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Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his role as Lt. Columbo in the television series ''Columbo''. He appeared in numerous films such as ''The Princess Bride'', ''The Great Race'', ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'', ''A Woman Under the Influence'' and ''Murder by Death'', as well as many television guest roles. He was nominated for an Academy Award twice (for 1960's ''Murder, Inc.'' and 1961's ''Pocketful of Miracles''), and won the Emmy Award on five occasions (four for ''Columbo'') and the Golden Globe Award once. Director William Friedkin said of Falk's role in his film ''The Brink's Job'' (1978): "Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh." In 1968, Falk starred with Gene Barry in a ninety-minute television pilot about a highly skilled, laid-back detective. ''Columbo'' eventually became part of an anthology series titled ''The NBC Mystery Movie,'' along with ''McCloud'', ''McMillan & Wife'' and ''Banacek''. The detective series stayed on NBC from 1971 to 1978, took a respite, and returned occasionally on ABC from 1989 to 2003. Falk was "everyone's favorite rumpled television detective", wrote historian David Fantle.〔Fantle, David, and Johnson, Tom. ''Twenty-five Years of Celebrity Interviews'', Badger Books (2004) pp. 216–17〕 In 1996, TV Guide ranked Falk number 21 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. ==Early life== Born in New York City, Falk was the son of Michael Peter Falk (1897-1981), owner of a clothing and dry goods store, and his wife, Madeline (née Hochhauser) (1904-2003), an accountant and buyer.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Peter Falk Biography (1927–) )〕 Both of his parents were Jewish〔.〕 coming from Poland and Russia on his father's side,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Michael Falk 1910 census record )〕 and from Hungary and Czech lands on his mother's side.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= United States Census, 1920 for Madeline Hochhauser )〕〔.〕 Falk's right eye was surgically removed when he was three because of a retinoblastoma; he wore an artificial eye for most of his life.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title =Peter Falk )〕 The artificial eye was the cause of his trademark squint.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title =Peter Falk Biography )〕 Despite this limitation, as a boy he participated in team sports, mainly baseball and basketball. In a 1997 interview in ''Cigar Aficionado'' magazine with Arthur Marx, Falk said: "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." Falk's first stage appearance was at the age of 12 in ''The Pirates of Penzance'' at Camp High Point〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Famous Alumni )〕 in upstate New York, where one of his camp counselors was Ross Martin (they would later act together in ''The Great Race'' and the ''Columbo'' episode "Suitable For Framing"). Falk attended Ossining High School in Westchester County, New York, where he was a star athlete and president of his senior class. After graduating from high school in 1945, Falk briefly attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and then tried to join the armed services as World War II was drawing to a close. Rejected because of his missing eye, he joined the United States Merchant Marine, and served as a cook and mess boy. Falk said of the experience in 1997: "There they don't care if you're blind or not. The only one on a ship who has to see is the captain. And in the case of the ''Titanic'', he couldn't see very well, either."〔 Falk recalls this period in his autobiography: "A year on the water was enough for me, so I returned to college. I didn't stay long. Too itchy. What to do next? I signed up to go to Israel to fight in the war on its attack on Egypt; I wasn't passionate about Israel, I wasn't passionate about Egypt, I just wanted more excitement… I got assigned a ship and departure date but the war was over before the ship ever sailed." After a year and a half in the Merchant Marine, Falk returned to Hamilton College and also attended the University of Wisconsin. He transferred to the New School for Social Research in New York City, which awarded him a bachelor's degree in literature and political science in 1951. He then traveled in Europe and worked on a railroad in Yugoslavia for six months. He returned to New York, enrolling at Syracuse University,〔 but he recalled in his 2006 memoir, ''Just One More Thing'', that he was unsure what he wanted to do with his life for years after leaving high school. Falk obtained a Master of Public Administration degree at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University in 1953. The program was designed to train civil servants for the federal government, a career that Falk said in his memoir he had "no interest in and no aptitude for". He applied for a job with the CIA, but was rejected because of his membership in the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union while serving in the Merchant Marine, even though he was required to join and was not active in the union (which had been under fire for communist leanings). He then became a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford.〔(【引用サイトリンク】Peter Falk Biography )〕 In 1997, Falk characterized his Hartford job as "efficiency expert": "I was such an efficiency expert that the first morning on the job, I couldn't find the building where I was to report for work. Naturally, I was late, which I always was in those days, but ironically it was my tendency never to be on time that got me started as a professional actor."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peter Falk」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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