TV's Peter Falk of "Columbo" fame dies at 83!

Sad news in the entertainment world.  Legendary, Oscar-Award nominee,Broadway actor Peter Falk has died at the age of 83. 

Falk died Thursday at age 83 in his Beverly Hills, Calif., home, according to a statement released Friday by family friend Larry Larson. But Columbo lives on as the shining ideal of anyone with a smudge on his tie, whose car isn't the sportiest, who often seems clueless, who gets dissed by fancy people.


Columbo — he never had a first name — presented a refreshing contrast to other TV detectives. "He looks like a flood victim," Falk once said. "You feel sorry for him. He appears to be seeing nothing, but he's seeing everything. Underneath his dishevelment, a good mind is at work."
On another occasion, he described Columbo as "an ass-backwards Sherlock Holmes."
"As a person, he was like Columbo. He was exactly the same way: a great sense of humor, constantly forgetting things," said Charles Engel, an NBCUniversal executive who worked with Falk on "Columbo" and was his neighbor and longtime friend.

Somehow fittingly, Falk — the perfect choice to play Columbo — failed to be the first choice. Instead, the role was offered to easygoing crooner Bing Crosby. Fortunately, he turned it down.




With Falk in place, "Columbo" began its run in 1971 as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie series, appearing every third week. The show became by far the most popular of the three mysteries, the others being "McCloud" and "McMillan and Wife."


Falk was reportedly paid $250,000 a movie and could have made much more if he had accepted an offer to convert "Columbo" into a weekly series. He declined, reasoning that carrying a weekly detective series would be too great a burden.

NBC canceled the three series in 1977. In 1989 ABC offered "Columbo" in a two-hour format usually appearing once or twice a season. The movies continued into the 21st century. "Columbo" appeared in 26 foreign countries and was a particular favorite in France and Iran.

Columbo's trademark: an ancient raincoat Falk had once bought for himself. After 25 years on television, the coat became so tattered it had to be replaced.
Falk was already an experienced Broadway actor and two-time Oscar nominee when he began playing Columbo. And, long before then, he had demonstrated a bit of Columbo-worthy spunk: at 3, he had one eye removed because of cancer.

I was not born when 'Columbo' aired, but I gravitated to the series and it is one of my favorite DVD's tp watch.  Just when the culprit thinks he has outsmarted Columbo, Columbo chimes in with his signature inevitable awkward afterthought ("Ahhh, there's just one more thing..."), and you knew just at that moment that the dimwitted Columbo was not as befuddled as the culprit might have thought.  Peter Falk will be missed, but his legacy will live on forever.