I’m not really quite sure why it’s taken me so long to blog about Peter Falk – I guess it’s mostly because he’s well-known and doesn’t need me to tell his story. But, since he is a true son of Ossining (Ossining High School graduate 1945!) I would be remiss if I didn’t. (Plus, I did a lot of this research for my recent presentation at Sing Sing Kill Brewery, so figured I might as well turn it into a blog post.)
Peter “Pete” Falk was born in the Bronx in 1927 but raised in Ossining on Prospect Avenue. (In 2005, Ossining would officially rename the corner of Eastern and Prospect Avenues “Peter Falk Place.”)
His parents owned a popular local clothing shop, Falk’s, that was located at 159 Main Street. Back in the days before malls and such, this was one of those essential local stores that sold pajamas, kids’ clothes swimsuits, and ladies’ undergarments. (Not the lacy lingerie kind that Victoria’s Secret sells, mind you, but the hardcore 1940s/50s rubbery kind that look just one step more comfortable than a Victorian whalebone corset.)
Falk’s Department Store at 159 Main Street, Ossining.
Photo courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society
After perusing the 1945 Ossining High School yearbook (“The Wizard”) I get the strong impression that “Pete” Falk was one of those great guys that just everyone loved.
He was Class President for three years of high school (VP the other year) and, as you can see, served on an array of clubs and teams.
Now, if you’ve ever watched “Columbo” (or any of his other films), you might have noticed that he had an unusual squint – you can certainly see that his eyes don’t quite match in this photo. That’s because he had this eye removed at the age of three because of a retinoblastoma – a type of cancerous eye tumor. Ever after he wore a glass eye and would tell various stories regarding said eye.
One took place when he was playing Little League in Ossining. According to his 2006 autobiography, Just One More Thing: Stories from My Life, this happened:
“At Ossining High School, the baseball field was right in back of the school and the grandstand was very close to the playing field, particularly on the 3rd base side. This is significant because on this particular day it was a play at third base where the umpire called me out. It was a bad call. I was clearly safe. I knew it and everyone in the stands knew it. They sat so close to the field that they could see and hear everything. In front of everyone, I whipped out my eye and handed it to the umpire: ‘You’ll do better with this one.’ Talk about getting a laugh.” [2]
Because of his glass eye, he was not eligible for the draft, so he went straight on to Hamilton College but dropped out after three months to join the Merchant Marine. But also because of his glass eye, the only opportunities for him there were in the kitchen. So he sailed off as a third cook. After a year at sea, there were a few more attempts at college until Falk finally graduated from the New School of Social Research with a B.A. in Political Science and Literature. It was here, also, that he got his first taste of professional theater. After a few more false starts that included a master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University (’53) and a job as an efficiency expert, in 1955 he finally followed the siren call of the theater.
When he told his dad, the response was “You’re gonna paint your face and make an ass of yourself for the rest of your life?”
Well, yes Dad, yes I will, said Peter Falk.
After that, things happened pretty fast. Falk began acting in summer stock in Connecticut, directed by theater legend Eva Le Gallienne. The next year, 1956, he made his Broadway debut in G.B. Shaw’s “St. Joan” as an English Soldier. From there, he landed in an off-Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” directed by Jose Quintero and starring Jason Robards.
Pretty heady stuff for a kid who’d only just decided to make acting his career!
It was around this time that he went to Hollywood for a screen test. And here we get another (possibly apocryphal?) story about his glass eye when the young Peter Falk is introduced to Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, as the next John Garfield. (I know, I’m not entirely sure who that is either!)
Cohn mumbled something about Falk’s “deficiency” and when he didn’t seem to be understood, Cohn just took a deep breath and shook his head. “For the same price” he said, “I’ll get an actor with two eyes.” [3]
Ouch!
Disappointed, Falk took himself back to the east coast, where he landed an agent and some bit parts in TV and off-Broadway. Finally, his big break came in 1960 with a movie called “Murder, Inc.” He even scored his first Academy Award nomination (for his supporting role as Abe Reles.)
Another Academy Award nomination came his way two years later, for “Pocketful of Miracles,” a Frank Capra-directed movie with a cast that included Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange and Ann-Margret.
But it was “Columbo” that catapulted him to legendary status. Starting in 1968, with the first pilot, the series ran consecutively from 1971 – 1978. After that, from 1990 – 2003 about ten Columbo specials were made. Falk as Lt. Columbo would get nominated for an Emmy Award almost every year, and he took it home at least four times. (He had already won an Emmy in 1962 for “Dick Powell Theatre.”)
(Fun fact – The Ossining Historical Society has an autographed trench coat on display that was personally given to them by Peter Falk.)
Falk was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2008 and played his final film role a year later.
His last years were, it seems, tinged with sadness as his second wife, Shera, reportedly refused to allow his two children (from a previous marriage) to visit him as his dementia progressed. She supposedly didn’t even let them know when he passed away. The situation so troubled Falk’s daughter Catherine that after his death in 2011, she would go on to help pass legislation that would prevent family members from being cut off by the guardians of incapacitated family members. Ossining’s very own Assemblywoman Sandy Galef would introduce “Peter Falk’s Law” in 2015 and see it pass the NYS Senate in 2016.
But I like to think of him as that charming student from Ossining High School who spearheaded all sorts of fun for his class and went on to play one of the most iconic roles on television.
Photo courtesy Ossining Historical Society
[1] “The Wizard” the Ossining High School Yearbook, 1945
[2] “Peter Falk: Just one more thing – Stories from my Life” by Peter Falk, 2006
[3] Falk, p. 51
Ossining History on the Run 