How a Bad Financial Manager Led to a Classic TV Series

Watched a YouTube clip with Roy Clark. He was one of the investors in Delorean along with Johnny Carson. He says he and Carson were in several business ventures together, all of which failed.

The investment counselor to go with was Wayne Rogers -- yes Trapper John from M*A*S*H. Supposedly he began making investments in HS, and that's how he supported himself as a struggling actor when one of his roommates was Peter Falk.

Later Falk's business manager (NOT Rogers) embezzled all his money and left the country. Falk then went to Rogers for help. Rogers got him a TV deal with NBC and invested his money in NorCal wine vineyards -- he was one of the first H'wood people to do that. Smothers Bros/Coppola came later, they may even have been Rogers clients. I know Paul Newman was one. I'd always wondered why WR shows up in so many PN movies (CHL, WUSA, Pocket Money).

Donald Crisp (the coal miner father in How Green/Valley, won an Oscar) was on the board of the Bank of America, who decided what/how much to loan movie studios. And you wondered why he kept getting such great parts? But I digress.

Re Peter Falk's TV series: it was a little thing called Columbo. And we owe TV's most beloved cop to a crooked business manager.
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