'Columbo's Peter Falk: Obituary

Peter Michael Falk was born in New York on September 16, 1927. Despite making his first stage performance at 12 years old, Falk was solely focused on academia - achieving a degree in political science in 1951 and a Masters in public administration in 1953. However, after being rejected from the CIA, his attention slowly turned back to acting, and in his spare time he performed in plays in Hartford where he now worked as a management analyst. By 1956, at the age of 29, Falk left his job and declared himself an actor.

Moving back to New York, his professional debut came off-Broadway in Moliere's Don Juan, after which he starred in the lauded revival of The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards. His theatrical agent advised him to stay on stage due to his glass eye, which he had since the age of 3 following a tumour.

However, in 1960 he shunned his agent's advice and moved to Hollywood where he landed his first movie role, Murder, Inc., for which he received an Oscar nomination. That year also, his portrayal of a drug addict in The Law and Mr Jones led him to an Emmy nomination. His initial success continued into 1961, as Falk grabbed another nomination for Frank Capra's A Pocketful of Miracles, which he starred in alongside Bette Davis and Glenn Ford, and won his first Emmy for The Price of Tomatoes.

After saying no to many television offers, he finally relented with comedy whodunnit The Trials of O'Brien which, despite running to low ratings, was given critical acclaim. His next role, as the inimitable cigar-chomping Lieutenant Columbo, turned him into a fully-fledged star, scooping four more Emmy statuettes for the series, which started with Prescription: Murder in 1968, and had become by 1977 one of America's most-watched dramas. Remembered as perhaps the most iconic crime procedural in US TV history, Columbo was revived from 1988 by ABC for occasional TV movies with Falk as the lead, the latest instalment being in 2003.

Columbo aside, more recognition came Falk's way with a Tony Award for his Broadway turn in Neil Simon's play The Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1971, while later films saw Falk star alongside Peter Sellers (Murder By Death) and Woody Allen (The Sunshine Boys). More recently, his diverse acting skills have been evident from appearing opposite Saturday Night Live star Chris Kattan in Disney's 2001 Corky Romano, while in 2008 he starred with Nicholas Cage in the thriller Next.

Having developed dementia in 2007, it emerged today that Falk has been battling Alzheimer's disease for more than a year. He passed away at the age of 83 in his Beverly Hills home on June 23, 2011. Survived by his wife, Shera, of 34 years, and two daughters from a previous marriage, Falk will be remembered as Abe Reles, Sam Diamond and, of course, the beloved Lt Columbo.

> Columbo's Peter Falk: Tribute in pictures

Watch a clip of Peter Falk in Murder By Death below: