“Just one more thing…” — Peter Falk, 1927–2011
May Peter Falk rest in peace. A crafty actor with a long career, having worked with sounding names as John Cassavetes, Frank Capra, Mike Nichols, William Friedkin and Wim Wenders among others. Falk died of Alzheimer’s disease this past June 23rd in his home in Beverly Hills.
Peter Falk was a charismatic actor that, I have to say, had an impact on me with his title role in “Columbo”. I was a little kid then and, as I can remember, I think Columbo was the first detective tv series I ever watched. This apparently distracted man with his peculiar ways and characteristic scruffy raincoat amazed me as he solved each episode’s crime. Unlike most detective stories, each episode’s perpetrator was revealed in the beginning of the show and the interesting thing was to watch how Lieutenant Columbo was going to untangle the plot and catch the criminal. The character was kind of an outcast genius understimated by murderers and he usually used the sentence “Just one more thing…” as he was about to uncover the mystery to everyone. The TV show was the start of my love for noir film and detective stories. Curious fact: the pilot episode of “Columbo” tv series was directed by Steven Spielberg.
From the New York Times (check their article on the man and his career):
For all the mysteries Columbo solved, one remains. Many viewers claim that in one or more episodes Columbo’s police identification is visible with the first name “Frank” visibly scrawled on it. However, the character was initially created without a first name; an exhaustive book about the television show, “The Columbo Phile,” does not give a first name, and Mr. Falk, for his part, was no help in this regard. Whenever he was asked Columbo’s first name, his response was the same.
“Lieutenant,” he said.
Falk’s craft can be watched in great films like “Wings of Desire” (1987), “Faraway, so Close!” (1993) (loved his role as himself in these Wender movies) and Cassavettes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974). I recommend you take a look at his filmography and watch a few of these — the Lieutenant deserves it.
