Peter Falk, 1927-2011

Actor Peter Falk, who is probably best known for playing the detective Columbo on the TV series of the same name in the 1970s, died yesterday at the age of 83. Falk made some movies as well, although I don't think he was ever the lead in any big movies. That having been said, his first film, Murder Inc., in which he plays a cold-blooded killer for the mob's killing syndicate of the same name, actually earned him an Academy Award nomination. Murder Inc. is available on DVD, but it's one of those movies I haven't seen recently enough to do a full-length post about. It's also a Fox film, and it'll probably be a while until it shows up again in the Fox Movie Channel's rotation.

One of the movie roles I best remember Falk in is as one of the taxi drivers who takes the greedy treasure hunters to the "Big W" in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. TCM has a piece on that movie they show whenever the movie is on the schedule, and that piece includes a shot of Falk, along with fellow cabbie Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, framing the "Big W". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a still of that particular shot on the web, so I've had to use a more generic shot of Falk in his cab.