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By Brent Lang
TheWrap
"Columbo" star Peter Falk has passed away at the age
of 83.
 Peter Falk as "Columbo" (©ABC) |
Falk died Thursday in his Beverly Hills home, according to a statement
released Friday by family friend Larry Larson.
In a court document filed in December 2008, Falk's daughter Catherine Falk
said he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Search: More on Peter Falk's career
The gravelly voiced Falk was best known for his portrayal of the trench
coat-wearing detective on the long-running TV series "Columbo."
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He received four Emmy awards for his starring role on the series, and his
portrayal of the seemingly absent-minded investigator made Falk a television
icon. The series ran from 1971 to 1978 on NBC and launched several later
television movies that aired on ABC.
He also was a key member of iconoclastic filmmaker John Cassavetes' regular
ensemble, starring in such independent film classics as "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974) and "Husbands" (1970). In his collaborations with
Cassavetes, Falk often portrayed hard-drinking, blue-collar figures whose
brutish exteriors masked bruised egos and surprisingly tender sides.
Preferring smoother-faced and smoother-voiced icons as feature film stars,
Hollywood frequently failed to provide Falk with the kind of meaty roles that he
enjoyed through his work with Cassavetes. However, he was frequently in demand,
usually appearing as the heavy in gangster films such as "Murder Inc." (1960) or the comic foil in big-screen
parodies such as "Murder by Death" (1976).
Though his film career began to wane toward the end of the 1970s, Falk did
manage to snag two further high-profile roles that helped cement his legacy. His
portrayal of the story-telling grandfather in Rob Reiner's "The Princess Bride" (1986) helped reintroduce the
actor to a mainstream crowd, while his role playing himself in Wim Wenders'
fantasy drama "Wings of Desire" (1987) re-established his art-house
bona fides.
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