My father’s whole life was work. He had a retail store in Ossining, New York, and I mean, he was down there at 6:15 every morning. The store didn’t open until 9, but he hadda be down there. That’s all he knew. – Peter Falk
In 1958, I was shooting a movie in Florida, and I decided to go to Havana, Cuba, to see what it was like. – Peter Falk
Hartford had the Mark Twain Masquers, which was fantastic. They had been in business I don’t know how many years. They knew how to build sets and sell tickets and put on a play. My day started at night. When I left the office, that’s when my day began. – Peter Falk
There were no artists in Ossining, which was the home of Sing Sing prison. Most of the parents of the guys I knew were guards there. – Peter Falk
If your mind is at work, we’re in danger of reproducing another cliche. If we can keep our minds out of it and our thoughts out of it, maybe we’ll come up with something original. – Peter Falk
Initially, they wanted Columbo to wear a driving coat. I said: ‘Are you kidding? He’s not an English aristocrat.’ – Peter Falk
Sometimes I was in school plays, but only when the kid they’d originally picked got sick and they asked me to substitute. – Peter Falk
It helps an actor an awful lot when he looks like the part. There’s nothing more disconcerting, that makes you more anxious or more insecure, than when you don’t look like who you’re supposed to be. – Peter Falk
I love Chicago. It’s one of the great cities. I’m crazy about the town. It reminds me of New York when it was at its best, the New York that used to be and is no more. I love the architecture, the old stuff and the new stuff. – Peter Falk
Oh, I was some efficiency expert. On my first day, I couldn’t find my own office in Hartford and wound up in the Post Office. – Peter Falk
I like stories that grow, that have unpredictable layers. As opposed to Hollywood movies that start out with a lot of shock and noise and peter out into an unconvincing cliche. – Peter Falk
Before we ever had a script or anything, I was attracted to the idea of playing a character that housed within himself two opposing traits. – Peter Falk
I got a regret: That I started acting so late. I was 27, and guys who start at 18 or so, there’s this kinda continuity of friendships they form in the profession by startin’ young, I’ve never had that. – Peter Falk
To be totally sincere, I’d surely be a better actor today if I hadn’t played Columbo all these years. – Peter Falk
I used to have this idea that you can spend years in the movies and TV and then, at the drop of a hat, say ‘Oh, I’ll go back and do the theater.’ – Peter Falk
I had no idea when I graduated from high school and then from graduate school what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea that I was ever going to be an actor. – Peter Falk
In the beginning, when you’re acting in amateur theater and off-Broadway, it was unheard of that anyone else would get your costume. And it was important to get a good costume. You put time into that. – Peter Falk
They wouldn’t take me in the navy because of my glass eye. So I joined the merchant navy, who allowed monocular crew if you worked in the kitchens. You’re not wanted on deck or in the engine room with one eye, but you’re good to fire up the ovens and cook hundreds of chops. – Peter Falk
There’s a bit of a problem. The script that I like, the network doesn’t like. The script that they like, I don’t like. – Peter Falk