He was just three years old when doctors told his parents the tumor had to come out immediately 💔 Full story below:

Peter Falk built one of television’s most unforgettable characters—the rumpled, sharp-eyed detective who shuffled into crime scenes with a cheap cigar, a wrinkled raincoat, and a mind sharper than anyone realized. “Just one more thing…” became a cultural staple echoing across generations. For decades, Columbo was the everyman hero who outsmarted polished criminals by refusing to ignore nagging details—the tiny inconsistencies that unraveled everything.

The show dominated prime-time throughout the 1970s, running until 2003. Columbo flipped the detective genre, replacing glamorous crime solvers with a scruffy, blue-collar cop who seemed forgettable—until he wasn’t. The brilliant act earned Falk four Emmy Awards and permanent pop-culture status.

But his real story was far more complex, layered with triumph, flaws, and pain.

At age three, Falk lost his right eye to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer, wearing a prosthetic eye for life. The artificial eye contributed to his distinctive squint—later one of Columbo’s trademarks—but never slowed him down. He even joked about it, once popping out his glass eye during a disputed baseball call and handing it to the umpire: “Try this.”

His Hollywood break came in 1960 with *Murder, Inc.*, earning an Oscar nomination. By the early ’70s, he was television’s highest-paid actor, earning roughly $250,000 per Columbo episode.

Success brought turbulence. Authors Richard Lertzman and William Birnes painted a messy portrait: heavy drinking, smoking, womanizing, emotional distance, and complicated family life. His first marriage to Alyce Mayo lasted 16 years; they adopted daughters Catherine and Jackie. But Alyce eventually left after tolerating years of infidelity. Catherine’s relationship with her father became so strained she once sued him over unpaid college expenses. Their bond fractured further when Falk remarried actress Shera Danese in 1977.

Catherine claimed Shera made seeing their father impossible during his final years. Shera denied the accusations.

In 2008, Falk’s cognitive abilities deteriorated sharply after hip surgery. Alzheimer’s stripped away his memories—eventually, he no longer remembered playing Columbo, the role that made him a legend.

In June 2011, Peter Falk died at 83 from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s complications. Family tensions continued even in death, with Catherine claiming she wasn’t notified until hours after he passed.

Yet none of the turmoil erased what Falk gave the world: a masterclass in subtle acting that remains endlessly satisfying. He was flawed, magnetic, groundbreaking, and unforgettable—and the world will never forget Columbo.