[ Sultry funk plays ] ♪♪ -With his old French jalopy; crumpled raincoat; a half smoked cigar in the corner of his mouth; a brain that was seemingly chaotic; and an invisible, yet ever-present, wife... -[ Snaps fingers ] Ah.

-[ Laughs ] Are you really?

-...Lieutenant Columbo conquered the world.

[ Speaking German ] ♪♪ At a time when cops in popular TV series were tough guys who drove fast, punched hard, and seduced the ladies, Columbo was kind of hunched, with a glazed look in his eye and testosterone levels that seemed somewhat low for his profession.

Thanks to Falk's exceptional performance, the character of Columbo and the actor himself blended into one.

-Peter Falk is Columbo.

-But was Peter Falk only Columbo?

How did that rare symbiosis between actor and character come about?

Did Peter Falk have a life outside Columbo?

We're going to take a look at the amazing success of this TV character and the legendary actor who played him.

♪♪ [ Suspenseful funk plays ] The producers of Columbo believed Peter Falk was the perfect actor to play the homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.

-Wait'll I tell her it came from Abigail Mitchell.

Goodbye, ma'am.

-Thank God we added Peter Falk.

Without Falk, there's no way that could've been successful.

-Come on, Doc.

-Open wide.

[ Opera plays ] Take my advice, Lieutenant.

Change your name.

-People love Peter Falk.

He's funny.

He's real.

He's very human.

He brought all those attributes to that character.

[ Whimsical tune plays ] ♪♪ -He never spoke quickly.

Did you notice that?

That was Peter's way of letting Columbo think it out.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] "Well, I don't know..." But he understood all that from day one.

-[Interpreter] He relies on one thing above all -- his intelligence.

And he only has recourse to one method, and that's subterfuge.

He hides.

Just like Molière's Scapin did.

Columbo hides behind a cigar, his tilted head, his raincoat, and his Peugeot 403.

♪♪ -Oh, excuse me.

-I hope I didn't startle you, sir.

-Columbo was such an important character and was on for so many years that I think it was the good and bad for Peter.

I mean, the good part, of course, was that he became an international star.

It didn't matter where he went, no matter what he did, he was always recognized.

-Did Columbo's extraordinary success suck the lifeblood out of Peter Falk's career?

-[Interpreter] ♪♪ -Somewhat ironically, in the early part of his career, Peter Falk played many New York thugs, mobsters, who took no prisoners.

Falk's physique and origins clearly helped.

-[Interpreter] Gangsters are often fairly stocky types, similar to Peter Falk... ...and they simply showed off.

-[ Speaking German ] -[Interpreter] He delivered all that in his performances with this amazing physique and unbridled aggressiveness.

-Ooh!

Ooh!

♪♪ ♪♪ -Peter Falk was not a tall, blond, WASPy, romantic leading man.

This is not Gary Cooper or Cary Grant or even James Stewart.

He's much closer to the stocky, urban, ethnic characters that were played by the actors that I just mentioned.

-I don't know, Joe.

You know, it's been two months.

-I paid back 180.

-Yeah, but, uh, that's only the interest.

-The way he speaks, it's street.

It's a New York accent.

You know that his savvy, his smarts.

-Oh, oh, see?

It's just like in the movies.

Like in them Bela Lugosi pictures, huh, huh?

-In this film, one of the accessories that sets Peter Falk apart is his lucky raincoat.

-So, you're Reles, huh?

-Yeah.

-This supporting role, where he plays Reles, a hitman for the Jewish Mafia, earned him an Oscar nomination.

This was a godsend for his budding career.

[ Jazz plays ] ♪♪ Peter Falk had a few tricks up his sleeve to help him play such mobsters.

His parents were Jewish and he grew up in The Bronx, a working-class neighborhood of New York, inhabited by the Italian immigrants that he enjoyed representing onscreen.

-[ Speaking German ] -[Interpreter] When Peter was six years old, his family left The Bronx for Ossining, around 50 kilometers from New York.

Families from Eastern Europe were hit very hard by the stock market crash in 1929 and the ensuing Depression.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] -The main source of income in Ossining during the Great Depression was the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where New York's villains were sent.

Peter's father set himself up supplying clothes for the prisoners and Peter often accompanied him on trips to the prison.

In his teenage years, Peter was a passionate sportsman and a curious type who was keen to play in basketball matches against the prison populations.

[ Whistling and cheering ] This provided him with plenty of opportunities to observe New York's criminal society.

But any dreams of a sporting career were soon forgotten, due to a disability that was the result of a serious health problem suffered at a very young age.

-[ Speaking German ] -[Interpreter] When he was just three and in kindergarten, he developed a problem with his sight.

His mother took him to the doctor and it was discovered that he had a malignant tumor behind his right eye.

He was operated on immediately and the tumor was removed.

-At the age of three, Peter Falk lost his right eye, but he managed to overcome this painful trauma.

-Any other person who, at the age of three, had his eye surgically removed and, essentially, had a glass eye all his life, acting is the last thing you think you're going to do for a career.

But he must have had tremendous perseverance, self-confidence.

He must have really developed such a work ethic to overcome that.

And, in some of his movies, you know, it's that sidelong glance of his that we remember.

Well, he made a virtue of necessity.

-One might even wonder if this stroke of bad luck wasn't the reason why he developed such a strong sense of humor and great resilience of character, as demonstrated by an encounter that took place fairly early on in his career, thanks to his agent, who sent him to Los Angeles to meet the powerful head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn.

Jeremy Kagan, who directed him in "Columbo," explains.

-This is a story Peter told me.

And he was flown out to have a meeting with a big Hollywood executive and came into the meeting and what the executive did was looked at Peter and said, "Why would I hire you when I can get an actor with two eyes?"

♪♪ -This kind of humiliation did nothing to quash his desire to act and it was one of Cohn's favorite directors, the legendary Frank Capra, who saw Peter in "Murder, Inc." and offered him the role of Joy Boy in his next film, "Pocketful of Miracles."

-Good question.

Right, Joy Boy?

-Beautiful.

-Got an answer?

-No.

-Got a question?

-Yeah.

-Ask it.

In ten words, like a telegram.

-Why should Dave the Dude give New York territory to Darcey?

-Hm.

-That's 11, but, uh... -That's alright.

-You his mouthpiece?

-Call me his doormat.

-Why don't you lay down and act like one?!

-Well, [indistinct] -Darcy!

Joy Boy happens to be my friend and all my friends are nine feet tall and all my friends make very bad doormats.

-Peter's big film -- not "Murder, Inc.," which started everything, but the big one was "Pocketful of Miracles" because Frank Capra's last movie and Capra loved Falk and Falk loved Capra.

-Whom did you wish to see, sir?

-Is this here Rodney Kent's igloo?

-Oh, this is Mr. Kent's penthouse, yes.

-Well, fine.

-Unfortunately, Mr. Kent is in Havana.

-Oh, he is, huh?

-Yes.

Sir... -Yeah.

-...a gentleman, rather primitive.

-Joy Boy was the same kind of New York hood that Falk had played in "Murder, Inc.," and Falk had the idea of using the same coat he wore in "Murder, Inc.," a directorial contribution that had the blessing of Capra himself.

-Look, for 24 hours, I've been locked up in Little Switz, listening to that howling, seasick gorilla I'm alibiing.

-Peter Falk's performance was widely acclaimed and earned him another Oscar nomination.

-The nominees for best performance by an actor in a supporting role are -- -Falk would cheekily say, "My coat and I got nominated again.

What a debut."

-Montgomery Clift in "Judgment at Nuremberg," Peter Falk in "Pocketful of Miracles."

[ Applause ] -A few years later, he paid tribute to Capra.

-I'd like to thank Frank.

I want to thank you on behalf of all the supporting players in all your pictures.

Frank Capra once said, "I treat all actors, big and small, the same way -- I treat them like stars."

And that was true because Frank had a genuine affection for actors and he treated them with dignity.

-Thanks to those two successive Oscar nominations, the young Peter Falk's acting career took off, helped by several brilliant performances, including his role in "The Price of Tomatoes," which won him his first Emmy.

-[ Laughs ] -What's so funny?

-You are a terrible sight.

-Yeah, I got a funny face.

-Not the face, the mud.

Watch the road, please.

-Thanks.

-[ Imitating ] Don't thank me.

-[ Laughs ] Oh, you're tough, huh?

-Very tough.

-In 1960, he married Alyce.

They then set about trying to have children, but after Alyce miscarried, they decided to adopt.

Now, producers were courting Peter Falk.

He was offered the lead role in "Trials of O'Brien," a new series to be shot in New York, featuring an unconventional lawyer.

♪♪ -That is supposed to have killed Mrs. Lassiter's husband.

That gun... -The series ran for just one season, but Peter Falk's star was rising and his career was unaffected.

On the contrary, this experience laid the foundations for the role of Columbo.

The role of an unconventional guy with an original way of speaking suited him down to the ground.

His success didn't prevent him from being interested in the project for an independent film written by his actor friend Elaine May.

-Ellen.

Now, Ellen, you agreed that you were going to cook dinner for my friend.

-They'd known one another since they both worked on the film "Love."

-What's that?

-Elaine wanted him to take on the role of one of the two gangsters in the movie.

Together, they agreed the other gangster role should be offered to a certain John Cassavetes, who was known to Peter Falk.

-When I was in New York about, oh, '55 or '56, knocking around off-Broadway, you heard of this guy, Cassavetes.

You knew that he had some kind of a workshop and that actors used to go up there and do scenes.

And then you heard that he was out in the street with a camera and he was making a picture.

[ Sultry jazz plays ] -Peter Falk was already 28 years old when he decided to become an actor.

His drama teacher, Eva Le Gallienne, convinced him to try his luck.

He moved to Greenwich Village, the Bohemian neighborhood filled with theaters.

It was the center of the New York jazz scene.

Bursting with energy, he tried to make a name for himself, but the competition was tough.

In particular with John Cassavetes, who was scooping roles left, right, and center.

-He took every job that I wanted on TV.

I mean, he worked all the shows.

There were two or three guys that got all the jobs and the rest of them, we just waited around and got the crumbs that were left over.

But I didn't know John.

I never met John.

-Johnny, it's the prince.

-Yeah, Prince.

-Not one to bear a grudge, Peter invited Cassavetes to share top billing in Elaine May's movie and Cassavetes accepted.

[ Siren wailing ] But Cassavetes, who had his own directing projects, switched things around.

-Must've been about 20 minutes later and John says to me, "You know, just occurred to me, I got a script.

It's about three guys.

I want to be one of the guys and I want Ben Gazzara to be the other guy.

I'd like you to be the third guy.

[ Laughs ] Are you interested?"

[ Laughs, slaps knee ] I had to say, "Yeah, I'll do it."

[ Laughs ] -Peter threw himself into making "Husbands."

It was an unusual film in all respects, both a drama and a comedy, that told the story of friendship between men.

-You guys going with me or not?

-Where?

Where are you going?

-London.

London, England.

-[Indistinct] -London.

London, England.

-Come on, Harry, you're not.

-The hell with you.

I don't need you.

[ Laughter ] -You're being serious.

You're a jerk, right?

-Right!

-I'm a jerk, right?

-Yeah!

-You're a jerk, right?

-Yeah!

-I'm going to London.

[ Vehicle horn honks ] I'm going to London.

-You're going to London?

-I'm going to London.

-If you're going to London and you're going to London, I'm going to London.

-Okay.

-It's about ordinary guys who, when their fourth friend dies, they turn into juveniles.

I mean, it's an adolescent sort of drinking and running away and picking up women in London and fleeing the responsibilities of being professionals or husbands or fathers.

They just kind of take off.

[ Vehicle horn honks ] So, what you see is bravado and, you know, a kind of macho posturing when you realize that male hubris can be pretty pathetic and Cassavetes was one of the very few filmmakers not afraid to explore that, to go deeper into that.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] -Despite Falk holding his director in high esteem, working with the charming Cassavetes was no walk in the park.

-I was very frustrated when we made the picture [indistinct] because I couldn't understand what the hell he was doing.

I didn't know what he wanted.

Take a look at that.

You understand what you just done there?

You cut that thing in half on me.

You cut this thing on half.

I want to read you something.

I want to read you something and I want you to listen.

You want to hear what I wrote?

Here's what I wrote.

One of the problems that John had with actors was to get rid of their experience, get rid of their technique, get rid of all their knowledge, get rid of everything that they depend upon.

-[ Banging on door ] -What a smell!

What a terrible smell.

-[ Banging on door ] -I hate it.

I really hate it.

I hate vomit.

You get all the blood out of it.

Just disgusting, you know that?

-Hey, you got something on your mouth, right -- -Just disgusting.

-Huh?

-Right there, there.

Right there!

Right there!

Right there!

-Well, get me a -- -Right there!

-Get me a paper!

I know it's there!

Get me some paper!

Hand me the paper!

Come over here.

Come over here!

-Oh, you stink!

-[ Banging on door ] -Oh, you stink.

Oh, that's silly son of a bitch -Ahhhhh!

-is on the door.

-[ Banging on door ] -I think one of the things that John saw in Peter was the heart and the vulnerable artist and I was totally knocked out by Peter's performance.

I thought it was one of the most remarkable performances I'd ever seen.

The reality, the honesty, the vulnerability, it was all breathtaking and so surprising.

[ Laughter ] -You're amazing!

-He's amazing!

-You are amazing!

-Just before he took on Columbo, the role that would change his life, Falk had an extreme experience of what it's like being an actor.

He gave his all for this low-budget film and for his pals, Ben Gazzara and John Cassavetes.

-[ Laughs ] -They formed an unbreakable bond and became a kind of artistic family, united forever, with a lot of laughter and genuine affection.

Elaine Kagan, who was one of the editors of "Husbands," witnessed the complicity that grew out of the shoot.

-The three of them together were just a riot because Benny was always, you know, very -- [ Portentously ] Now, John, what do you think?

And Peter was like -- [ As Falk ] Wait a minute, wait a minute.

You know, so it was like, I mean, being with them, in a way, to me, we were a gang [ Laughs ] or a band.

We would go to lunch across the street, on the lot, and we would walk across all together like tough guys, you know.

John was a tough guy.

-On the release of this film, a key moment in the history of American independent cinema, the trio got together for some surprising promotion.

-And the line of communication that we're in, and newspapers and everything, make life so dreary that, if anyone has a problem, they think, "Ahhh!"

[ Thudding ] [ Laughter ] You know?

-That's what they think.

That's what people think.

[ Applause ] One of the other things that fascinates me about this picture is also -- [ Laughter ] I think -- -When a question is asked about their friendship, Peter is keen to answer.

-What do you all believe about friendship between men and I mean nonhomosexual friendship, really, between men.

What's the special quality of that?

-It's part of youth.

My experience has been that you're closer to other men when you're younger, but I think, as you get older, friendships become -- they become shaky.

And everybody has their own hidden reservations.

Sometimes they're not so hidden.

You discuss it with your wife.

But, somehow or other, there's a part of you that realizes that you're not willing to go all the way for the guy.

So, I think, in this picture, when we talk about friendship, it's an attempt to maintain a friendship that had the same solidity and the same meaningfulness as those friendships that you had when you were young.

[ Bright jazz plays ] ♪♪ -They'd only just finished this exceptional project when Falk set off to Universal Studios to start shooting a new cop show.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ In 1971, when "Columbo" began shooting, William Link and Richard Levinson, the series' two creators, managed to bring together some of the best talent in Hollywood to work with Peter Falk, like Steven Bochco to write and Steven Spielberg to direct.

-When I met Bill Link and Richard Levinson, who were the creators and producers of "Columbo," and they asked me if I would do the first show of the season, and when I read the script, by Bochco, and I guess story by Link and Levinson, I said, "Man, this is the best script anybody has ever given me, ever!"

-[ Speaking French ] -[Interpreter] The first episode remains kind of legendary for any "Columbo" fan... because it brought together two creators who went on to become some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Steven Bochco, in the 1980s through to the 2000s, for 25 years, was the King of the Cop Show.

And director Steven Spielberg, who had little experience in Hollywood, having made a few episodes for TV.

He'd started making a name for himself, but he wasn't yet the Steven Spielberg who would be one of the founders of the new Hollywood.

-So, I treated that like a little mini movie and I made the movie with the psychology of a film director, not a TV director.

[ Typewriter keys clacking ] -The young Spielberg, who understood little of the requirements of television, preferred to follow the lessons of the masters of Hollywood.

-Television seemed to use a close-up because screens were so small, they wanted people to see what the actors were saying.

They wanted to get mouth movement, so, they would shoot all the TV shows like that.

So, when I came to television, I kind of went back to wider shots and it got me, in a strange way, you know, noticed, simply because I was shooting wider than most television directors.

-Up to this point, this cop show had had a particularly slow and complex gestation.

-[Interpreter] In the end, this character took 10 or 11 years to become established.

In the beginning, he was created in the imaginations of two young screenwriters called Richard Levinson and William Link.

In 1960, they wrote a short script that was published in the Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and they thought they might flesh it out a little.

And that's what they did the following year, in 1961.

They wrote a pilot.

The main character was already Columbo and he already had the trademarks we know -- the raincoat, the cigar, a certain number of things we find later were already there.

The actor was aged around 40, but it didn't work.

-A few years later, after a successful theater version, Link and Levinson returned to their idea of developing it into a new script.

But nobody remembers how Peter Falk heard about it.

Maybe because it featured a character similar to the one he'd played in "Trials of O'Brien."

But Falk was very keen on this character of the Italian cop who writes wrongs amongst the rich folk of Los Angeles, using just his common sense.

He called Link right away.

-Out of the blue, phone rings in our office.

I pick it up.

I remember I picked it up and it was Falk.

And he said, "I got a copy of this script, 'Prescription: Murder.'"

And he said, "I'll kill to play that cop."

That was the exact words I remember, "Kill to play that cop."

And I thought about it and I said, "You know, he's got all the attributes.

He's funny.

He's very New York.

[ Suspenseful jazz plays ] He could do it."

And they liked him at Universal.

He was perfect.

Then he got better and better.

-[Interpreter] He has that distinctive feature for an actor that he's capable of both drama and comedy and that's perfect for the character of Columbo.

-[ Laughs ] Columbo, you are magnificent, you really are.

-Wh-What makes you say that, Doc?

-You're the most persistent creature I've ever met.

But likable.

The astonishing thing is you're likable.

Has anyone ever told you you're droll?

-Who, me?

-Yes, you.

♪♪ -Produced as a one-off TV movie, "Prescription for Murder" was a big hit when it was broadcast.

It was considered to be one of the ten best TV movies of all time.

Yet, its authors didn't especially want to turn it into a series.

♪♪ ♪♪ -NBC immediately said, "Oh, has to be a series, do 22 of these a year," and Peter Falk said, "No, no, no, no, no, no," because he'd had a bad experience with a series called "Trials of O'Brien."

-Peter Falk didn't want to be trapped by a series, nor to give up his film projects.

[ Radio chatter ] -Alright, let's go home!

Lieutenant?

Lieutenant Columbo!

-NBC and Universal believed the character of Columbo had a lot of potential, and managed to persuade Falk and the writers to make a second TV movie.

It was another big success.

And, after some negotiations with Falk on the money front, the series finally took off.

-I was a young writer and prone to, you know, a lot of sort of overwriting and I remember Levinson told me something that I never forgot.

He said, "Peter Falk is Columbo."

He said, "You don't have to write all of that stuff because that's Peter.

You don't have to write Peter because Peter is Peter.

If you write that stuff and then Peter does what you're writing on top of being Peter, it's over-the-top."

It was a wonderful lesson in letting the actor fill the role.

[ Radio chatter ] -Hey, Lieutenant, how are you?

-Well -- -Believe me, I know just how you feel.

-Dubrowski, I don't even know how I feel.

-He didn't create the character, but he created the mannerisms that became the character.

And he also insisted, from day one, that he was never changing his outfit.

-Columbo's range of accessories was gradually expanded.

[ Siren wailing ] Peter Falk, who loved old cars, was responsible for choosing a convertible Peugeot 403 that had been forgotten in the studios by a French actor.

The scriptwriters immediately jumped on this offbeat choice.

-What's the trouble, Officer?

-The great thing about watching "Columbo" because you really were watching many aspects of Peter Falk.

Peter was a man who analyzed, who obsessed, as Columbo does.

That was Peter's raincoat.

-Don't press too hard, sir.

I don't want to ruin the coat.

-He's forgetful.

[Indistinct] studio, forgot his car keys.

We had to send a messenger to his house.

[ Bright jazz plays ] But in his acting, he's obsessed.

I mean, he's really dead onto it.

He's just like the cop.

Chasing down a murderer, every stone does not go unturned.

I mean, he's obsessive, he's compulsive.

In a very humble, self-effacing kind of way.

It's Falk!

-Lieutenant!

There you are!

-One season of just eight episodes was enough to elevate Columbo to the top of the TV industry.

-We could've used you at the Alamo -- you've got guts.

-Oh.

-And the winner is... Peter Falk, "Columbo."

[ Cheering and applause ] [ "Columbo" theme plays ] -Peter Falk was presented with an Emmy Award reflecting the appreciation of his peers.

-Thank you.

Well, it's terrific to win.

[ Laughter ] What an easy laugh.

[ Laughter ] Yeah, it really is, it's terrific to win.

I, uh, I'm trying to figure out some way to appear humble.

[ Laughter ] -Columbo's success flew in the face of every rule in the TV industry.

The title character was not satisfied with just being an antihero.

He was the very opposite of the archetypical star of cop shows of the time.

The narrative approach was also totally revolutionary.

Right from the first few minutes, the audience knows whodunit.

-Though, "Columbo" is not really a mystery because you see exactly how the murderer does it.

It's a will he get caught and how will he get caught?

[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -[Interpreter] Right from the first few minutes, we know the murderer's identity and why they committed the crime.

-And in comes the schlub cop.

Cop has no poker hand.

The murderer has the poker hand.

What does the cop do?

How does the cop nail this guy?

-[ Hisses ] -The studios weren't so keen on this kind of narrative, which caused problems for the suspense and in which Columbo doesn't appear [ Tires screeching ] until 15 minutes into the episode.

[ Indistinct conversations ] [ Brakes creak, tires screech ] -[ Grumbling ] -Hey!

Whaddya say, boy?

-NBC -- the only thing they were afraid of was, they say, "My God, Columbo comes in 18 minutes into the show.

You can't have a series where you bring the cop in, 18 minutes, the hero."

And we said, "Trust us, the audience will wait."

-According to the studio bosses, the series had other flaws -- it was too chatty and there wasn't enough action.

And, unlike the cops in other series, Columbo didn't have a partner and he didn't have a family, either, apart from a wife who was never seen.

-Everything rests on a single character and a single actor -- a big risk for a series that, it was hoped, would continue for many years.

But there was one custom of TV series that the producers of "Columbo" would respect, and that was offering special roles to famous actors or showbiz personalities.

The country music legend Johnny Cash was one of these guest stars.

-♪ A Sunday school ♪ ♪ Listened to the songs ♪ ♪ That they were singin' ♪ -[Interpreter] Columbo was perfect for that because each story was self-contained within one episode, so, there was no seriality.

With each new episode, each new case and each new murder, there was a new murderer... ...so, you could bring in anyone you like.

-Oh, that's a knockout.

-A series of famous faces played the baddies.

Like Faye Dunaway... -I think it's some kind of a bird or -- -[ Blows ] Hold this.

-...Leonard Nimoy, from "Star Trek"... -Collecting evidence, Lieutenant, or just being sociable?

-Oh, hello, Doctor.

[ Laughter ] -...and Patrick McGoohan from "The Prisoner."

-[Interpreter] If you have guest stars, that means your series is a hit and they've agreed to be in it so, that means people are watching you and you have a high-quality show.

-Peter Falk was the uncontested star of "Columbo," which was a big hit.

Falk became the highest paid TV actor in Hollywood.

It was easy for him to bring in his friends, like Gena Rowlands; and her real life husband, John Cassavetes; who made excellent bad guys.

-Go find a cat.

I hope he didn't hurt you.

-You don't have to be afraid that I'll break into pieces, Lieutenant.

Everyone always thinks they have to tiptoe around me.

[ Playing "Chopsticks" ] ♪♪ [ Clapping ] -[ Scat singing ] Forgive me, I didn't mean to, you know, you know, use your piano, but I just couldn't resist this thing.

I've wanted to play the piano ever since I was a kid, but I could never afford it.

-Oh, you play beautifully.

-Thank you.

-I haven't heard "Chopsticks" since I was a little boy.

-Right.

-You know, you're, uh -- you're quite a magician.

Not too many people could find me here.

How did you do this?

-Oh, I just called your wife.

She's a very accommodating person.

-Oh, yeah, she's a very charming woman, delightful woman.

[ Sultry, suspenseful funk plays ] -Thanks to arrangements with the studios, Falk was also able to take on movie projects.

Initially, these were with his close friend John Cassavetes.

Cassavetes' wife had asked him to write a script about a mother with severe depression, but none of the studios would touch it.

Eventually, Falk and Cassavetes joined forces to finance the film -- "A Woman Under the Influence."

-"A Woman Under the Influence" -- he put up 100 and a quarter, I put up 100 and a quarter.

That picture was made with $250,000.

You look at that picture, it's incredible.

-It's not an ambition move.

It's not expecting to make $1 million from it afterwards.

It's nothing, except wanting to be there, doing it.

[ Melancholy tune plays ] -All those close to John Cassavetes met up in a modest house in Hollywood to rehearse and shoot "A Woman under the Influence."

-We didn't have dressing rooms.

We were all in the house on Taft.

We all made lunch together.

We all ate lunch together.

It was a club, kind of.

And there was no hierarchy.

You know, you learned how to do everything.

You learned how to hold the boom.

You learned how to shoot the camera.

You learned how to do the Nagra.

-This time, Peter was more familiar with Cassavetes' approach and methods and accepted this unconventional way of working from the outset.

It was even something he wanted -- a less hierarchical, more demanding approach, and something more challenging than he might find on the set of "Columbo."

-Listen, I'm in trouble down here.

The -- The water main downtown here burst.

The thing busted.

The whole thing is busted.

There's water all over the place, so.

I'm down here now.

I love you.

-It's fine.

Please believe me.

It's fine.

-You alright?

-Nick, as played by Falk, he's a kind of working-class guy.

He means well, but he hasn't had much education and, in an era where American films started exploring how female psyche and identity might be a bit different, more subtle than male identity and psyche, you realize that Mabel and Nick exist on completely different planets, psychologically.

-When Nick, the husband, came downstairs into the living room and Gena was off in her own world, well, we started the scene a couple of times and it was terrible, just terrible.

And John said to me, "You know, when you come through this little archway here, before you actually hit the living room, just stop and take a deep breath."

It worked like a charm.

[ Laughs ] What was previously a lot of false energy, what was previously empty noise, suddenly took on depth and separation and real meaning.

-You hear me, Mom?

-Stop what you're doing.

-Mom?

[ Running footsteps ] -Stop what you're doing.

-Even though I have watched the film at least 25 times, those scenes continue to hit me in the gut because films don't usually show us that kind of pain, that kind of emotional tension.

-Protect him!

-I love you!

-[ Shouting ] -I love you.

I'll lay down on a railroad track for you.

If I made a mistake, which I did, I'm sorry, but so what?

What's the difference?

I love you.

Now, relax!

Come back to me.

-Nick!

-Relax and come back to me.

-Nick!

Nick!

Hey!

-Get outta here!

-Aah aah!

I'll kill you.

I'll kill you!

-Every time something wasn't going right or one of the scenes Peter and Gena were doing wasn't really going right, John would yell, on the top of his lungs, "Carole, be quiet!"

Now, I was probably sitting there like this, you know?

I mean, because he had to break this thing, somehow.

-Somebody once said that man is God in ruins.

And I think John saw the ruins with a clarity that the rest of us would find unbearable.

He was attracted to man's absolute need to live with love and how difficult it is.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] When "Woman Under the influence" first came out and was played in New York, in a film festival in New York, They were ready to tear my character to pieces because that was the beginning of the women's movement.

John called me up and said, "Jesus, something's going on.

We didn't know about this women's lib.

They hate you in the picture, Peter.

[ Laughs ] They hate you!

You're a brute."

We went to colleges.

I come out on the stage and some guy would yell from the balcony, you know?

-The film won many awards and earned Gena Rowlands a Golden Globe.

Falk returned to Universal Studios, where most of "Columbo" was filmed, even more attentive to the various production decisions, starting with the script.

♪♪ -He always knew who wrote the script.

He'll say, "Oh, Jackson came up with a great line here," or "Steve came up with a great line here."

-Peter so wanted to be part of the process.

He really felt possessive of the character.

He had real issues with management and the bosses and, of course, he fought with Levinson and Link constantly.

And so it was like they would go to war every day.

I would hear them screaming in Bill and Dick's office, you know.

Peter would go in there and, "Arr arr arr arr!"

you know.

-And it was never personal.

Never, ever personal.

It was always to make that script better.

-But then he'd always come out and he'd stick his head in my little cubbyhole of an office, where I was typing, and he was so sweet to me.

[ As Falk ] How you doing?

How you doing, you know?

How's it going, you know?

Oh, that script was great.

-If you insist upon ignoring my orders, I have no alternative but to call your superiors.

Goodbye, Lieutenant.

-Peter Falk may have had a taste for conflict in real life, but Lieutenant Columbo usually avoided any kind of confrontation with his adversaries.

-Mind firing the gun into the mattress?

I hate guns.

-He's probably the only cop to hate guns and who never carried one.

-Just hold it down here.

Get it down there and just pull the trigger.

-[Interpreter] If you look at traditional series and a cop show, the cop comes along, he's an agent of the law, he has the state behind him and he's the one who represents legitimate force.

But that never happens with Columbo.

When he steps into the murderer's home... -Please.

-...the exact opposite happens -- he puts himself into a submissive position, that of the person who will submit to authority, and we can see that all these murderers, at one moment or another, have authority over Columbo.

-I don't ever want to see you again.

You'll be refused admittance to my house and to this office.

I have a great deal of work to do and I no longer can indulge your suspicions.

If you think you have a case against me, go to the district attorney.

Is that clear?!

-Yes.

That's very clear.

-[Interpreter] They always try to put him back in the social class that they think he's from.

-Nice.

You, there, pay the cab and bring my luggage!

Come on, dear.

-It's because Columbo mainly investigates the rich and powerful of Los Angeles, the very people who should be ensuring social order is maintained.

-[Interpreter] He knows their codes.

He knows their psychology.

He knows how they work.

But what Columbo does is to seek justice for the victim.

That's true.

But in fact, he does more than that.

He seeks justice for the community and he restores the social contract back to how it was prior to the crime.

And that's fundamental.

He plays a social role, almost a political one, which is even more important, and which goes beyond his role as a cop.

-Are you sure you won't join me, Lieutenant?

-Well, maybe I will, after all, sir.

Now that we've come this far.

-Columbo is even ready to share a drink with the guilty party, once they have confessed, as he does in the 45th episode from 1978.

-And no farther.

-Shooting stopped then and a new life started for Peter, after he married his second wife, Shera Danese, who he met on the set of "Columbo."

He gave free rein to his comic side in Friedkin's "The Brink's Job" before exploring the heights of farce with David Niven and Peter Sellers.

♪♪ [ Gunshot ] -Shut up, all of youse!

Nobody move!

Stay where you are, everybody!

-What is it?!

-I have to go to the can again.

I don't want to miss nothing.

-Who else but Peter Falk could get away with shooting a gun while he's holding a bunch of people there and saying, "I need to go to the can.

I don't want to miss anything"?

-I'm going, too, Sam.

-I'd rather do this alone, Tess.

Thanks, anyway.

-One of the funniest movies ever made is... -And we're supposed to have cigarettes.

-Cigarettes!

-He and Alan were just extraordinary together.

-iGracias!

-[Indistinct] Ooh!

Oh!

What was that?!

-That was a cigarette!

-I don't smoke.

-This isn't lit, General.

-[ Laughs ] -Up!

-"Columbo" had been dormant for almost a decade when the German filmmaker Wim Wenders offered Peter Falk a part as an ex-angel in a film he was shooting in Berlin -- "Wings of Desire."

His role is not very clear from the script, but Peter Falk rose to the challenge, which felt like a Cassavetes-style project.

Peter Falk was to play an ex-angel who's sympathetic to other angels who wanted to save mortals, and he would do it in the character of Columbo.

[ Speaking German ] -[Interpreter] When people recognized Peter Falk in the street, he didn't mind.

He understood that he meant a lot to people and that he had a huge responsibility to the two billion people familiar with "Columbo" around the world.

-He's in between totally human Peter Falk and an angel because he can sense voices and ghostly presence also.

-I can't see you, but I know you're here.

I feel it.

You've been hanging around since I got here.

-During the shoot, Wenders discovered one of Falk's little known talents -- drawing little sketches.

-[Interpreter] When he wasn't filming, he'd go off into a corner and start drawing everyone and I found that very touching.

It was also very angelic.

It was more proof that we'd found a former angel to play the part of a former angel.

-This former angel drew his way through Berlin, a city with a complex past.

Falk explored the tragic fate of the Jews of Central Europe.

[ Melancholy tune plays ] -Don't move.

♪♪ I wonder if she's Jewish.

What a dear face.

-[ Speaking foreign language ] -[ Laughs ] -In his film, all about saving people, Peter Falk accepted a vertiginous mise en abyme.

-That was a hell of a costume.

Well, it was your own coat.

Hey, Peter, where's your raincoat?

Being cleaned and burned.

What is it?

What is it, Peter?

Why does your mind stray?

♪♪ -After this almost testamentary work, as if he could no longer separate himself from his character.

Peter Falk shot another 24 episodes of "Columbo," that he also produced.

On June 23, 2011, both Peter Falk and Columbo passed away.

For Peter Falk, this was the end of a very painful episode because he had been suffering from Alzheimer's for some years.

Peter Falk didn't really die.

Like Charlie Chaplin had left behind his iconic tramp, with his cane and bowler hat, Peter Falk left us Columbo, a detective who used his intelligence as the basis for a universally appealing show, a chimera who restores order to the world and makes us feel good.

♪♪ [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪