Peter Falk, the character actor best known for playing the rumpled cop on TV's
Columbo, died Thursday in his Beverly Hills home. He suffered from Alzheimer's
disease.
Falk, 83, was a five-time Emmy Award winner, four for his portrayal of the police
lieutenant on episodic TV and television films from 1971 to 1993. In a ubiquitous
trench coat, the absent-minded Columbo — whose first name was never revealed —
was a slightly built, unassuming character who subtly hounded murderers with dogged
persistence. Inevitably, he confronted suspects with the comment "just one more
thing," which became part of the title for his 2006 autobiography, Just One More Thing:
Stories From My Life
Born in New York City, Peter Michael Falk was the son of a dry goods store owner and
accountant. At age 3, a tumor forced the removal of Falk's right eye. Despite the
handicap, he was a good athlete. In a 1997 interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine
— Falk, like his Columbo, was a consistent cigar smoker — Falk recalled an
argument he got into during a high school baseball game. "The umpire called me out
at third base when I was sure I was safe. I got so mad I took out my glass eye, handed
it to him and said, 'Try this.' I got such a laugh you wouldn't believe."
After graduating from high school, he served in the Merchant Marine. Falk eventually
received a masters degree in public administration from Syracuse University and
worked as a Connecticut state management analyst. He began dabbling as a stage
actor, and despite early admonishments that his glass eye would limit his acting
career started getting film roles in 1958.
VIDEO: Remembering Peter Falk
PHOTOS: A look at Falk's career
Falk earned successive Academy Award nominations for best supporting actor for
1960's Murder, Inc. and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles. In 1962, he won an Emmy for
appearing in The Price of Tomatoes, a Dick Powell Theatre drama.
He was a longtime close friend of actor, writer and director John Cassavetes and his
wife, actress Gena Rowlands. Falk worked with Cassavetes in '70s movies such as
Husbands and Mikey and Nicky.
Falk's 1960 marriage to fellow Syracuse University student Alyce Mayo ended in
divorce in 1976. He married Shera Danese, who appeared in six Columbo movies, in
1977. His daughter Catherine Falk filed for conservatorship of his estate in December
2008, touching off a legal feud with Danese, who Falk had named legal guardian when
he was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's
الرئيسية 
البوابة* 
الأحد 26 يونيو 2011 - 3:09
