Columbo's casebook closed permanently--Peter Falk passes away @ 83

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13909992

Columbo star Peter Falk dies aged 83

2011/06/24 14:47 ET

Peter Falk won four Emmys for his cigar-chomping role as scruffy-haired, mac-wearing Columbo

Peter Falk, the American actor most famous for his role as TV's scruffy detective, Columbo, has died at the age of 83.

The actor died peacefully at home in Beverly Hills on Thursday night, his family said in a statement.

He had been suffering from dementia for a number of years.

Peter Falk won four Emmys for his cigar-chomping role in Columbo, which ended in 1977, and was nominated for Oscars in 1960 and 1961.

But for most fans, his best-supporting actor nominations in Murder Inc and Pocketful of Miracles were eclipsed by his six years playing a deceptively bumbling sleuth with a shabby mac and the killer catch-phrase: "One more thing..."

'Like a flood victim'

Columbo was first aired by NBC in 1971, appearing every third week until it was cancelled in 1977.

Falk reportedly turned down an offer to convert it into a weekly series, citing the heavy workload.

The actor reportedly bought Columbo's trademark raincoat himself, only for it to be replaced after it became too tattered through its near constant use in the series.

He told one interviewer his shabby detective looked "like a flood victim".

"You feel sorry for him. He appears to be seeing nothing, but he's seeing everything. Underneath his dishevellment, a good mind is at work."

Peter Michael Falk was born in 1927 in New York City, where his parents ran a clothes shop.

He had an eye removed at the age of three due to cancer. He said he learned to live with the ailment after it became "the joke of the neighbourhood".

"If the umpire ruled me out on a bad call, I'd take the fake eye out and hand it to him," Falk told the Associated Press in a 1963 interview.

As an aspiring actor, he was reportedly warned by one agent the false eye would preclude him from working in television. In fact, it became another endearing trait of his most famous character.

Peter Falk had been under 24-hour care for several years.

The actor is survived by his wife of three decades, Shera, and adopted daughters Catherine and Jackie.

In 2009, Catherine Falk applied to be put in charge of his estate, saying he was suffering from Alzheimer's and that she had been blocked from seeing him for six months.

[Marilyn. 340]

this is sad RIP Peter Falk..

[Ironman140 45]

RIP Peter Falk

sad to hear loved that show

Memory lane

[Nagishkaw 510]

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

He was in declining health the last few years but I still remember him from Pressure Point , Colombo and the famous Twilight Zone episode where he played a Fidel Castro-esque character. RIP Mr. Falk, my raincoat and I will never forget you.

Edited June 24, 2011 by IR5FORMUMSIE

[TheFantastics09 19]

RIP Peter Falk :'(

[Golden Gate 530]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-13909992

I really liked him when I was a kid. Hadn't realized he wasn't acting at all lately. Last thing I saw him in was the Wim Wender's movie - Wings of Desire.

[TBoneTX 43,043]

If he was under 24-hour care for that long, this is one instance wherein death was a release, sigh man.

Note the exceptionally long-term marriage, by Hollywood and even real-world standards, si man.