Peter Falk Bio

(courtesy of wikipedia.org)

Peter Michael Falk (born 16 September 1927) is an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He has been Academy Award-nominated twice, and won the Emmy Award on five occasions and the Golden Globe award once. His daughter, Catherine Falk, announced on December 15, 2008 that Falk is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Early life

Born in New York City, Falk was the son of Michael Falk, owner of a clothing-and-dry-goods store, and his wife, Madeline, an accountant and buyer. Of Eastern European, Jewish descent, Falk's parents were not religious. Falk's mother is Russian and his father was of Hungarian descent (he is the grandson of Miksa Falk, chief editor of the Budapest newspaper Pester Lloyd). Falk grew up surrounded by members of New York’s Italian community, and his famous role as Lt. Columbo has led some to think incorrectly that he is Italian-American.

His right eye was surgically removed at the age of three because of a malignant tumor; he has worn a glass eye for most of his life. TV Guide, in a 1970s biography, reported that Falk, as a boy, once removed the glass eye and offered it to a Little League umpire, telling him "You need this more than I do!".

Falk attended Ossining High School in Westchester County, New York, and was the president of his senior class. After graduating from high school, Falk joined the United States Merchant Marine as a cook, before completing a Bachelor of Arts in political science at the New School for Social Research in 1951. He also attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, for three years. After having obtained a Masters degree in public administration at Syracuse University in 1953, Falk applied unsuccessfully for a job with the CIA before becoming a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford.

Acting

After having decided to be an actor, and having studied at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut, in 1956, at the age of 29, he left his job with the Budget Bureau and moved to Greenwich Village. He made his professional debut Off Broadway in Molière's Don Juan at the Fourth Street Theatre on January 3, 1956. That same year he made his Broadway debut playing an English soldier in Shaw's Saint Joan with Siobhán McKenna. He won an Emmy for The Price of Tomatoes, a Dick Powell TV drama. Falk has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award twice, for Murder, Inc., and Pocketful of Miracles. In 1961, Falk was again nominated for an Emmy Award as a result of his role on the episode "Cold Turkey" on James Whitmore's 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.

Falk played a cab driver in the all-star comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He also specialized in comical crooks, as in 1964's Rat Pack crime spoof Robin and the 7 Hoods and the 1965 farce The Great Race with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

Columbo

Patrick McGoohan and his longtime friend Peter FalkFalk is best known for the title role of the shabby and ostensibly absent-minded police detective in the long-running TV series, Columbo. In reality, Columbo possesses a keen mind and invariably solves his cases by paying close attention to tiny inconsistencies in suspects' stories, hounding them until they confess; he merely puts on a good show of being dim-witted so that the criminals will be more at ease around him. Columbo's signature technique is to exit the scene of an interview, only to stop in the doorway to ask a suspect "just one more thing" (also the title of Falk's recent memoir), which often brings to light the key inconsistency. The role won Falk four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Four of Columbo's cases gave Falk the chance to work with his longtime friend, Patrick McGoohan, the latter playing the episodes' villain roles.

Falk played the detective over a 35-year span, beginning with the film Prescription: Murder, in 1968, although he delayed accepting the small screen role for 3 years after the film.

Subsequent work

Falk was a close friend of independent film director John Cassavetes and appeared in Cassavetes' films Husbands, A Woman Under the Influence, and, in a cameo, at the end of Opening Night. Cassavetes in turn guest-starred in the Columbo episode "Étude in Black" in 1972.

Falk continued to work in films, including his performance as a possible ex-CIA agent of dubious sanity in the Arthur Hiller comedy The In-Laws. He also appeared in The Princess Bride, and (cast as himself) in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

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 the shady real-estate salesman, Shelley "the Machine" Levine, in a Los Angeles production of David Mamet's prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross.

In 2007, Falk appeared with Nicolas Cage in the thriller Next.

Personal Life

Falk married Alyce Mayo on April 17, 1960. They adopted two daughters, Catherine (who is a real life private investigator) and Jackie. They divorced in 1976. On December 3, 1977, Falk married actress Shera Danese, who has guest-starred on the Columbo series on numerous occasions.

In December 2008, Falk's daughter Catherine filed paperwork in Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting a conservator be appointed for her father. She stated that Falk suffers from Alzheimers and "requires full-time custodial care for his health and safety."