Biography
DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season
Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927 of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary) is an American actor. He is a descendent of Miksa Falk, who was the editor of the liberal Hungarian newspaper, the Pester Lloyd.
He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award twice, for Murder Inc and Pocketful of Miracles.
He is best known for the title role in the long-running TV series Columbo, a shabby and absent-minded police detective. Columbo invariably solved his cases by paying close attention to tiny inconsistencies in a suspect's story, hounding them until they confessed. He put on a good show of being dim-witted. Columbo's signature technique was to exit the scene of an interview, only to stop in the doorway to ask "just one more thing" of a suspect, which always brought to light the key inconsistency. The role won him 5 Emmies and a Golden Globe.
Peter Falk and his close friend, Patrick McGoohan
Falk is also loved for his roles in several films, including a brilliant performance in the high-brow comedy, The In-Laws. Falk played a crazed (ex?)-CIA agent who dupes his in-law, a New York City dentist, into joining a scheme to rob the U.S. Treasury. He also gave memorable performances in director John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence, (opposite Gena Rowlands) and in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.
His right eye was surgically removed at the age of three because of cancer.
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)
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)
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)
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)
