Just One More Thing: Peter Falk: 1927- 2011

Clad in his rumpled, many-pocketed trenchcoat, Lieutenant Columbo cemented his image in the public's consciousness, but five-time Emmy Award-winner Peter Falk's contributions to cinema also deserve credit. 

Best known on the big-screen for popular comedy The In-Laws and Wim Wenders' art house hit Wings of Desire, Falk became part of John Cassavetes' repertory company before turning to television for most of his career (conversely, Cassavetes honed his chops on TV before transitioning to film).

Born in the Bronx, Falk lost his right eye at age three due to a malignant tumor, but went on to play Little League, become class president at Ossining High School in Westchester County, serve in the United States Merchant Marine as a cook, and get a master's degree from Syracuse University.

Falk with Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara in 1970's Husbands

After working as a management analyst in Hartford, Connecticut and dabbling in theater, he returned to New York in 1955 to act on a full-time basis. Not long after relocating to Hollywood, he received Oscar nominations, for 1961's Murder, Inc. and 1962's Pocketful of Miracles. 

Of his five Emmys, four were for Columbo, while the first was for an appearance on 1961's The Dick Powell Show. His friend, Patrick McGoohan of The Prisoner, scooped up two Emmys of his own for guesting on Columbo.

Falk made his debut as the disheveled Los Angeles detective in 1968 telefilm Prescription: Murder, while the series ran on NBC from 1971-78, followed by 39 movies on NBC through 2003. In 2000, the readers of TV Guide voted him their favorite sleuth after James Garner's Jim Rockford. Of his character, Falk said, "He has a sly sense of humor, is by nature polite and totally devoid of pretension." Two of his more prominent TV gumshoe protégés include Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Robert Goren and Monk's Adrian Monk.

Johnny Cash's 1974 appearance on Columbo

Other noteworthy Falk projects include off-Broadway's The Iceman Cometh (with Jason Robards), Broadway’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue (for which he won a Tony), Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky (with Cassavetes), Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective, Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride, and the four films he made with Cassavetes, especially Husbands and A Woman Under the Influence (Cassavetes also appeared in a 1972 episode of Columbo).

In 2006, Falk recounted his life story in Just One More Thing. 

Two years later, his daughter, Catherine, revealed that her father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease (a former private investigator, she failed in her bid to take conservatorship of his affairs). Peter Falk is survived by his wife, Shera Danese, whom he married in 1977, and Catherine and Jackie, his adopted children with first wife, Alyce Mayo, whom he married in 1960.

Images from The Movie Store (Peter Falk as Columbo) and the IMDb (Falk with Gena Rowlands in 1975 Columbo episode "Playback").