Actor Peter Falk, best known for his role as the legendary TV detective "Columbo," has died, according to a statement released by his family. He was 83.
The statement said that Falk "died peacefully at his Beverly Hills home in the evening of June 23, 2011."
Few actors were ever identified with a single character as much as Falk was with Lt. Columbo, the slow-moving, sharp-witted detective he played in more than five dozen TV movies, beginning with 1968’s "Prescription: Murder."
Falk won four Emmys as Lt. Columbo on the long-running series, his disheveled, seemingly absent-minded character matching wits each week with a foe who never failed to underestimate the detective.
Peter Michael Falk was born Sept. 16, 1927, in New York City and grew up in Ossining, N.Y., where his parents ran a clothing store. At 3 he had one eye removed because of cancer. "When something like that happens early," he said in a 1963 Associated Press interview, "you learn to live with it. It became the joke of the neighborhood. If the umpire ruled me out on a bad call, I'd take the fake eye out and hand it to him."
When Falk was starting as an actor in New York, an agent told him, "Of course, you won't be able to work in movies or TV because of your eye." Falk would later win two Oscar nominations ("Murder, Inc.," 1960; "Pocketful of Miracles," 1961) and collect five Emmys.
After serving as a cook in the merchant marine and receiving a master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University, he worked as an efficiency expert for the budget bureau of the state of Connecticut. He also acted in amateur theater and was encouraged to become a professional by actress-teacher Eva La Gallienne.
An appearance in "The Iceman Cometh" off-Broadway led to other classical parts, notably as Joseph Stalin in "The Passion of Joseph D." In 1971 Falk scored a hit in Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue."
Falk made his film debut in 1958 with "Wind Across the Everglades" and established himself as a talented character actor with his performance as the vicious killer Abe Reles in "Murder, Inc." Among his other movies: "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," ''Robin and the Seven Hoods," ''The Great Race," ''Luv," ''Castle Keep," ''The Cheap Detective," ''The Brinks Job," ''The In-Laws," ''The Princess Bride."
He was married to pianist Alyce Mayo in 1960; they had two daughters, Jackie and Catherine, and divorced in 1976. The following year he married actress Shera Danese. They filed for divorce twice and reconciled each time.
Falk is survived by his wife Shera and his two daughters.
