Peter Falk

Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American actor. He played the title character Lieutenant Columbo on the NBC/ABC series Columbo (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he won four Primetime Emmy Awards (1972, 1975, 1976, 1990) and a Golden Globe Award. In 1996, TV Guide ranked Falk No. 21 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. He received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

He first starred as Columbo in two 2-hour "World Premiere" TV pilots; the first with Gene Barry in 1968 and the second with Lee Grant in 1971. The show then aired as part of The NBC Mystery Movie series from 1971 to 1978, and again on ABC from 1989 to 2003.

Falk was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Murder, Inc. (1960) and Pocketful of Miracles (1961), and won his first Emmy Award in 1962 for The Dick Powell Theatre. He was the first actor to be nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year, achieving the feat twice (1961 and 1962). He went on to appear in such films as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), alongside Frank Sinatra in Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), The Great Race (1965), Anzio (1968), Murder by Death (1976), The Cheap Detective (1978), The Brink's Job (1978), The In-Laws (1979), The Princess Bride (1987), Wings of Desire (1987), The Player (1992), and Next (2007), as well as many television guest roles.

Falk collaborated with filmmaker, actor, and personal friend John Cassavetes, acting in films such as Husbands (1970), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Big Trouble (1986), Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky (1976) and the Columbo episode "Étude in Black" (1972). He cameoed as a theatergoer in Cassavetes' 1977 film Opening Night.

Early life

Born in Manhattan, New York City, Falk was the son of Michael Peter Falk (1898–1981), owner of a clothing and dry goods store, and his wife, Madeline (née Hochhauser, 1904–2001). Both of his parents were Jewish.

Falk's right eye was surgically removed when he was three because of a retinoblastoma. He wore an artificial eye for most of his life. The artificial eye was the cause of his trademark squint. Despite this limitation, as a boy he participated in team sports, mainly baseball and basketball. In a 1997 interview in Cigar Aficionado magazine with Arthur Marx, Falk said:

Falk's first stage appearance was at age 12 in The Pirates of Penzance at Camp High Point in upstate New York, where one of his camp counselors was Ross Martin. Falk attended Ossining High School in Westchester County, New York, where he was a star athlete and president of his senior class. He graduated in 1945.

Falk briefly attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He then tried to join the armed services, as World War II was drawing to a close. Rejected because of his missing eye, he joined the United States Merchant Marine and served as a cook and mess boy. Falk said of the experience in 1997: "There they don't care if you're blind or not. The only one on a ship who has to see is the captain. And in the case of the Titanic, he couldn't see very well, either." a railway in Yugoslavia for six months. He returned to New York, enrolling at Syracuse University, In 1997, Falk characterized his Hartford job as "efficiency expert": "I was such an efficiency expert that the first morning on the job, I couldn't find the building where I was to report for work. Naturally, I was late, which I always was in those days, but ironically it was my tendency never to be on time that got me started as a professional actor."

Falk's first New York stage role was in an off-Broadway production of Molière's Don Juan at the Fourth Street Theatre that closed after its only performance on January 3, 1956. Falk played the second lead, Sganarelle. His next theater role proved far better for his career. In May, he appeared as Rocky Pioggi at Circle in the Square in a revival of The Iceman Cometh directed by Jose Quintero, with Jason Robards playing the lead role of Theodore "Hickey" Hickman.

Later in 1956, Falk made his Broadway debut, appearing in Alexander Ostrovsky's Diary of a Scoundrel. As the year came to an end, he appeared again on Broadway as an English soldier in Shaw's Saint Joan with Siobhán McKenna. Falk continued to act in summer stock theater productions, including Arnold Schulman's A Hole in the Head at the Colonie Summer Theatre (near Albany, NY) in July 1962; it starred Priscilla Morrill.

In 1972, Falk appeared in Broadway's The Prisoner of Second Avenue. According to film historian Ephraim Katz: "His characters derive added authenticity from his squinty gaze, the result of the loss of an eye..." However, this production caused Falk a great deal of stress, both on and offstage. He struggled with memorizing a short speech, spending hours trying to memorize three lines. The next day at rehearsal, he reported behaving strangely and feeling a tingling sensation in his neck. This caught the attention of a stage manager, who told him to go "take a Valium". Only later did Falk realize he was having an anxiety attack. He would not go on to perform in any other plays, citing both this incident and his preference for acting in film and television productions.

Early films

Despite his stage success, a theatrical agent advised Falk not to expect much film acting work because of his artificial eye.

The film turned out to be Falk's breakout role. In his autobiography, Just One More Thing (2006), Falk said his selection for the film from thousands of other Off-Broadway actors was a "miracle" that "made my career" and that without it, he would not have received the other significant movie roles that he later played. Falk, who played Reles again in the 1960 TV series The Witness, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in the film.

In 1961, multiple Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra cast Falk in the comedy Pocketful of Miracles. The film was Capra's last feature, and although it was not the commercial success he hoped it would be, he "gushed about Falk's performance".

For his part, Falk says he "never worked with a director who showed greater enjoyment of actors and the acting craft. There is nothing more important to an actor than to know that the one person who represents the audience to you, the director, is responding well to what you are trying to do." Falk once recalled how Capra reshot a scene even though he yelled "Cut and Print", indicating the scene was finalized. When Falk asked him why he wanted it reshot: "He laughed and said that he loved the scene so much he just wanted to see us do it again. How's that for support!"

In 1961, Falk was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance in the episode "Cold Turkey" of James Whitmore's short-lived series The Law and Mr. Jones on ABC. On September 29, 1961, Falk and Walter Matthau guest-starred in the premiere episode, "The Million Dollar Dump", of ABC's crime drama Target: The Corruptors, with Stephen McNally and Robert Harland. He won an Emmy for "The Price of Tomatoes", a drama carried in 1962 on The Dick Powell Show.

In 1961, Falk earned the distinction of becoming the first actor to be nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year. He received nominations for his supporting roles in Murder, Inc. and the television program The Law and Mr. Jones. Incredibly, Falk repeated this double nomination in 1962, being nominated again for a supporting actor role in Pocketful of Miracles and best actor in "The Price of Tomatoes", an episode of The Dick Powell Show, for which he took home the award.

Having had many roles in film and television during the early 1960s, Falk's first lead in a television series came with CBS's The Trials of O'Brien. The show ran from 1965 to 1966, its 22 episodes featuring Falk as a Shakespeare-quoting lawyer who defends clients while solving mysteries.

Columbo

Although Falk appeared in numerous other television roles in the 1960s and 1970s, he is best known as the star of the TV series Columbo, "everyone's favorite rumpled television detective". is a shabby and deceptively absent-minded police detective driving a Peugeot 403, who had first appeared in the 1968 film Prescription: Murder. Columbo was created by William Link and Richard Levinson.

Peter Falk tries to analyze the character and notes the correlation between his own personality and Columbo's:

Falk appeared in The Great Muppet Caper, The Princess Bride, Murder by Death, The Cheap Detective, Vibes, Made, and in Wim Wenders' 1987 German-language film Wings of Desire and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!. In Wings of Desire, Falk played a semi-fictionalized version of himself, a famous American actor who had once been an angel, but who had grown disillusioned with only observing life on Earth and had in turn given up his immortality. Falk described the role as "the craziest thing that I've ever been offered", but he earned critical acclaim for his supporting performance in the film.

In 1998, Falk returned to the New York stage to star in an Off-Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Mr. Peters' Connections. His previous stage work included shady real estate salesman Shelley "the Machine" Levine in the 1986 Boston/Los Angeles production of David Mamet's prizewinning Glengarry Glen Ross. Falk starred in a trilogy of holiday television movies – A Town Without Christmas (2001), Finding John Christmas (2003), and When Angels Come to Town (2004) – in which he portrayed Max, a quirky guardian angel who uses disguises and subterfuge to steer his charges onto the right path. In 2005, he starred in The Thing About My Folks. Although movie critic Roger Ebert was not impressed with most of the other actors, he wrote in his review: "We discover once again what a warm and engaging actor Peter Falk is. I can't recommend the movie, but I can be grateful that I saw it, for Falk." In 2007, Falk appeared with Nicolas Cage in the thriller Next.

Falk's autobiography, Just One More Thing, was published in 2006. Falk and his wife divorced in 1976. On December 7, 1977, he married actress Shera Danese, who guest-starred in more episodes of the Columbo series than any other actress.

Falk was an accomplished artist, and in October 2006 he had an exhibition of his drawings at the Butler Institute of American Art. He took classes at the Art Students League of New York for many years.

Falk was a chess aficionado and a spectator at the American Open in Santa Monica, California, in November 1972, and at the U.S. Open in Pasadena, California, in August 1983.

His memoir Just One More Thing was published by Carroll & Graf on August 23, 2006.

Health

In December 2008, it was reported that Falk had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In June 2009, at a two-day conservatorship trial in Los Angeles, one of Falk's personal physicians, Dr. Stephen Read, reported he had rapidly slipped into dementia after a series of dental operations in 2007. Read said it was unclear whether Falk's condition had worsened as a result of anesthesia or some other reaction to the operations. Shera Danese Falk was appointed as her husband's conservator.

Death On the evening of June 23, 2011, Falk died at his longtime home on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills at the age of 83. The causes of death were pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. His daughters said they would remember his "wisdom and humor". He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

His death was marked by tributes from many film celebrities including Jonah Hill and Stephen Fry. Steven Spielberg said, "I learned more about acting from him at that early stage of my career than I had from anyone else". Rob Reiner said: "He was a completely unique actor", and went on to say that Falk's work with Alan Arkin in The In-Laws was "one of the most brilliant comedy pairings we've seen on screen". His epitaph reads: "I'm not here, I'm home with Shera."

Peter Falk's Law According to Falk's daughter Catherine, his second wife Shera Danese (who also was his conservator) allegedly forbade some of his family members from visiting him; she also did not inform them of major changes in his condition and did not notify them of his death and funeral arrangements. In 2015, Catherine encouraged the passage of legislation called colloquially "Peter Falk's Law".

As of 2020, more than fifteen states had enacted such laws. In introducing the measure, New York State Senator John DeFrancisco said, "For every wrong there should be a remedy. This bill gives a remedy to children of elderly and infirm parents who have been cut off from receiving information about their parents. It also gives them an avenue through the courts to obtain visitation rights with the parents."

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1958 Wind Across the Everglades Writer film debut 1959 The Bloody Brood Nico 1960 Pretty Boy Floyd Shorty Walters Murder, Inc. Abe Reles Academy Award nomination The Secret of the Purple Reef Tom Weber 1961 Pocketful of Miracles Joy Boy Academy Award nomination 1962 Pressure Point Young Psychiatrist 1963 The Balcony Police Chief It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Third Cab Driver 1964 Robin and the 7 Hoods Guy Gisborne Attack and Retreat Medic Captain 1965 The Great Race Maximilian Meen 1966 Penelope Lieutenant Horatio Bixbee 1967 Luv Milt Manville Too Many Thieves Danny 1968 Anzio Corporal Jack Rabinoff 1969 Machine Gun McCain Charlie Adamo Castle Keep Sergeant Rossi 1970 Operation Snafu Peter Pawney Husbands Archie Black 1974 A Woman Under the Influence Nick Longhetti 1976 Griffin and Phoenix Geoffrey Griffin Murder by Death Sam Diamond Mikey and Nicky Mikey 1977 Opening Night Himself Cameo appearance, uncredited 1978 The Cheap Detective Lou Peckinpaugh The Brink's Job Tony Pino Scared Straight! Himself – Narrator 1979 The In-Laws Vincent J. Ricardo 1981 The Great Muppet Caper Tramp ...All the Marbles Harry Sears 1986 Big Trouble Steve Rickey 1987 Wings of Desire Himself Happy New Year Nick The Princess Bride Grandfather / Narrator 1988 Vibes Harry Buscafusco 1989 Cookie Dominick "Dino" Capisco 1990 In the Spirit Roger Flan Tune in Tomorrow Pedro Carmichael 1992 Faraway, So Close! Himself The Player 1995 Roommates Rocky Holzcek Cops n Roberts Salvatore Santini 1998 Money Kings Vinnie Glynn 2000 Lakeboat The Pierman Enemies of Laughter Paul's Father 2001 Hubert's Brain Thompson Voice Made Max Corky Romano Francis A. "Pops" Romano 2002 Three Days of Rain Waldo Undisputed Mendy Ripstein 2004 Shark Tale Don Ira Feinberg Voice, cameo 2005 Checking Out Morris Applebaum The Thing About My Folks Sam Kleinman 2007 Three Days to Vegas Gus 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald Next Irv 2009 American Cowslip Father Randolph Final film role

Television Year Title Role Notes 1957 Robert Montgomery Presents Season 8 Episode 36: "Return Visit" Studio One Carmen's Assistant Season 9 Episode 35: "The Mother Bit" Jack Season 9 Episode 45: "Rudy" Kraft Suspense Theatre Radar Operator / Izzy Season 10 Episode 26: "Collision" 1957–59 Camera Three Stendhal / Don Chucho 8 episodes 1958 Naked City Extortionist Season 1 Episode 11: "Lady Bug, Lady Bug" Kraft Suspense Theatre Izzy Season 11 Episode 44: "Night Cry" Decoy Fred Dana Season 1 Episode 37: "The Come Back" 1959 Omnibus Charlie Season 7 Episode 13: "The Strange Ordeal of the Normandier" Brenner Fred Gaines Season 1 Episode 4: "Blind Spot" Deadline Al Bax Season 1 Episode 11: "The Human Storm" New York Confidential Pete Season 1 Episode 11: "The Girl from Nowhere" Play of the Week Mestizo Season 1 Episode 2: "The Power and the Glory" 1960 Season 1 Episode 14: "The Emperor's Clothes" Naked City Gimpy (uncredited) Season 2 Episode 1: "A Death of Princes" The Islanders Hooker Season 1 Episode 6: "Hostage Island" Have Gun – Will Travel Waller, Gambler Season 4 Episode 9: "The Poker Fiend" The Witness Abe Reles Season 1 Episode 11: "Kid Twist" The Untouchables Duke Mullen Season 1 Episode 26: "The Underworld Bank" 1961 Nate Selko Season 3 Episode 1: "Troubleshooter" Naked City Lee Staunton Season 2 Episode 24: "A Very Cautious Boy" The Law and Mr. Jones Sydney Jarmon Season 1 Episode 20: "Cold Turkey" The Aquanauts Jeremiah Wilson Season 1 Episode 20: "The Jeremiah Adventure" Angel Season 1 Episode 23: "The Double Adventure" Cry Vengeance! Priest Television movie The Million Dollar Incident Sammy Alfred Hitchcock Presents Meyer Fine Season 6 Episode 28: "Gratitude" The Barbara Stanwyck Show Joe Season 1 Episode 32: "The Assassin" Target: The Corruptors! Nick Longo Season 1 Episode 1: "The Million Dollar Dump" The Twilight Zone Ramos Clemente Season 3 Episode 6: "The Mirror" 1962 Naked City Frankie O'Hearn Season 3 Episode 25: "Lament for a Dead Indian" The New Breed Lopez Season 1 Episode 15: "Cross the Little Line" 87th Precinct Greg Brovane Season 1 Episode 19: "The Pigeon" Here's Edie Cabbie Episode #1.1 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Robert Evans Season 1 Episode 13: "Bonfire" The Dick Powell Show Aristede Fresco Season 1 Episode 17: "Price of Tomatoes" Dr. Alan Keegan Season 2 Episode 4: "The Doomsday Boys" The DuPont Show of the Week Collucci Season 1 Episode 24: "A Sound of Hunting" 1963 The Dick Powell Show Martin Season 2 Episode 18: "The Rage of Silence" Dr. Kildare Matt Gunderson Season 2 Episode 29: "The Balance and the Crucible" Wagon Train Gus Morgan Season 7 Episode 3: "The Gus Morgan Story" Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Bert Graumann Season 1 Episode 4: "Four Kings" 1964 The DuPont Show of the Week Danilo Diaz Season 3 Episode 21: "Ambassador at Large" Ben Casey Dr. Jimmy Reynolds Season 4 Episode 6: "For Jimmy, the Best of Everything" Season 4 Episode 12: "Courage at 3:00 A.M." 1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Bara Season 2 Episode 19: "Perilous Times" 1965–66 The Trials of O'Brien Daniel O'Brien 22 episodes 1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Mike Galway Season 4 Episode 7: "Dear Deductible" Brigadoon Jeff Douglas Television movie 1967 The Red Skelton Hour Colonel Hush-Hush Season 16 Episode 16: "In One Head and Out the Other" 1968 A Hatful of Rain Polo Pope Television movie 1968–2003 Columbo Lieutenant Columbo 69 episodes 1971 The Name of the Game Lewis Corbett Season 3 Episode 15: "A Sister from Napoli" A Step Out of Line Harry Connors Television movie 1978 The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast Columbo Television special 1992 The Larry Sanders Show Himself Season 1 Episode 8: "Out of the Loop" 1996 The Sunshine Boys Willie Clark Television movie 1997 Pronto Harry Arno 2000 A Storm in Summer Abel Shaddick 2001 The Lost World Reverend Theo Kerr A Town Without ChristmasMax 2003 Finding John Christmas Wilder Days James 'Pop Up' Morse 2004 When Angels Come to Town Max Television movie (final TV role)

Theater

Awards and nominations Academy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1960 Best Supporting Actor Murder, Inc. 1961 Pocketful of Miracles

Emmy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. Primetime Emmy Awards 1961 Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor or Actress in a Single Program The Law and Mr. Jones 1962 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The Dick Powell Show 1972 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Columbo 1973 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama Series – Continuing) 1974 Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series 1975 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series 1976 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series 1977 1978 1990 1991 1994 Daytime Emmy Awards 2001 Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special A Storm in Summer

Golden Globe Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1961 Most Promising Newcomer – Male Murder, Inc. 1971 Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama Columbo 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977 1990 1991 Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star 1993 Columbo: It's All in the Game

Other Awards Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2005 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards Best Grownup Love Story The Thing About My Folks 2005 Florida Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award 1974 Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year 1962 Laurel Awards Top Male New Personality 2006 Online Film & Television Association Awards Television Hall of Fame: Actors 2021 Television Hall of Fame: Characters Lt. Columbo 1989 People's Choice Awards Favorite Male TV Performer 2005 TV Land Awards Favorite "Casual Friday" Cop Columbo