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Peter Falk dies at 83

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Jan 4, 2002
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Peter Falk, the actor most famous for portraying shrewd, but unassuming television detective Frank Columbo, has died at the age of 83, a family spokesperson confirmed.

A family spokesman confirmed the development to CBS News, saying the iconic actor died Thursday night.

Falk, born in New York City to a Polish storekeeper, began acting as a teenager at summer camp in upstate New York. Surgery to remove a malignant tumor when he was just three years old left him with a glass eye, which he often joked about. In a 1997 interview with Cigar Aficianado magazine, Falk recalled a story from his childhood involving the prosthetic.

"I remember once in high school 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."


http://www.nbcwashington.com/entert...for-Playing-Columbo-Dead-at-83-124499034.html
 
I grew up with Columbo, my father was a big fan. Falk was also very funny in Murder By Death, and of course he had a classic role in The Princess Bride.

Sad to see him go.
 
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I enjoyed Columbo too, it was one of those crime dramas with just the right amount of humor.
 
Sad news. I loved Columbo, even though it was well before my time. It's been on UK day time TV on and off for years, and I remember it as one of the few good things about being ill and off school.
 
Peter falk r.i.p.

Peter Falk(1927-2011) appeared in more than 50 films and so is remembered by many a film-buff, but above all and to millions of TV fans, he is, or rather was, the titular and irascible, rumpled and eccentric Los Angeles police detective: the homicide cop Lieutenant Frank Columbo. For this role he won four Emmy awards. Falk died on 24 June at 83 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.

There is something especially cruel about knowing that a mind-robbing disease like Alzheimer's was what took Falk's life. Still he was still acting until 2009. In all of his roles, but especially Columbo, his was always the most perspicacious face on screen. Keenly intelligent and watchful, he was a warmer, a menschier, a more humble Sherlock Holmes, a man whose mind operated on a higher level than most of his police associates and others in that who-dun-it world loved by millions and watched now by billions every week.

Dana Stevens wrote in the online magazine Slate(1) that nothing got by Peter Falk and his hyper-alert vigilance always seemed to emerge from an underlying stillness, a state of openness to his fellow actors and to the moment. Stevens talked about Falk’s films and special scenes in the films, scenes that highlighted his talents. I’ll let you read her fine obit about the Peter Falk she remembers: a man who doggedly felt his way to the truth, that is the truth about the fictional murder of the week, and the truth of the scene. Squinting at his interlocutor with his one good eye, and listening, Falk came into our worlds week after week. His physical trademark of one eye enhanced his detective's image as a dishevelled, oddball crime sleuth. -Ron Price with thanks to (1) Dana Stevens, Brow Beat: Slate's Culture Blog, 24 June 2011.

Some said he was a boomer icon of
the ‘70s and like a grandfather to a
generation of kids, like my son who
was born in ’77 and grew up on the
gravelly-voiced, rumpled, meandering
but brilliant mystery-solver. He’d been
in my world since the ‘60s & made his
Columbo debut in ’71 on NBC, the year
I arrived in Australia for the Baha’is and
the kids in schools in Whyalla Australia.

That MA you got in ’53, when I was only
9 and in love with both baseball & with
at least 3 girls, was really not used for
your movie career which made you a pot
of real gold & fame-the desire of millions.

Ron Price
27 June 2011
 
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Other than "Just one more thing...", one of my favorite scenes of his is from "The In Laws" where he's talking to the cab driver in the cafeteria about what it's like to work for the CIA.

First, outrageous that anyone openly admits working there.

Second, when he's describing the benefits and retirement program and says "The real key to the retirement program is staying alive. Yep, that's the key."
 
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