http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/ … -obit.html

U.S. actor Peter Falk, best known for his portrayal of a rumpled detective in the TV series Columbo, has died. He was 83.

"Falk died peacefully at his Beverly Hills home in the evening of June 23, 2011," according to a statement from his family.

He had been suffering from Alzheimer's.

Falk won four Emmy awards for his work on Columbo and was nominated for Oscars for his roles in 1960's Murder, Inc. and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles.

Falk's final years were marred by a legal tug-of-war between his wife, Shera, and his daughter, Catherine, over who should be in charge of his personal affairs. A judge ruled in 2009 that Shera would retain control.

Falk was born in Manhattan and raised in New York state. He served in the merchant marines and studied political science at college, then applied to the CIA. After he was rejected, he began acting in community theatre and then moved to New York to study under Jack Landau and Sanford Meisner.

He found early success on the stage, debuting on Broadway in St. Joan in 1957, then going on to roles in a hit revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh and in plays such as The Lady's Not for Burning, Purple Dust and Comic Strip.

Agents discouraged Falk from seeking employment in the movies because of his glass eye, which gave him his characteristic squint. His real eye had been removed at age three due to a malignant tumour.

However, he landed his first part in 1958's Wind Across the Everglades, soon followed by films such as 1960's Pretty Boy Floyd and Secret of the Purple Reef. In 1960, he also played a violent hitman in Murder, Inc., a role that sprang him to wider attention with an unexpected Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.