- Once when he was playing in a Little League game, the umpire called him out. Falk thought that he was safe. He pulled his glass eye out of its socket and handed it to the umpire, telling him, "Here, I think you might need this.".
- His right eye was surgically removed at the age of three, because of cancer.
- Was a certified public accountant.
- His daughter Catherine Falk is a private detective in real life.
- Lt. Columbo's first name is explicitly and even doggedly never revealed in the series (i.e., "What's your first name?" "Lieutenant."). However, with modern freeze-frame capabilities, when Columbo flashes his badge in the episode Dead Weight (1971), the name Frank can clearly be seen on his ID.
- In his first foray into acting, he took the role of detective in a high school play when the original student-actor fell sick. He left college to serve as a cook in the Merchant Marines. He later received a political science degree from the New School in New York, then graduated from Syracuse University. He applied at the CIA, but was turned down. He took a state budget department job in Hartford, Connecticut. Five years after he started taking acting lessons, he earned his first Oscar nomination.
- Falk put the damper on a rumor that his trademark Columbo raincoat had been placed in the Smithsonian Institution: said that it was in his upstairs closet.
- When actors are required to move from one location to another during filming on a sound stage, the exact spot they are to move to is marked on the floor, usually with a piece of tape. This is to ensure that they stand in the area that is preset for the correct camera angle, lighting, sound, etc. Part of Falk's trademark behavior as Columbo was out of necessity, as he pretended to scratch or touch his forehead over his left eye. In reality, he blocked the camera view of his good eye, so as he was looking down, he could locate the tape on the floor. That is how his trademark "pensive Columbo look" got its start.
- Peter's paternal grandparents, Louis and Ida Falk, were Russian Jewish immigrants. Peter's maternal grandfather, Peter Hochhauser, was a Hungarian Jew, and Peter's maternal grandmother, Rosa Heller, was a Czech Jewish immigrant (from what was then Bohemia).
- Because of his Hungarian-Jewish roots, a statue of him as Columbo has been erected in Budapest, Hungary.
- Adopted daughter, Catherine Falk, files for conservatorship, explaining that Falk has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and, at age 81, he no longer recognizes anyone. Later sworn statements from the Falk family, family friends and associates report Catherine has been long-estranged from her father and would not handle his affairs in his best interest. (December 2008)
- Had been a heavy cigarette smoker since he was age 15, but after he started playing Lt. Columbo he began smoking cigars as well.
- Had a street renamed after him in his hometown of Ossining, New York. To unveil the Peter Falk Place street sign, he pulled off a trademark raincoat covering the sign (2005).
- He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6654 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, on July 25, 2013.
- Diagnosed with dementia, probably brought on by Alzheimer's disease (2007).
- One of his greatest passions was drawing and sketching; has studio on grounds of Beverly Hills estate.
- Has his lookalike puppet in the French comedy show Les Guignols de l'info (1988).
- In 1961, he became the first actor nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year, receiving best supporting nominations for the movie Murder, Inc. (1960) and the television series The Law and Mr. Jones (1960). He followed up in 1962 by being doubly nominated again for supporting actor for the movie Pocketful of Miracles (1961) and best actor (he won) for Price of Tomatoes (1962), an episode of The Dick Powell Theatre (1961).
- He was considered for the role of Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972) before Robert Duvall was cast.
- He was awarded Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture of France; the medal was given to him by Gérard Depardieu in March 1996.
- He once applied for a job with the CIA, but was rejected because of his membership in the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union, which was under investigation for Communist leanings, while serving in the Merchant Marine, even though he was required to join and was not active in the union.
- His mother, Madeline Hochhauser, passed away in 2003, only four years before Falk was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
- Shera Danese, Falk's wife of 32 years, files paperwork with the court, including sworn statements from longtime CPA, attorney, friends and family members, stating she is already attending to Falk's affairs, Falk named her as his guardian when first diagnosed with the disease, and long-estranged adopted daughter's attempt to gain conservatorship and control of his affairs is not in Falk's best interests. (January 2009)
- Wanted to join the United States Marine Corps when he was age 17, but was rejected because of his blind eye.
- During the June 5, 2000, episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1999), Craig Kilborn's third question to Falk during "Five Questions" was this: "Use the words 'Falk' and 'you' in a sentence". Falk chuckled a little, touched his nose, and replied simply: "Falk... you!".
- Began acting when he was age 26, but did not officially declare himself an actor and move to New York until he was age 28.
- Was close friends with Patrick McGoohan. They made four television movies together: By Dawn's Early Light (1974), Identity Crisis (1975), Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990) and Columbo: Ashes to Ashes (1998).
- Has inspired at least two Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters. Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races (1968) was based on Falk's Max Meen from The Great Race (1965), and Mumbly, the detective dog on The New Tom & Jerry Show (1975), was loosely based on Columbo.
- Volunteered to fight for Israel in its 1948 War of Independence, but the conflict ended before he could go.
- His remains were interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He passed away on June 23, 2011, three months away from what would have been his 84th birthday on September 16.
- He and his good friend John Cassavetes made six movies together: Husbands (1970), Machine Gun McCain (1969), Mikey and Nicky (1976), Opening Night (1977), Big Trouble (1986), and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), and one television movie, Étude in Black (1972).
- He was an avid baseball and basketball player as a child.
- He believed his performances played much better when they were dubbed into foreign languages, especially French.
- Although often described as being of Hungarian-Jewish descent, Falk's ancestry was actually more Polish-Jewish and Russian-Jewish. He also had Czech-Jewish ancestry.
- Reportedly, in early 2007, he had chosen a 'Columbo' script called "Hear no Evil", which was to be planned as his 70th and final adventure as the detective. ABC network declined the project and series producers attempted to shop the project to foreign production companies, which didn't work. Falk got diagnosed with dementia soon after.
- Worked as an efficiency expert for the Budget Bureau of the state of Connecticut before becoming an actor. Studied acting with Eva Le Gallienne and Sanford Meisner.
- He auditioned for the role of Ted Henderson in Paul Mazursky's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), which went to Elliott Gould.
- His first wife, Alyce Caroline Mayo, passed away in March 2016 at the age of 85.
- He was involved in a car accident when he lost control while driving, sustaining a head injury. Also had a hip replacement. (June 2008)
- President of his high school class.
- Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures and renowned for his boorishness and vulgarity, rejected Falk, declaring, "For the same money, I can get an actor with two eyes!".
- Avatar's voice in the animated movie Wizards (1977) (voiced by Bob Holt) was modeled after Falk.
- Shera Danese, his wife, is awarded conservatorship of his affairs. (May 2009)
- Ross Martin was Falk's acting instructor in years past.
- Numerous press obits incorrectly stated that Falk won a 1972 Tony Award for Best Actor in a play for Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue". As listed on a Tony Awards website search, Cliff Gorman won the 1972 Tony Award for the play "Lenny". In addition, Falk was never nominated for a Tony Award in his career. The few things Gorman and Falk had in common was that they appeared in films directed by William Friedkin and each had a glass eye (In Gorman's case, it's more like an unconfirmed rumor.).
- Married his second wife, Shera Danese, in 1977 when she was 28 and he was 50.
- At 29 years old, he studied acting with the Mark Twain Masquers in Hartford, Connecticut, and studied with Eva Le Gallienne at the White Barn Theater in Westport, Connecticut.
- He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and The Princess Bride (1987).
- Best known by the public for his starring role as the title character on the television series Columbo (1971). He played his signature role of Lt. Columbo in 69 episodes (adventures) that aired from 1968 - 2003.
- After high school, he briefly attended Hamilton College in upstate New York. He was a merchant mariner after he dropped out of college. He went to New York City, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science from the New School for Social Research in New York City. He received his master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University in Syracause, New York.
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