I remember getting frustrated at how long it would take him to actually bust the bad guy even though he knew who it was from the very beginning.
With his dirty old raincoat, beat up old car, floppy eared dog, and wife that we never got to meet - Lt. Columbo always knew how to outsmart the crooks.
And here is a little bit of trivia – during the entire Columbo series the viewer was never told what his first name was, and it remains a mystery to this day.
His Shtick was to ask very basic, and sometimes annoying questions, and just as he was walking toward the door to leave he would stop, turn, and say, “Just one more thing…”
And it was always THAT question that got the criminal busted.
But it was entertaining, and little did I know that Peter Falk and Columbo would become an American Icon.
Falk died yesterday at the age of 83 from complications from dementia at his home in Beverly Hills.
Friends say Falk was involved in a bad car accident in 2008 and suffered a bad head injury and was never the same man.
His career started back in 1957 and by the time he retired had been in over 100 movies and TV shows.
Some of the greats included Murder, Inc., The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone, Murder by Death, The Cheap Detective, The Princess Bride, and others.
Peter Falk was one of the greats - and I expect to see his dirty old raincoat in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum next time I’m in Washington D.C.
Hey, don’t laugh – they have the same “Fonzie” lunchbox there that I had when I was in school.
Feel old yet?
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