date: 1960-05-29
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 2
Adventures in Paradise
Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962, starring Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III, which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. USA Network aired reruns of this series between 1984 and 1988. The plots deal with the romantic and detective stories of Korean War veteran Troy. The supporting cast, varying from season to season, features George Tobias, Guy Stockwell, and Linda Lawson.
Release Date: 1959-10-05
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 6
Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo is an American Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It is loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter and outlaw Johnny Ringo, also known as John Peters Ringo or John B. Ringgold, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Buckskin Franklin Leslie.
Release Date: 1959-10-02
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 3
Vote Count: 7
Black Saddle
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
Release Date: 1959-01-10
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 1
Vote Count: 4
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
Release Date: 1955-10-02
Department: Writing
Job: Writer
Episode Count: 2
Vote Count: 224