Everything Was Finally Going Right
Barbara Colby had spent years building a real acting career. Broadway, movies, guest spots on hit television shows...Then, in 1975, she finally got the big break she had spent years waiting for.
Until, one summer night changed everything.
Broadway Came First
Long before television audiences recognized her face, Colby was already a serious stage actress. She made her Broadway debut in The Devils in 1965 and later appeared in productions including Murderous Angels and A Doll’s House. She wasn’t waiting around for Hollywood to discover her. She had already been working for years.
Screenshot from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 20th Television (1970-1977)
She Even Had A Famous Broadway Connection
Colby was also connected to one of Broadway’s biggest names. She married Robert Levitt Jr., the son of legendary performer Ethel Merman. By 1975, the couple had separated, although reports described the split as amicable. It was just one more way Colby’s life had become deeply connected to show business.
ABC Television Uploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Then Television Started Calling
By the early 70s, Colby was showing up everywhere. She appeared on The Odd Couple, Kung Fu, Gunsmoke and McMillan & Wife, along with movies including Robert Altman’s California Split. But one television role from 1971 feels especially strange to watch now.
Screenshot from McMillan & Wife, Universal Television (1971-1977)
Steven Spielberg Directed Her On “Columbo”
Colby played Lilly La Sanka in Murder by the Book, the first regular episode of Columbo. It was directed by a very young Steven Spielberg. Her character gets caught up in a dangerous situation involving a crime she knows too much about. Four years later, Colby herself would become part of an unsolved case.
Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” Changed Everything
Then came Sherry Ferris. Colby appeared twice on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as the funny, streetwise woman who befriends Mary Richards. She clearly made an impression, because MTM Enterprises soon found another role for her. Only this time, it wasn’t going to be a one-off guest appearance.
Screenshot from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 20th Television (1970-1977)
She Had Already Worked With Cloris Leachman
Colby and Cloris Leachman had actually worked together before. Both appeared in the 1973 television movie A Brand New Life. So when Leachman got her own Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoff, Phyllis, Colby was brought in to play Julie Erskine, the owner of the photography studio where Phyllis went to work.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
And This Time, It Was Different
Colby had spent years bouncing between theater, movies and television guest roles. Phyllis was different. She was now a regular on a major CBS sitcom connected to one of the biggest comedy franchises on television. She filmed the first three episodes, and there was every reason to think viewers were about to see a lot more of her.
Screenshot from Phyllis, 20th Television (1975-1977)
Then Came July 24, 1975
That Thursday night, Colby taught an acting class in the Palms area of Los Angeles. Actor James Kiernan was there too. Nothing about the evening appears to have been unusual. The class ended, and Colby and Kiernan stayed outside for a while afterward near the parking area.
Downtowngal, Wikimedia Commons
It Was Almost Midnight
It was around 11:50 p.m., and according to later reports, hanging around to talk after class wasn’t unusual for the group. This should have been another completely ordinary end to another acting class. Then two men approached them.
What Happened Next Was Over Quickly
Police determined that Colby and Kiernan were each struck once at close range. Colby did not survive. Kiernan was seriously wounded. Beyond that, investigators were left with surprisingly little certainty about what the two men wanted or why Colby and Kiernan had been approached in the first place.
Screenshot from McMillan & Wife, Universal Television (1971-1977)
Kiernan Was Able To Tell Police Something
Kiernan survived long enough to speak with investigators. He was able to give police descriptions of the two men and a light-colored van associated with them. It was one of the few solid leads detectives had. But it still didn’t answer the biggest question of all: Why?
Nothing Had Been Taken
That only made things stranger. Colby and Kiernan had not been robbed, and police found no obvious argument or dispute that explained what happened. One possibility was that a robbery had been interrupted before anything was taken. But that was only a theory. Investigators never established a clear motive.
Screenshot from McMillan & Wife, Universal Television (1971-1977)
Then Police Thought They Might Have A Lead
Around 40 minutes earlier, another violent incident had taken place nearby in Santa Monica involving Gloria Witte, the wife of a Lockheed executive. At first, police wondered whether the two cases could somehow be connected. It looked promising...until the evidence started pointing in another direction.
That Lead Fell Apart Too
Ballistics showed that different weapons had been used in the two attacks. That didn’t necessarily answer what happened to Colby and Kiernan, but it seriously weakened the idea that the same people were responsible. Once again, investigators were left looking for another explanation.
Police Talked To Hundreds Of People
This wasn’t a case that investigators simply forgot about. Police interviewed hundreds of people while trying to figure out who the two men were and what they wanted. But after all that work, detective Michael Maloney summed up the investigation with three incredibly frustrating words: “We know nothing.”
And The Theories Kept Coming
Was it an attempted robbery? Mistaken identity? Random violence? Or had someone actually been targeted? All of those possibilities have been discussed over the years. The problem is that none of them has ever been proven. Police never established that Colby herself was the intended target.
Screenshot from McMillan & Wife, Universal Television (1971-1977)
Meanwhile, “Phyllis” Still Had To Premiere
Less than two months later, Phyllis debuted on CBS. Viewers saw Colby as Julie Erskine in the three episodes she had already filmed. Beginning with the fourth episode, Liz Torres took over the role. What should have been Colby’s big introduction as a regular television star instead became her final series.
Screenshot from Phyllis, 20th Television (1975-1977)
And The Show Became A Huge Hit
This part makes the story even harder to think about. Phyllis finished its first season as the No. 6 show on television, ranking above both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda. Colby had spent years working toward exactly this kind of break. She never got to see how big it became.
Screenshot from Phyllis, 20th Television (1975-1977)
Audiences Saw Her One More Time
There was still one final performance audiences hadn’t seen. In January 1976, months after Colby was gone, PBS aired The Ashes of Mrs. Reasoner, featuring Colby as Muriel Fenton. It became one last look at an actress whose career had seemed to be heading somewhere much bigger.
Screenshot from The Ashes of Mrs. Reasoner, PBS (1976)
More Than 50 Years Later, There Is Still No Answer
No one has ever been charged in the attack on Barbara Colby and James Kiernan. In 2026, the LAPD confirmed that the case remains open. More than half a century after Colby walked out of that acting class, investigators still do not know for certain who was waiting outside—or why.
Screenshot from McMillan & Wife, Universal Television (1971-1977)
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