Crumpled raincoat-wearing ‘Columbo’ is one of the most famous TV detectives of our time; he never failed to leave us on the edge of our seats.
Just when you thought the bad guy might get away with it, the cigar-smoking super sleuth would show up with just “one nagging detail” that he couldn’t let go.
Throughout the 70s the show featured on prime-time television and was then shown less frequently from the late 80s right up to 2003.
For years TV detectives had always been a cut above the criminal masterminds they pursued but Columbo turned that stereotype on its head as a shrewd but scruffy blue-collar homicide detective who outwitted the most influential and wealthy of criminals.
The much-loved detective, who became a household name around the globe, earned actor Peter Falk four Emmy awards for his work on the show.
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But behind all the success and fame, there was also another side of Peter Falk. At least if we should believe authors Richard Lertzman and William Birnes, who wrote the biography ”Beyond Columbo.”
According to the authors, the book gives an in-depth look at the actor’s life, his place in history, and his artist’s life.
“He drank and smoked incessantly, loved boozing with his friends, and was an inveterate womanizer. He was a negligent husband and an absentee father”
When he was just three years old, Falk had to have his right eye surgically removed due to retinoblastoma, and he wore a prosthetic eye for most of his life. The artificial eye also contributed to his signature squint.
Despite this, he was active in team sports as a boy, especially baseball and basketball.
