This page uses content from the Peter Falk biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927) is an American actor. He was born in New York City. Falk is a descendent of Miksa Falk, who was the editor of the liberal Hungarian newspaper, the Pester Lloyd.

After gaining a Masters degree in public administration at Syracuse University in 1953, he applied unsuccessfully for a job with the CIA, became a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford, decided to be an actor and studied at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut. In 1956 at the age of 29 he left his job with the Budget Bureau, moved to Greenwich Village, and made his professional debut Off Broadway in Molière's Dom Juan at the Fourth Street Theatre on January 3, 1956, and the same year his Broadway debut playing an English soldier in Shaw's Saint Joan with Siobhan McKenna.

He is best known for the title role in the long-running TV series Columbo, a shabby and ostensibly absent-minded police detective. In reality Columbo possessed a keen mind and invariably solved his cases by paying close attention to tiny inconsistencies in a suspect's story, hounding them until they confessed; he merely put on a good show of being dim-witted so that the criminals and even his colleagues would be more at ease around him. Columbo's signature technique was to exit the scene of an interview, only to stop in the doorway to ask a suspect "just one more thing" (the title of his recent memoir), which always brought to light the key inconsistency. The role won him five Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Falk is also known for his roles in several films, including his performance as a possible ex-CIA agent of dubious sanity in the Arthur Hiller comedy The In-Laws. He also starred in two films directed by friend John Cassavetes, A Woman Under the Influence, (opposite Gena Rowlands) and Husbands (with Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara) and in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

Falk has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award twice, for Murder, Inc., and Pocketful of Miracles.

Falk wears an ocular prosthetic ("glass eye"). His right eye was surgically removed at the age of three because of cancer.

Falk is also an artist and has had several gallery shows and exhibits. He started to draw as a way to pass time while filming on location.

Filmography

• Wind Across the Everglades (1958)
• The Bloody Brood (1959)
• Pretty Boy Floyd (1960)
• Murder, Inc. (1960)
• The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960)
• Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
• Pressure Point (1962)
• The Balcony (1963)
• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
• Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
• Attack and Retreat (1965)
• The Great Race (1965)
• Too Many Thieves (1966)
• Penelope (1966)
• Luv (1967)
• Anzio (1968)
• Machine Gun McCain (1968)
• Castle Keep (1969)
• Situation Normal: A.F.U. (1970)
• Husbands (1970)
• A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
• Murder by Death (1976)
• Mikey and Nicky (1976)
• Opening Night (1977) (Cameo)
• Scared Straight! (1978) (documentary) (narrator)
• The Cheap Detective (1978)
• The Brink's Job (1978)
• The In-Laws (1979)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981) (Cameo)
• All the Marbles (1981, aka California Dolls)
• Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret (1985) (documentary)
• Big Trouble (1986)
• Wings of Desire (1987)
• Happy New Year (1987)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Vibes (1988)
• Cookie (1989)
• In the Spirit (1990)
• Motion & Emotion (1990) (documentary)
• Tune in Tomorrow... (1990)
• The Player (1992) (Cameo)
• Faraway, So Close! (1993)
• Anything for John (1993) (documentary)
• Cops n Roberts (1995)
• Roommates (1995)
• Money Kings (1998)
• A Constant Forge (2000) (documentary)
• Lakeboat (2000)
• Enemies of Laughter (2001)
• Hubert's Brain (2001) (short subject) (voice)
• Made (2001)
• Corky Romano (2001)
• 3 Days of Rain (2002)
• Undisputed (2002)
• Checking Out (2004)
• Shark Tale (2004) (voice)
• The Thing About My Folks (2005)
• Retirement (2006) (currently in post-production)
• The Book of Joe (2006) (currently filming)
• Next (film) (2007)

Television Work

• The Power and the Glory (1959)
• The Twilight Zone (1961)
• Cry Vengeance! (1961)
• The Million Dollar Incident (1961)
• Ambassador at Large (1964)
• The Trials of O'Brien (1965-1966)
• Brigadoon (1966)
• Prescription: Murder (1968)
• A Hatful of Rain (1968)
• A Step Out of Line (1971)
• Columbo: Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)
• Columbo: Murder by the Book (1971)
• Columbo: Death Lends a Hand (1971)
• Columbo: Dead Weight (1971)
• Columbo: Suitable for Framing (1971)
• Columbo: Lady in Waiting (1971)
• Columbo: Short Fuse (1972)
• Columbo: Blueprint for Murder (1972)
• Columbo: Étude in Black (1972)
• Columbo: The Greenhouse Jungle (1972)
• Columbo: The Most Crucial Game (1972)
• Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972)
• Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
• Columbo: A Stitch in Crime (1973)
• Columbo: The Most Dangerous Match (1973)
• Columbo: Double Shock (1973)
• Columbo: Lovely But Lethal (1973)
• Columbo: Any Old Port in a Storm (1973)
• Columbo: Candidate for Crime (1973)
• Columbo: Double Exposure (1973)
• Columbo: Publish or Perish (1974)
• Columbo: Mind Over Mayhem (1974)
• Columbo: Swan Song (1974)
• Columbo: A Friend in Deed (1974)
• Columbo: An Exercise in Fatality (1974)
• Columbo: Negative Reaction (1974)
• Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light (1974)
• Columbo: Troubled Waters (1975)
• Columbo: Playback (1975)
• Columbo: A Deadly State of Mind (1975)
• Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975)
• Columbo: A Case of Immunity (1975)
• Columbo: Identity Crisis (1975)
• Columbo: A Matter of Honor (1976)
• Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story (1976)
• Columbo: Now You See Him (1976)
• Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore (1976)
• Columbo: Fade in to Murder (1976)
• Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder (1976)
• Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case (1977)
• Columbo: Try and Catch Me (1977)
• Columbo: Murder Under Glass (1978)
• Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder (1978)
• Columbo: How to Dial a Murder (1978)
• Columbo: The Conspirators (1978)
• Columbo: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine (1989)
• Columbo: Murder, Smoke and Shadows (1989)
• Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective (1989)
• Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989)
• Columbo: Murder, a Self Portrait (1989)
• Columbo: Columbo Cries Wolf (1990)
• Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990)
• Columbo: Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo (1990)
• Columbo: Uneasy Lies the Crown (1990)
• Columbo: Murder in Malibu (1990)
• Columbo: Columbo Goes to College (1990)
• Columbo: Caution! Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991)
• Columbo: Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991)
• Columbo: Death Hits the Jackpot (1991)
• Columbo: No Time to Die (1992)
• Columbo: A Bird in the Hand (1992)
• Columbo: It's All In the Game (1993)
• Columbo: Butterfly in Shades of Grey (1993)
• Columbo: Undercover (1994)
• The Sunshine Boys (1995)
• Columbo: Strange Bedfellows (1995)
• Columbo: A Trace of Murder (1997)
• Columbo: Ashes to Ashes (1998)
• From Where I Sit (2000)
• A Storm in Summer (2000)
• Columbo: Murder with Too Many Notes (2000)
• A Town Without Christmas (2001)
• The Lost World (2001)
• Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife (2003)
• Wilder Days (2003)
• Finding John Christmas (2003)
• When Angels Come to Town (2004)

External links

• Peter Falk Official Site

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