Falk was born in Manhattan on September 16, 1927. He was Jewish. He grew up in Ossining, New York. He earned a degree in political science from the New School for Social Research.
Such director-actors include: Danny DeVito, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Vincent Gallo, Al Pacino, Stanley Tucci, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Gary Sinise, Anne Bancroft, and Madonna.
She had sued her father to force him to pay her tuition and expenses while attending Syracuse University. Her attorney used postcards and telegrams Falk sent to his daughter when she was a child to illustrate a closer relationship than the actor's wife was willing to admit.
When Catherine was just 5, Falk divorced his first wife and remarried a year later to his second wife, Shera, who was 22 years his junior. As often happens in blended families, Catherine did not get along with her step-mother, and eventually, Peter Falk and his daughter Catherine also became estranged.
Falk bought the famous raincoat, which first appeared in "Prescription: Murder (1968)," for $15 in 1967, when he got caught in a New York City rainstorm. A life-long cigarette smoker, Falk added the cigar as a personal touch.
Danese met Peter Falk on the set of the movie Mikey and Nicky and became his second wife on December 7, 1977. They were married for 33 years until Falk's death on June 23, 2011, at age 83 from complications of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia. She is mentioned on his headstone: "I'm not here. I'm home with Shera".
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French.
Brando's ancestry was mostly German, Dutch, English, and Irish. His patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York City in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. He is also a descendant of Louis DuBois, a French Huguenot, who arrived in New York around 1660.
Alfredo James Pacino was born in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on April 25, 1940, the only child of Sicilian Italian-American parents Rose (née Gerardi) and Salvatore Pacino.
-- Born in New York City, Falk lost his right eye to cancer at age 3, and wore a glass eye for most of his life. His missing eye kept him out of the armed services during World War II, so he joined the Merchant Marine.
Columbo's famous one-eyed squint wasn't an acting choice, but rather a condition of Falk's glass eye he had from childhood cancer. He was often told he wouldn't be able to work in television or film because of it, and set his sights on theatre previous to being cast as Columbo.
Celebrated Scottish actor Sir Sean Connery died at the age of 90, with dementia. He was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to life and appearing in seven Bond movies in total.
Falk, who won four Emmys for playing the coffee-stained crime-solver, was himself an example of the don't-judge-a-book adage. Short in stature with an unruly mop of brown hair, he had a speech impediment and a glass eye, a result of cancer when he was a child.
Levinson and Link's first choices to play Columbo on a longer-term basis were 12 Angry Men's Lee J Cobb and Bing Crosby, who liked the script but declined the role on the basis that it would require too much time away from his beloved golf course.
No one played Columbo's wife on the Columbo TV series. Not only was the character never seen but no photographs of her, or indeed any member of Columbo's family was ever seen.
Falk died at his longtime Roxbury Drive Beverly Hills home. The cause of death was later revealed as cardiorespiratory arrest, with pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease as underlying causes. Falk is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
