zeph’s pop culture quiz #1

With all that popular culture material residing on my hard drives, and with all the hodgepodge of “knowledge” and trivia about it residing in my head, I thought it to be a good idea to launch a quiz series in here.
    To ease your start into the new week, every Monday I will post a screenshot from a movie or television series and ask some more or less clever question. One week later the post will be updated with the solution—which normally will be a screenshot, too, with explanation of course, plus some trivia and associations. Presumably it will mostly be science fiction, horror, and superheroes, but not exclusively.
    And here we go: Who casts his shadow upon that frosted glass inset of the door he opens? It’s the lead of a 1970s hit television series. And no, he didn’t yet appear on xirdalium or ↑ye ole xirdalium—which is astounding, as he is an all-time childhood hero of mine.
    Just leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next ones won’t be held, but published immediately by the system.]
    Sorry no prices, it’s just for the fun ;-)
 
UPDATE and solution (31st October 2011):

It is Lieutenant ↑Theo Kojak (↑Telly Savalas)! That was a fast one. The quiz was only eight hours and 53 minutes old, when ↵Alexander Rabitsch hit it. Before that (when the quiz was only one hour old) ↵klandestino suggested a clever, but nevertheless wrong solution—which ↵I had anticipated :-) All in all the riddle seems to have been far too easy. I’ll cook up a tougher one for next Monday, I promise.
    The screenshots I took from season 4 (1976-1977), episode 22
“↑Kiss it All Goodbye,” which originally aired on 22nd February 1977. The episode is remarkable for several reasons: Kojak’s number one sidekick detective Bobby Crocker (↑Kevin Dobson) deeply falls in love, the episode was directed by Telly Savalas himself, and the bad guy Ben Wiley is played by a youthful ↑Christopher Walken.
    Mr Walken had had his debut on the big screen six years earlier in “↑The Anderson Tapes” (Lumet 1971), starring ↑Sean Connery. This heist-movie is remarkable as well. It is not exactly cyberpunk, but the first movie to broach the issue of pervasive surveillance by technological means (which is depicted on a grand scale and in a haunting way) and its mis/use by private agencies and public institutions.

Can’t resist … here’s a follow-up for you wiseguys: As you probably know Kojak always is clad in immaculate suits, a real dandy. Who tailored and furnished Mr Savalas’ wardrobe? ;-)