Appreciation: Peter Falk, 1927-2011

Peter Falk: Delighted you came our way.

But:

"There's just one other thing" . . .

Awake, Villagers.

It is lonely here without you.

And your mind-awakening thoughts.

Awake and inspire my day.

Or have you all headed off to the farm for the weekend, there to leave me here to post alone, to try to amuse and educate and humor myself?

Awake, I say.

It is a sad, silent place here without you.

Belatedly, it occurs to me that all of you Villagers are not here because you headed for the South Pole environs yesterday and like it so much you have delayed your return.

That's it, isn't it?

Peter Falk's Lt. Colombo was the gold standard that subsequent memorable tv characters would be compared to---Marybeth Cagney, Niles Crane, Bobby Goren, Sipowitz, characters so vivid that they were like actual people. Colombo's coat, his car (!), but most of all that amazing mind. Of course, he was an actor reading a script but Peter Falk's unique interpretation was masterful as it was in the Princess Bride or The In Laws.

There was never any reason to believe that he was anything but a gentleman, and it was a privilege to have been entertained by him. Lt Colombo is an icon.

Just one more thing....great weekend everybody!

Peter Falk was a grand actor.  And Colombo was marvelous, though I think I appreciated him the most in Princess Bride.  I like grandfathers.  When the topic is an actor, there's not much to say.  Life goes on.

"As you wish," Mr Falk. You were a master of your craft and the world is a bit happier because you were in it. 

So much "method" to his madness. Falk described his experience of working with Cassavetes as a director “shooting an actor when he might be unaware the camera was running.” I envision him shooting an episode on the other side ensnaring Mr. Lucifer as he holds up a half eaten apple that he pulled out of his raincoat pocket and says, "excuse me sir but if you were nowhere near the garden at the time of the Fall. how come the boys at the lab found your fingerprints on this apple?"

Faulk's  robin's  egg  blue  Peugeot  convertible,  circa  1963,  showed  his  ecclectic  love  of  those  things  that  most  others  would  pass  by  without  notice.....

F - A - L - K  .....   need  dark  roast.

This brought tears to my eyes, as did the empty
chair.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuevpFTS_po

Sorry, lotlot~ to leave you all lonesome. Not much to say about this. "They" say that he had dementia and alzheimer's and could not recall being Columbo. Very sad.

"Serpentine, serpentine..."

I love it Idaho! "Serpentine Shelly! Serpentine!" has to be my favorite scene in the movie.

Really respected Peter Falk and his work! Faithfully watched Columbo the TV detective for years! I hope he had the satisfaction of knowing how loved his character was...before he lost his faculties. At least his family has his great image to honor and remember.
 
Have been seeing the BBC detectives on Netflix, and watched all 65 of the Barnaby series,  "The Midsomer Murders,"  and loved the characters and scenery! Then, I saw all the Detective Frost series, about 42 of those, and got to like his irascible persona quite a bit. Also saw some of the "Last Detective" series with "Dangerous,"  and liked those a great deal, but now cannot find that on Netflix Roku in the Instant Play format.  Did not like the Inspector Lindley series,... but can anyone...Hazel?? ..recommend another Brit background series with the same lovely rural villages and strong characters as the "Midsomer" series or Frost? Have watched the "All Creatures Great and Small" too, but it is rather slapstick, and the "McLeod's Daughters" is too far into the soap opera genre. 
 
Q - Does anyone know if they have made anymore "Midsomer" episodes in 2011? How about the "Downton Abbey" new season? Have there been anymore of those? We do enjoy a few hours of TV in the evenings, and don't care for the TV sports, makeovers, poker, badnews, or car races. Most of the American crime series are just too graphic and unpleasant. Besides, the American actors are all 8X10" glossies with perfect hair, perfect teeth, and runway perfect wardrobes! I like the "real people" or more natural appearance and aging of the BBC characters. (Not so Hollywood.) Anyone else see the difference?
 
Guess it is fair to sign off with a final salute to the fine work of Peter Falk! Considering that he was a man with a glass eye and a rumpled trenchcoat, as well as that old blue car of his, perhaps his Masters degree in business helped him bring depth to his roles afterall! 
Kudos to a memorable actor and person!  "Oh, just one more question....."

Peter Falk was a master of his craft who brought many of us hours of pleasure and tidbits of information we might never have knows. Thank you for a job well done and
Bon Voyage.

I do realize that the "McLeod's Daughters" series is set in Australia/New Zealand....and was cute for a while, but over 200 episodes tend to wear out the premise.

I adored Peter Falk and feel very sad about his leaving us alone.  On the screen, he seemed to belong to us all. I felt I could touch him and that he was a part of my life.  He was wonderful and my best beloved person in Hollywood.

He was always so sexily disheveled..............he definitely seems like he would have touched a woman's face while kissing her......................Rest in peace Mr. Falkner, you brought many people much joy........................
 
TT................the Cassavettes movie he did w/ Gena Rowlands ( I cannot conjure up the name, but I rewatched it this past winter) is one of the most brutally real films. They both were so good.......your heart ached for both of them.............
 
MOOSE..............Years ago I used to watch "McCleod's Daughters" & I absolutely loved it! Then one Saturday it was gone..................

paolos ~
Thanks, that was a marvelous in-character clip and almost made me forget about the senior stiffness that has me grunting around the house.
Oh, it's in the back... if it were in the front, I wouldn't be down here, would I.
Right, WTMI.

If I had been conscientious in the use of the Back-To-Life machine as recommended by Dr. Karma, I would have to be thinking of another reason to avoid Saturday chores.

Peter Falk was one of those lovable guys along the lines of J-Jimmy Stewart with a warm and recognizable  public persona and it would have been fun to see him, in real life, kick in the door of a taxi that had driven through a puddle and splashed him.

I would report to you all the insanely nineteen-seventy-ish amount that we paid our vet for oral surgery and teeth cleaning done Monday on our Boxer, Daisy, but it would probably mean that many of you would be sending your pets here for treatment.

Moose ~
There is this:

http://epguides.com/MidsomerMurders/

Even better and it works:
http://tv.blinkx.com/show/midsomer-murders/6JuC2jvBRszzh3ua

You're right about Lindley, a bit too sensitive.

STONEY.............thanks for the check in the other day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so sorry to hear that you are in pain. I am hoping this is temporary & not permanent. Please get better..................

Mr. Falk, thank you, "Sir".  You are a Knight in rumpled trench coat!!!

STONEY:  Your last Comment yesterday ... is a RIOT !!!  Pathetically True, funny Funny as hell .......
 
Peter Falk was a very fine actor, he did Comedy exceptionally well, but was an amazingly intense Dramatic Actor as well ... He was the Icon we call Colombo ... Too terribly bad that he is gone .......

Loved Peter Falk and LYNN The Princess Bride is one of my favorites.

As you all can see from my changing avatar and photos the blooming is about to begin.

Did I really write Mr. Falkner..........what an idjit I am....................

IVAN................your post made me go back & look at STONEY'S & yes, it was exactly as you said..........................

Speaking of The Princess Bride, caution: this is at least a two tissue deal... but worth it.

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-opinion-save-me-a-spot-20110118,0,7987323.story

Thank you IVAN & BEBE... It looks like a cynical move on the part of Delta: "keep your enemies closer," but, it does seem highly unlikely that a plane bearing the tacit imprimatur of the Saudi royal family will ever be found to have crashed into anything... even the ground.

Beebs ~
I'm doing okay. Just a bit of rigor and longshoreman's vocabulary.

My late husband and I enjoyed Peter Falk...He made us laugh so much in "The In-Laws"!  And of course the ever rumpled Columbo...
 
I believe I will watch it this evening.  I need a good laugh!
 
R.I.P., Mr. Falk.   

RIP Peter Falk.........thank you for all you gave us.
 
My husband has a "Peter Falk" raincoat still hanging on the back of his door in his office.  In his younger days (and also Mr. Falk's younger days) it was said that he resembled him.  He considered it a fine compliment.

"Being chased by Columbo is like being nibbled to death by a duck."

Laughter and sadness in the same breath.

Stoney, "Save me a spot". Wow.

I have to say this though ideally I should be mature enough to let it go. The Delta story circulating is inaccurate. I know because I jumped down my poor husband's throat about it when he got home from a long trip and he took me to the company internal news and showed me what was what. The news services were looking for something to sensationalize and they didn't look before they leapt. Retractions have been published but of course you won't see them. *sigh* Every other major American airline already had an agreement signed with the Saudis, it (the agreements) just don't say what the press reported them as stating and has nothing to do with the individual companies businesses or policies.

Moose~ you were asking earlier about what's on the tele? Nothing much - I hopefully trawl through a silly number of offerings, as you say, repeats, horribly graphic cop programmes, sport (not interested) If anything worth watching comes up, I will let you know. Meantime, I'll curl up on the sofa with my cat and a good book. Have you tried BBC Radio 4? I got treated to "A Book at Bedtime" which is somebody else with a good voice reading a chapter a night to you. Not sure if it still runs - one of the difficulties of hanging out with the Eye is that I keep strange hours.
Raincoats - does anybody have them anymore? I have waterproof gear for walking or working in the garden, but nothing I would call a raincoat.
Where is the lovely Paolos~ raincoats have had me thinking an old Leanord Cohen song that has a line about a famous blue(?) raincoat, torn at the shoulder.
Don't be sad about Peter Falk dying. It comes to all of us, and if he was not in good health, his passing was probably a sweet relief to him. I did love that naughty twinkle in his eye.

Poolside and we had our first fresh peach daiquiris of the season. Kosher salt is the key to grilling and provides a great taste and finish to burgers. Brain freeze can be lessened by putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth. It works...at least for me.

Mooseloop, have you seen the new BBC show "Sherlock"? It's amazing.

Tommy~ can you explain to me why any sort of salt is not Kosher? Pardon my ignorance, but curious minds - strange to say, a smidgin (or as Ivan says, Tinkerbelle) of salt in a brew of coffee that is a a bit bitter magics it to good.

Anybody wathching Doctor Who?

Hazel our Kosher Salt is a much larger grain than the free running table salt that people put in their salt shakers. It actually has a slightly different flavor and I no longer use "table salt" for anything but baking because the quantities are not equivalent (about 1 1/2 tps Kosher salt to 1 tsp table salt). Tommy is exactly correct about kosher salt and grilling...

Haze- no authority but larger grain size so it is not absorbed into the meat and no additives. Makes for greater taste with crust on outside.

No surprise salt was once a form of currency.

Doctor Who is very good. I hope Young Sherlock returns...meanwhile Hercule..

Haze my daughter is a regular of the new Dr Who. She put me onto this season's new "Sherlock". Have they got past episode 3 there do you know? I don't have TV so I have to wait for it to go to internet streaming. ;-P

What a great group of people- those who respond to the "curiosities" on J. Peterman. Seemingly intelligent, well rounded, traved and aged. You are all just the kind of people Peter Falk would have enjoyed being around.
Maybe there ought to be a curiosities gathering at fantastilc locations once a year. We could all show up in the J.Peterman style and dine, dance, explore and ignore the harsh world that hasn't the refined ways of the world traveler.

idaho that is a wonderful idea...in the meantime we have to make do with Thesepia Train where we can all hoist a glass to Mr. Falk tonight! I think I will have Long Island Iced Tea.

3 are all I know of new high tech Sherlock.

Salt .. the word that salary (wages) comes from. Salarium. That stuff called table salt is NOT! I use grainy, gritty salt, dug up from near to where I live. I have a decorative lamp made from a huge chunk of salt crystal. It only needs a little lightbulb like for a refigerator to make a welcoming cosy glow that gives enough light to stop you bumping into the furniture. The salt exuded into the room is supposed to help with breathing problems.

Just seen your time. What's for dinner? I couldn't be bothered. Banana & Honey sandwich and a glass of milk.

Thank you Tommy. Forced to be patient. Like waiting for the next book in a series. ;)

Mr Falk, saying thanks would be inadequate. After 35 years portraying Lt Columbo, always catching the bad guy (and the there were some damned clever ones) and seeming to enjoy the thrust and parry with them, not even a gold would do. How can you express gratitude for threeand a half decades of of pleasure? Maybe you can't, but I think he knew and that's what matters. Just one more thing........ PUSH THE BUTTON MAX!!!

Mr Falk, saying thanks would be inadequate. After 35 years portraying Lt Columbo, always catching the bad guy (and the there were some damned clever ones) and seeming to enjoy the thrust and parry with them, not even a gold would do. How can you express gratitude for threeand a half decades of of pleasure? Maybe you can't, but I think he knew and that's what matters. Just one more thing........ PUSH THE BUTTON MAX!!!

The new Sherlock is fun indeed and if you go back and read the stories it's even more fun.  The meeting between Sherlock and Dr. Watson is direct from "A Study in Scarlet"which I didn't remember reading when I saw the production, but when I read the story it was definitely the characters of the latest production whizzing thru my imagination.  (I don't recall if that episode was titled "Study in Scarlet" or not,  there are some major differences between it and the written story.  Good fun, though!   Hmmmmm..........tonight methinks I'll have a martini in the Club car..............

I remember,.... I remember sitting in our south-side apartment with my Mom, Dad, ant two of my sisters hovered around our small-screened-big-cabinet blacl- n- white tv watching Dick Powel's Theater production of The Price of Tomatoes featuring a young Peter Falk.

I believe hewon an Emmy for his performance and a place in our family for decades.

His characters never seemed to need to pat themselves on the back. It seemed to be his way too.

One of my favorite characters portrayed him was that of a legendary hard boiled detective in the comedy ' Murder by Death'.

Peace out......

A martwoni for me.

"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson.
I'm a high-functioning sociopath.
Do your research,"

Sherlock

What's not to love about the guy?

I was a big fan of Inspector Morse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuRIciN8B0

A beer drinking crossword man, we had, he and I, that much in common. That's where the similarity ended: he was classically educated, brilliant and had questionable taste in and bad luck with women.

JaxZ ~
So nice to see you even if you dampened a burgeoning conspiracy that I was really getting into.

His signature physical pause in the matters of cognitive reasoning and processing which was a marvelously deceptive cloak for his keen insight was the aha! moment I eagerly anticipated while watching each episode of Columbo.

A Peter Falk story y'all will enjoy:
 
"I remember once in high school the umpire called me out at third base when
I was sure I was safe. I got so mad I took out my glass eye, handed it to him
and said, 'Try this.' I got such a laugh you wouldn't believe.

caityranda, welcome! Your remark about Peter's Columbo signature pause was spot on. I remember holding my breath waiting for it, waiting for it...... It was SO satisfying!

Stoney, it's forever nice to see you too. Sorry to dampen a good conspiracy theory (I loved that movie). I had a knee-jerk reaction and I knew better. What a world.

I think I'll browse through my Netflix and check out Inspector Morse. ;) I can't get my Michael Kitchen fix as Foyle's War isn't on watch instantly. Why are all the intelligent men out of arm's reach when you need them?

As you wish, lovely Hazel,
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fMnF0Fvdpo

O, thanks, Paolos, my Ex-es have a nasty habit of stealing my music. I'm going to wallow in nostalgia Leonard Cohen for a while. Thanks so much for posting that.

I'd love an evening full of Columbo eps.  See what I didn't see for all the years before, there's always something that we miss.  I don't know if they're on DVD or not; I will have to look because it was a favorite show, starring an actor of such skill he created one of my 10 favorite TV characters in that adorable wise cracking witty smart as hell rumpled haired beat-up Peugeot driving detective who's first name was Lieutenant. 
 
good night Peter Falk; see you 'round I hope.
 
 

It's duvet time in Wales. Nos da.

Just one more thing before I go,
Just one more thing I need to know,
You see I’m not a brilliant guy,
My hair is mussed, I’ve one good eye,
I walked the stage and played my scene,
You might have watched me on the screen,
With rumpled coat and tie askew
I played each part as best I knew.

The scene is played, the show is run,
This actor’s part is surely done.
Before the final curtain call
Before the stars begin to fall
Just one more thing I need to know,
Did everyone enjoy the show?

Goodnight, Lt.

Mooseloop, here are some of my favorites. The PBS station out here has been screening  Friday Night Mystery since the 70s I think and they've added Monday and Tuesday night mysteries to their roster...all British. There are a couple that I liked and can picture in my mind, but the names escape me for now, but here's my list..not in any order.
Prime Suspect, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis, A Touch of Frost, Foyle's War, Brother Cadfae,l Inspector Dalgliesh, Poirot, Rumpole of the Bailey, Maigret, Touching Evil, Campion, Waking the Dead, Wire in the Blood, Second Sight, Cracker, Rebus, McCallum, Taggart, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries,
Lord Peter Wimsey, Kavanagh Q.C., Murphy's Law, Dalziel & Pascoe, Inspector Alleyn, Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries, Helen West, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Lovejoy, MI-5,
Mary Higgins Clark Mysteries, P.D. James mysteries, Life on Mars.
  These I'd watch on occasion; Rosemary and Thyme, New Tricks, Pie in the Sky, Murder in Suburbia, Hamish MacBeth, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Tommy and Tuppence.
 Dead Gorgeous...not a series, but good.  
Haven't seen the series Zen... with Rufus Sewell   http://murdermysterymayhem.blogspot.com/search/label/Mystery%20TV%20Series
 
I loved Peter Falk in Husbands...a 1970Cassavetes film. He appeared in a number of Cassavetes films

 That sounds like a PBS station worth donating to.

No kidding! though I no longer get it since we switched from Comcast to Direct TV last year ..major bummer.
 a minor correction.... Brother Cadfael... a series starring the excellent Derek Jacobi
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZ9kegUfz0

MISS BEBE:  Maybe we should get Stoney an Agent ???

IVAN................we can pool our money..........ding, ding, ding............I think we've got a winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I belive the Cassavettes movie that TT was referencing is A Woman Under the Influence................and if it's not, well, I'm going back to bed................

believe....................I still haven't had my morning tea......................