Peter Falk
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. C.P.C.S. c-da 53 065.
Peter Falk (1927-2011) was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of shabby and deceptively absent-minded Inspector Columbo in the classic crime series Columbo (1971-1978 and 1989-2003). 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 also known for his collaborations with filmmaker, actor, and friend John Cassavetes, acting in films such as Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
Peter Michael Falk was born in New York in 1927. He was the son of a Polish-Hungarian-Czech father, Michael Peter Falk, owner of a clothing and dry goods store, and a Russian mother, Madeline (née Hochhauser). Both his parents were Jewish. At the age of three, Falk was diagnosed with a tumour in his right eye, which was surgically removed along with his right eye. Afterwards, Falk wore a glass eye. This resulted in the characteristic uneven width of his eyelid. In high school, the young man was considered athletic and graduated with excellent grades. He gained his first stage experience at the age of twelve, when he appeared in the play 'The Pirates of Penzance'. After finishing school, Falk was initially lost. He attended college for a short time, applied to join the Navy, but was rejected because of his glass eye. At the end of World War II, he spent 18 months at sea as a cook in the Merchant Marines. After the war, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Political Science and a Master of Public Administration. Eventually, Falk took a job with a tax authority in Hartford, Connecticut. After work, he acted in an amateur theatre group and gained further stage experience. Falk also studied with Eva Le Gallienne, who was giving an acting class at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut. In 1955, he obtained a letter of recommendation from Le Gallienne to an agent at the William Morris Agency, and he returned to New York City. He acted in off-Broadway plays, including a revival of 'The Iceman Cometh' directed by Jose Quintero, with Jason Robards playing the lead role of Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman, and small television productions. In 1956, Falk made his Broadway debut in Alexander Ostrovsky's 'Diary of a Scoundrel'. He appeared again on Broadway as an English soldier in Shaw's 'Saint Joan' with Siobhán McKenna. His first film engagement with Columbia Pictures again fell through due to his 'disability,' his glass eye. Studio head Harry Cohn remarked laconically: "For the same salary, I can get an actor with two eyes." In 1958, Falk finally landed his first small film roles in Wind Across the Everglades (Nicholas Ray, 1958), the Canadian thriller The Bloody Brood (Julian Ruffman, 1959), and Pretty Boy Floyd (Herbert J. Leder, 1960), a biopic based on the career of the notorious 1930s outlaw Charles Arthur 'Pretty Boy' Floyd. He played his first major role, the brutal hitman Abe Reles, in the crime film Murder Inc. (Burt Balaban, Stuart Rosenberg, 1960). This was a turning point. The following year, he played 'Joy Boy' in Frank Capra's final film, Pocketful of Miracles (1961). 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. In the 1960s, he appeared in several films, including major hits such as the star-studded comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963), with Spencer Tracy, and opposite Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack members in Robin and the Seven Hoods (Gordon Douglas, 1964). He also acted in The Balcony (Joseph Strick, 1963), a film adaptation of Jean Genet's 1957 play 'The Balcony', also starring Shelley Winters, Lee Grant and Leonard Nimoy. Falk continued to act in the theatre. His first role in a television series was in The Trials of O'Brien (1965-1966), which he co-produced. Despite good reviews, the stories of a Shakespeare-quoting lawyer who defends clients while solving mysteries didn't really resonate with audiences and only ran for 22 episodes.
In 1968, Peter Falk first appeared in the role with which he would become identified: the scruffy, always-clad-in-a-grimy-raincoat, and seemingly slow-witted Detective Columbo. In the TV Movie Murder by Recipe (1968), Falk played Lieutenant Columbo (later Inspector Columbo). Thanks to the success of this television film, a pilot for a series was produced in the fall of 1970. Columbo began as a series in September 1971. Till 1978, 43 episodes of the series were produced for NBC – an average of six per year. Falk tailored the role to himself – with his small stature (1.68 m), his raincoat, his old Peugeot 403 convertible (both props Falk chose himself, over the heads of the producers), his basset hound, who was simply called 'Dog,' his slight speech impediment, and the consistently crooked posture the inspector assumed when asking the perpetrator the very last, incriminating question. Columbo is now considered one of the classic TV series which has been continuously rerun for decades. Columbo viewers always know who the killer is from the very first minutes of each episode. Columbo solves his murder cases by highlighting small inconsistencies in the suspect's story and by persistently pursuing the perpetrator until they confess. Columbo's interrogation technique, in particular, became legendary: at the end of a conversation, Columbo would walk away only to suddenly return: "Oh, just one more thing," or "Oh, I almost forgot," after which the suspect is pointed out an inconsistency. The intriguing look Columbo cast on his victims at such moments was partly due to his (right) prosthetic eye. Peter Falk remained faithful to his role as Columbo for over 35 years, receiving four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe during that time. The first-season episode 'Blueprint for Murder' was directed by Falk himself. In 1977, Peter Falk married actress Shera Danese, who starred in the Columbo episodes 'Fade into Murder' (with William Shatner) and 'Murder under Glass' (directed by Jonathan Demme). At the end of the 1980s, the Columbo series returned with a new series, for which Falk regularly produced episodes. He also wrote the screenplay for one of them, 'It's All in the Game' (1993). The last episode premiered in late 2003. Over the course of 35 years, Columbo solved a total of 69 cases.
During and after his work on Columbo, Peter Falk also appeared in many feature films and other television series. He starred in the crime comedy The Brink's Job (William Friedkin, 1978) and with Alan Arkin in the action-comedy The In-Laws (Arthur Hiller, 1979). He starred opposite Ann-Margret in the mystery comedy The Cheap Detective (Robert Moore, 1978), played the grandfather in the fantasy The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987), and appeared in the music video for Ghostbusters. He also played the role of Sam Diamond in the comedy Murder by Death (Robert Moore, 1976) and appeared in The Great Muppet Caper (Jim Henson, 1981). Remarkable is his collaboration with filmmaker and friend John Cassavetes, first in Husbands (1970), then in A Woman under the Influence (1974) and, finally, in a cameo, at the end of Opening Night (1977). Cassavetes guest-starred in the Columbo episode 'Étude in Black' in 1972. Falk, in turn, co-starred with Cassavetes in Elaine May's film Mikey and Nicky (1976). In 1987, film director Wim Wenders brought the American to Germany. Falk played himself (the actor Peter Falk) in Wenders's romantic fantasy Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987) about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its human inhabitants, comforting the distressed. Falk returned in the sequel, Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). He lent his voice to Don Feinberg in Shark Tale (Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman, 2004) and his final film was the comedy American Cowslip (Mark David, 2009). Peter Falk was married twice. In 1960, he married his long-time girlfriend, fashion designer and pianist Alyce Mayo, with whom he had two daughters, Jackie and Catherine, both adopted. In 1977, Falk separated from his wife and married actress Shera Danese, 22 years his junior, with whom he lived until his death. Falk's autobiography, 'Just One More Thing', was published in 2006. At the end of 2008, Falk's daughter, Catherine, petitioned the Los Angeles court for a conservatorship of her father. She argued that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and that his dementia made him vulnerable to abuse by scammers and fraudsters. He required constant care following recent hip surgery. In 2011, Falk's immediate family announced in a written statement to the press that the actor had died peacefully at home in Beverly Hills. Peter Falk was 83. The cause of death was cardiac arrest, with Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia as underlying causes. Falk is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. The inscription on his headstone reads: "I'm not here. I'm home with Shera." In 2013, Falk posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Peter Falk
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. C.P.C.S. c-da 53 065.
Peter Falk (1927-2011) was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of shabby and deceptively absent-minded Inspector Columbo in the classic crime series Columbo (1971-1978 and 1989-2003). 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 also known for his collaborations with filmmaker, actor, and friend John Cassavetes, acting in films such as Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
Peter Michael Falk was born in New York in 1927. He was the son of a Polish-Hungarian-Czech father, Michael Peter Falk, owner of a clothing and dry goods store, and a Russian mother, Madeline (née Hochhauser). Both his parents were Jewish. At the age of three, Falk was diagnosed with a tumour in his right eye, which was surgically removed along with his right eye. Afterwards, Falk wore a glass eye. This resulted in the characteristic uneven width of his eyelid. In high school, the young man was considered athletic and graduated with excellent grades. He gained his first stage experience at the age of twelve, when he appeared in the play 'The Pirates of Penzance'. After finishing school, Falk was initially lost. He attended college for a short time, applied to join the Navy, but was rejected because of his glass eye. At the end of World War II, he spent 18 months at sea as a cook in the Merchant Marines. After the war, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Political Science and a Master of Public Administration. Eventually, Falk took a job with a tax authority in Hartford, Connecticut. After work, he acted in an amateur theatre group and gained further stage experience. Falk also studied with Eva Le Gallienne, who was giving an acting class at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut. In 1955, he obtained a letter of recommendation from Le Gallienne to an agent at the William Morris Agency, and he returned to New York City. He acted in off-Broadway plays, including a revival of 'The Iceman Cometh' directed by Jose Quintero, with Jason Robards playing the lead role of Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman, and small television productions. In 1956, Falk made his Broadway debut in Alexander Ostrovsky's 'Diary of a Scoundrel'. He appeared again on Broadway as an English soldier in Shaw's 'Saint Joan' with Siobhán McKenna. His first film engagement with Columbia Pictures again fell through due to his 'disability,' his glass eye. Studio head Harry Cohn remarked laconically: "For the same salary, I can get an actor with two eyes." In 1958, Falk finally landed his first small film roles in Wind Across the Everglades (Nicholas Ray, 1958), the Canadian thriller The Bloody Brood (Julian Ruffman, 1959), and Pretty Boy Floyd (Herbert J. Leder, 1960), a biopic based on the career of the notorious 1930s outlaw Charles Arthur 'Pretty Boy' Floyd. He played his first major role, the brutal hitman Abe Reles, in the crime film Murder Inc. (Burt Balaban, Stuart Rosenberg, 1960). This was a turning point. The following year, he played 'Joy Boy' in Frank Capra's final film, Pocketful of Miracles (1961). 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. In the 1960s, he appeared in several films, including major hits such as the star-studded comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963), with Spencer Tracy, and opposite Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack members in Robin and the Seven Hoods (Gordon Douglas, 1964). He also acted in The Balcony (Joseph Strick, 1963), a film adaptation of Jean Genet's 1957 play 'The Balcony', also starring Shelley Winters, Lee Grant and Leonard Nimoy. Falk continued to act in the theatre. His first role in a television series was in The Trials of O'Brien (1965-1966), which he co-produced. Despite good reviews, the stories of a Shakespeare-quoting lawyer who defends clients while solving mysteries didn't really resonate with audiences and only ran for 22 episodes.
In 1968, Peter Falk first appeared in the role with which he would become identified: the scruffy, always-clad-in-a-grimy-raincoat, and seemingly slow-witted Detective Columbo. In the TV Movie Murder by Recipe (1968), Falk played Lieutenant Columbo (later Inspector Columbo). Thanks to the success of this television film, a pilot for a series was produced in the fall of 1970. Columbo began as a series in September 1971. Till 1978, 43 episodes of the series were produced for NBC – an average of six per year. Falk tailored the role to himself – with his small stature (1.68 m), his raincoat, his old Peugeot 403 convertible (both props Falk chose himself, over the heads of the producers), his basset hound, who was simply called 'Dog,' his slight speech impediment, and the consistently crooked posture the inspector assumed when asking the perpetrator the very last, incriminating question. Columbo is now considered one of the classic TV series which has been continuously rerun for decades. Columbo viewers always know who the killer is from the very first minutes of each episode. Columbo solves his murder cases by highlighting small inconsistencies in the suspect's story and by persistently pursuing the perpetrator until they confess. Columbo's interrogation technique, in particular, became legendary: at the end of a conversation, Columbo would walk away only to suddenly return: "Oh, just one more thing," or "Oh, I almost forgot," after which the suspect is pointed out an inconsistency. The intriguing look Columbo cast on his victims at such moments was partly due to his (right) prosthetic eye. Peter Falk remained faithful to his role as Columbo for over 35 years, receiving four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe during that time. The first-season episode 'Blueprint for Murder' was directed by Falk himself. In 1977, Peter Falk married actress Shera Danese, who starred in the Columbo episodes 'Fade into Murder' (with William Shatner) and 'Murder under Glass' (directed by Jonathan Demme). At the end of the 1980s, the Columbo series returned with a new series, for which Falk regularly produced episodes. He also wrote the screenplay for one of them, 'It's All in the Game' (1993). The last episode premiered in late 2003. Over the course of 35 years, Columbo solved a total of 69 cases.
During and after his work on Columbo, Peter Falk also appeared in many feature films and other television series. He starred in the crime comedy The Brink's Job (William Friedkin, 1978) and with Alan Arkin in the action-comedy The In-Laws (Arthur Hiller, 1979). He starred opposite Ann-Margret in the mystery comedy The Cheap Detective (Robert Moore, 1978), played the grandfather in the fantasy The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987), and appeared in the music video for Ghostbusters. He also played the role of Sam Diamond in the comedy Murder by Death (Robert Moore, 1976) and appeared in The Great Muppet Caper (Jim Henson, 1981). Remarkable is his collaboration with filmmaker and friend John Cassavetes, first in Husbands (1970), then in A Woman under the Influence (1974) and, finally, in a cameo, at the end of Opening Night (1977). Cassavetes guest-starred in the Columbo episode 'Étude in Black' in 1972. Falk, in turn, co-starred with Cassavetes in Elaine May's film Mikey and Nicky (1976). In 1987, film director Wim Wenders brought the American to Germany. Falk played himself (the actor Peter Falk) in Wenders's romantic fantasy Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987) about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its human inhabitants, comforting the distressed. Falk returned in the sequel, Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). He lent his voice to Don Feinberg in Shark Tale (Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman, 2004) and his final film was the comedy American Cowslip (Mark David, 2009). Peter Falk was married twice. In 1960, he married his long-time girlfriend, fashion designer and pianist Alyce Mayo, with whom he had two daughters, Jackie and Catherine, both adopted. In 1977, Falk separated from his wife and married actress Shera Danese, 22 years his junior, with whom he lived until his death. Falk's autobiography, 'Just One More Thing', was published in 2006. At the end of 2008, Falk's daughter, Catherine, petitioned the Los Angeles court for a conservatorship of her father. She argued that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and that his dementia made him vulnerable to abuse by scammers and fraudsters. He required constant care following recent hip surgery. In 2011, Falk's immediate family announced in a written statement to the press that the actor had died peacefully at home in Beverly Hills. Peter Falk was 83. The cause of death was cardiac arrest, with Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia as underlying causes. Falk is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. The inscription on his headstone reads: "I'm not here. I'm home with Shera." In 2013, Falk posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.