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Mimi Hines, the delightful Canadian-born actress, singer and comedian who stepped in for Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in the original Broadway production of Funny Girl, has died. She was 91.

Hines died Monday of natural causes at her home in Las Vegas, her friend and attorney Mark Sendroff told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hines was married to late actor-comic Phil Ford from 1954 until their 1972 divorce, and as “Ford and Hines,” they had a thriving nightclub act that was featured on variety/talk programs like Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show.

In her Broadway debut, Hines starred in Funny Girl from December 1965 through its final performance in July 1967. When she got the gig, she told The New York Times — who described her as a “mischievous sprite” — that she was not nervous.

“It’s always easier to follow a good actress than a bad one,” she said. “Miss Streisand is wonderful. [And] there is...

Mia Farrow, who just opened with costar Patti LuPone in the hit comedy-drama The Roommate on Broadway, has tested positive for Covid, resulting in two canceled performances Saturday. At this afternoon matinee, actor Marsha Mason, an associate director of the play, stepped in for Farrow.

“I was called to step in by the producers while enjoying a lovely Sunday morning in Connecticut, and of course, came right to the City,” said Mason, who has played numerous roles on stage (The Prisoner of Second Avenue), film (The Goodbye Girl) and TV (The Middle). “These moments in the theater are equally exciting and terrifying, and the audience helped make it a fun ride. I was exhilarated to play opposite Patti and especially heartened to be able to pinch hit for my Connecticut dear friend and neighbor, Mia, who is quite marvelous in the role.”

The play, which opened this past Thursday night,...

Anthea Sylbert, the twice-Oscar-nominated costume designer behind “Chinatown,” “Shampoo” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” died Tuesday. She was 84 years old.

Sylbert died in Skiathos, Greece, according to media reports and as confirmed by Sakus Lalus, who’s directing a documentary on her life titled “My Life in 3 Acts.”

The documentary follows the costumer as she writes her memoir, delving into three decades of Hollywood history.

“Anthea Sylbert is a real trailblazer, not only as a brilliant Costume Designer two-times Oscar nominated, but as one of the few women in those years of the New Hollywood Era who crossed over from the creative and of moviemaking to the world of producing, first as an executive for Warner Bros., for United Artists and then for the SylbertHawn Film Productions, cofounded with her best friend, actress Goldie Hawn,” the documentary synopsis states.

Her designs were first seen on the big screen in Arthur Hiller’s...

Anthea Sylbert, an Oscar-nominated costume designer who worked on some of the signature films of the late 1960s and 1970s, including “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Carnal Knowledge,” “Chinatown,” “Shampoo,” “Julia” and “King Kong,” and a producer later in her career on a number of films starring Goldie Hawn, has died. She was 84.

Her death was confirmed by Robert Romanus, her stepson.

Sylbert, subject of a forthcoming documentary by Sakis Lalas titled “Anthea Sylbert: My Life in 3 Acts,” also served as an executive at United Artists and Warner Bros., at a time when there were few women in the C-suites of Hollywood. She also worked repeatedly with director Mike Nichols, both onscreen and onstage, and was Oscar-nominated for her costuming on period films “Chinatown” (1974) and “Julia” (1977).

Assessing Sylbert’s work on “Chinatown,” GlamAmor, a website dedicated to the history of fashion in film, said in 2012: “Sylbert crafted clothes for Faye Dunaway that...

Anthea Sylbert, the two-time Oscar-nominated costume designer who worked on Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Carnal Knowledge, Shampoo and Julia before becoming a studio executive and producer, has died. She was 84.

Sylbert died Tuesday in Skiathos, Greece, director Sakis Lalas told The Hollywood Reporter. Lalas just finished a documentary about Sylbert titled, My Life in 3 Acts.

Sylbert partnered with two-time Oscar-winning production Richard Sylbert on eight films and with his twin brother, Paul Sylbert — her first husband and another Oscar-winning production designer — on another three.

“Paul is the more bitter, more angry of the two,” she told Peter Biskind in 1993. “Someone once put it this way: Dick is more of a diplomat. He will put the ice pick somewhere in your back, you’re not quite sure, and you sort of feel tickled; Paul, while facing you, sticks it in your gut. I always used to think that if you put them together,...

M. Emmet Walsh, a legendary character actor known for roles in iconic films, passed away at 88 from cardiac arrest in Vermont hospital. Walsh's six-decade career featured standout performances in Coen Brothers' films, Blade Runner, Knives Out, and other beloved movies. A versatile actor, Walsh brought big energy to small parts, creating a long-lasting impact on the cinematic landscape.

M. Emmet Walsh died today, March 20th, 2024. The famous actor was 88 and suffered cardiac arrest, passing away at Kerbs Memorial Hospital in St. Albans, Vermont. It's the end of a six-decade-long career that has seen Walsh work with some of the most legendary directors of all time, and in some of the most important movies, too: Blade Runner, Blood Simple, Bound for Glory, Baretta — and those are just the ones starting with "B."

Walsh began his film career with two of the most important films of the countercultural 1960s, starring in Alice's Restaurant...

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Lou Barlia, who served as a camera operator on films from Love Story, Death Wish, Jaws and The Big Chill to Brighton Beach Memoirs, Steel Magnolias and Frankie and Johnny, has died. He was 92.

Barlia died June 25 at his home in Las Vegas after a brief battle with mesothelioma, his family announced.

In his four-decade career, Barlia also looked through a viewfinder on Serpico (1973), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), Slap Shot (1977), An Unmarried Woman (1978), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Superman (1978), Gloria (1980), Mr. Mom (1983), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Hudson Hawk (1991) and Bruno (2000), among many other films.

He received a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Operating Cameramen in 2000, the year he retired.

Born and raised in New York, Barlia began his love affair with photography in his early teens when his dad brought home a camera that he had found on train tracks in the city.

Veteran cameraman Lou Barlia, whose film credits include “Superman” and “Steel Magnolias,” died in his home in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 25, after a brief battle with mesothelioma cancer. He was 92.

Born and raised in New York, Barlia started his photography career in his early teens after his father brought home a camera he spotted on the train tracks. During and after his high school years, Barlia worked in a photo studio at the School of Industrial Arts in New York. He was later drafted into the army, where he received the Bronze Star and other citations for his service as a combat cameraman during the Korean War.

In the 1950s and ’60s, Barlia worked on several commercials, documentaries and TV shows before starting his career in feature films in the 1970s. He worked behind the camera for dozens of films between the ’70s and late ’90s, including “Serpico,” “Slap Shot,...

Dena Dietrich, a character actress who appeared in numerous TV shows and on Broadway but was instantly recognizable as the face of Mother Nature from a popular, long-running commercial campaign for Chiffon margarine, died Saturday, Nov. 21 of natural causes in a Los Angeles health care facility. She was 91.

Her death was confirmed by SAG-AFTRA in a statement honoring Dietrich’s service as a former SAG National Board member for nearly a decade.

With an impeccable delivery and a lightning shift in mood from matronly sweet to thunderous anger, Dietrich first uttered what would become a classic commercial catchphrase – “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” – in 1971. The commercials, created by the D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency, had Dietrich dressed in a diaphanous white gown and a daisy-chain laurel, test-tasting what she was sure to be her very own natural butter. Told by a narrator that she was actually eating Chiffon margarine,...

Dena Dietrich, the veteran actress who gained pop-culture renown for her turn as a hoodwinked Mother Nature in a decade-long series of margarine commercials, has died. She was 91.

Dietrich died Saturday of natural causes at a health care facility in Los Angeles, her friend of more than 40 years, actress, composer and author Freddie Weber, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Dietrich also starred opposite Peter Falk and Lee Grant in the original 1971-73 Broadway production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue and played the sister of Bea Arthur’s Dorothy on a 1991 episode of NBC’s The Golden Girls.

She had ...

Dena Dietrich, the veteran actress who gained pop-culture renown for her turn as a hoodwinked Mother Nature in a decade-long series of margarine commercials, has died. She was 91.

Dietrich died Saturday of natural causes at a health care facility in Los Angeles, her friend of more than 40 years, actress, composer and author Freddie Weber, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Dietrich also starred opposite Peter Falk and Lee Grant in the original 1971-73 Broadway production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue and played the sister of Bea Arthur’s Dorothy on a 1991 episode of NBC’s The Golden Girls.

She had ...

In the realm of classic animated shorts, many plots hinged on the main character (often the “series star”) losing their patience, as their frustrations cause them to go into “action” or even “revenge” mode (often with the sight gag of steam spewing from their ears or through the tops of their noggins). Popeye’s “I’s had all I kin’ stan’ an’ I can’t stands no more!”, Bugs Bunny’s “Of course you realize this means war!”. and even Droopy Dog’s “Know what? I’m mad.”. This would spill into live-action flicks, with the gentle cowboy or farmer taking a stand. In the 1970s, epitomized by Network’s Howard Beale ranting, “I’m as mad as Hell and I’m not gonna’ take it anymore!”, the normal guy, the everyman was pushed into the breaking point in comedies like The Prisoner Of Second Avenue and thrillers like Death Wish...

Joel Schumacher, the colorful director of 23 feature films including Flatliners, Falling Down and perhaps the two most polarizing entries in the Batman franchise, has died at the age of 80 after a year-long battle with cancer, according to Deadline.

Other films on his resume included one of the defining movies of the “Brat Pack” era, St. Elmo’s Fire, along with the John Grisham adaptations A Time to Kill and The Client, the highly influential horror film The Lost Boys and the screen version of the long-running Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera.

But Schumacher was arguably best known for directing 1995’s Batman Forever and its follow-up, 1997’s Batman and Robin, which veered the series away from the dark, psychologically twisted tone established on Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) and into campier territory closer in spirit to the 1960s TV show.

Schumacher was born in New York City on...

Joel Schumacher, who directed some two dozen films including Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Brat Pack pics St. Elmo’s Fire and The Lost Boys along with Falling Down and John Grisham adaptations The Client and A Time to Kill, died today. He was 80.

His publicists at ID PR said he had a yearlong battle with cancer.

Schumacher was revered as one of Hollywood’s great storytellers. He had enormous charm and wit and could walk onto a tense set and instantly change everyone’s mood. It was magic chemistry.

His credits also include the 1980s pics D.C. Cab and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. He also helmed The Phantom of the Opera, Flatliners, Flawless, 8Mm Phone Booth, Trespass and most recently two 2013 episodes of Netflix’s House of Cards.

Notable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo Gallery

The native New Yorker also wrote the 1976 low-budget comedy Car Wash and the...

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, stage star Phyllis Newman passed away yesterday, September 15, at the age of 86.Newman got her start in show business at 4 years old imitating Carmen Miranda in theatres and clubs. Her portrayal of Martha Vail in the Jule StyneComden and Green musical Subways Are For Sleeping - costumed only in a bath towel - earned her a Tony Award. Her other Broadway credits include Bells Are Ringing, The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Awake and Sing, Wish You Were Here, First Impressions, and her one-woman musical The Madwoman of Central Park West, which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents. She garnered a Tony Award nomination for her highly-acclaimed performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.

Phyllis Newman, known for her Tony Award-winning role as the bath towel-clad Martha Vail in the musical Subways Are for Sleeping, has died. The star of stage and screen was 86.

The news was announced by her son Adam Green, a theater critic for Vogue, via Twitter. “My sister @amanda_green and I had to say goodbye to our beautiful mother today,” he tweeted. “I’ll miss her more than I can say.”

In addition to Subways Are for Sleeping, Newman appeared in numerous Broadway productions including Bells Are Ringing, The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Awake and Sing, Wish You Were Here and First Impressions. She also had her one-woman musical The Madwoman of Central Park West which was co-written by her and Arthur Laurents. She also received a Tony nom for her performance in Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound.

She received a Drama Desk...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" was based on his own hit Broadway play that opened in 1971 and ran for two years. It starred Peter Falk and Lee Grant. The play resonated with audiences of the era even though it was an unusually dark piece for Simon, reflecting the social decay of New York City during this period. Those factors were still very much in evidence in films of the era when Simon rather reluctantly agreed to bring his play to the big screen in 1975. He felt the material was too disturbing for his core audience but conceded to write the screenplay himself. He also trusted Melvin Frank as director, as Frank had a long history of helming hit comedies with broad appeal. Simon was also enthused about the decision to cast Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft for the film version. Two of his greatest...

Great news for Jack Lemmon fans! Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft in Prisoner Of Second Avenue (1975) is now available on Blu-ray From Warner Archives

Forty-eight-year-old Manhattanite Mel Edison just lost his job. Soon he’ll lose his wardrobe, temper, self-respect and maybe his mind. In urban life’s grueling guerrilla war, Mel just became The Prisoner of Second Avenue.

Adapting his 1971 stage hit, Neil Simon develops Mel’s anxiety-ridden plight with razor-edged empathy – and deliciously clever gags. Academy Award® winners* Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft are in top form as Mel and his loving wife, Edna, skillfully melding zany farce with the bittersweet agony of middle-class people whose wall-to-wall carpeting has suddenly been yanked out from under them. Keep a sharp eye out for alleged pickpocket Sylvester Stallone and cabbie F. Murray Abraham in early career roles.

In this adaptation of his stage play, Neil Simon captures America’s infamous...

Mike Nichols would’ve celebrated his 87th birthday on November 6, 2018. One of the few people to complete the Egot, the acclaimed director excelled in film, television and theater until his death in 2014. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 18 of his movies, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1931 in Berlin, Germany, Nichols got his start as one half of the comedic improvisational act Nichols and May, working alongside Elaine May. In 1960, the two opened the Broadway show “An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May,” winning a Grammy in 1962 for the LP version. Their partnership ended just a year later, though they would collaborate several times thereafter, including on “The Birdcage” (1996) and “Primary Colors” (1998).

Nichols began his directing career on Broadway, gaining fame for his productions of such Neil Simon classics as “Barefoot in the Park” (1964) and “The Odd Couple” (1965). Both would bring him...

Mike Nichols would’ve celebrated his 87th birthday on November 6, 2018. One of the few people to complete the Egot, the acclaimed director excelled in film, television and theater until his death in 2014. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 18 of his movies, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1931 in Berlin, Germany, Nichols got his start as one half of the comedic improvisational act Nichols and May, working alongside Elaine May. In 1960, the two opened the Broadway show “An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May,” winning a Grammy in 1962 for the LP version. Their partnership ended just a year later, though they would collaborate several times thereafter, including on “The Birdcage” (1996) and “Primary Colors” (1998).

Nichols began his directing career on Broadway, gaining fame for his productions of such Neil Simon classics as “Barefoot in the Park” (1964) and “The Odd Couple” (1965). Both would bring him...

Neil Simon has sadly passed away at the age of 91. The prolific writer was nominated for four Oscars and won three Tony Awards. He is perhaps best known for such legendary works as The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, Promises, Promises, The Goodbye Girl and Lost in Yonkers. He will be long remembered for setting a new tone in theatrical comedy, and was a pioneer of the stage and screen.

Simon has more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer in history. He succumbed to complications from pneumonia over the weekend, passing away at a New York-Presbyterian hospital in Manhattan. He leaves behind a body of work that spans over 5 decades and includes 40 plays, quite a few of which were adapted with great success for the big screen. He is considered the most commercially successful American playwright in history.

Neil Simon has the distinction of being the...

Neil Simon, the creator of such Pulitzer and Tony award-winning plays as The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park and Lost in Yonkers, has died at 91. He died last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from complications from pneumonia.

Simon was a giant of popular content creation, the playwright behind works that were performed worldwide by high schools, local theater groups and Broadway, where he was dominant in the last half of the 20th century. Simon’s unparalleled career in the theater included more than thirty plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades.

He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with Come Blow Your Horn and concluded his Broadway run with 45 Seconds From Broadway in 2001.

“No playwright in Broadway’s long and raucous history has so dominated the boulevard as the softly astringent Simon,” wrote John Lahr in The New Yorker in 2010. “For almost half a century,...

New York City – He was an immigrant kid from Germany who directed the most American of stage plays and films. Mike Nichols uplifted the culture with his art, and along the way won the famed Egot – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Nichols passed away suddenly at his home. He was 83.

Nichols brought the Chicago improvisation sensibility to his work – he was part of the original Compass Players of the University of Chicago, the group that morphed into The Second City. He achieved Beatle-like fame in the early 1960s with his comedy act Nichols and May, paired with Elaine May. But his destiny was behind the camera, and after making a huge splash on Broadway, conquered the film world with the one-two triumphs of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and the classic “The Graduate.”

Mike Nichols in a Recent Photo

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky was Nichols birth name,...

Legendary film and theater director, writer and producer Mike Nichols has passed away. An Oscar winner for 1967′s seminal The Graduate, he also was nominated for such films as Working Girl, Silkwood and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? For his stage work, he amassed 10 Tony Awards including as director for such plays as Barefoot In The Park, The Odd Couple, The Prisoner Of Second Avenue and Death Of A Salesman; and as producer of Annie and The Real Thing.

“William Goldman said there were two great American film directors—Elia Kazan and Mike Nichols,” said Broadway producer Emanuel Azenberg, who co-produced Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing with Nichols, who also staged ythe play’s Tony-winning Broadway edition with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. “I think that’s true. He was a giant who could convince people to be better than they were.”

Nichols died suddenly late Wednesday night...

New York -- The bad news? Alan Rickman is leaving the hit play "Seminar" on Broadway. The good news? Jeff Goldblum is taking over.

Producers said Tuesday that Rickman will play his final performance on April 1 and Goldblum starts an eight-week stint in Rickman's old role on April 3.

In Theresa Rebeck's play about the soul-torturing world of authors, four budding writers are taught about life by a crass, pugnacious novelist-turned-tutor.

Goldblum last appeared on Broadway in "The Pillowman" in 2005. He recently starred in two productions for London's Old Vic: "Speed-the-Plow" in 2008 and "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" in 2010, both opposite Kevin Spacey.

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Online:...

Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum is to replace Alan Rickman in hit Broadway play Seminar.

Rickman, who has received rave reviews for his latest theatrical role - as an international literary great-turned-teacher, will leave the show after a final performance on 1 April. The Brit has led the cast since the drama opened last year.

Goldblum will take over from 3 April for an eight-week engagement. He last appeared on Broadway in The Pillowman in 2005, according to BroadwayWorld.com.

He has wowed theatre critics and fans in London in recent years, starring opposite Kevin Spacey in The Old Vic productions Speed-the-Plow and The Prisoner of Second Avenue.

Jeff Goldblum will be joining the cast of the Broadway comedy Seminar, stepping into the lead role of jaded teacher Leonard, currently played by Alan Rickman, who will depart the show on April 1.

Goldblum will take over the role for eight weeks, starting April 3. He unofficially revealed his involvement with the show on the February 13 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and a press release today confirmed the announcement. Goldblum returns to Broadway after having previously appeared in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman in 2006, as well as London productions of Speed-the-Plow and The Prisoner of Second Avenue, opposite Kevin Spacey.

In Seminar,...

Before we called them MILFs or cougars – long before – there was only Mrs. Robinson. She was a mid-1960s adolescent fantasy come true; the sexy, available older woman/housewife next door with an appetite for young not-quite-men/not-quite-boys. She became so indelibly, boldly etched in the public consciousness that the name became a noun – and, for young males, a hope – and the referenced fodder for a thousand if-only-they-were-true Letters to Penthouse.

But the character in the movie The Graduate (1967) was no exercise in wish fulfillment, no Weird Science (1985) or Risky Business (1983) teen’s wet dream. Rather, Mrs. Robinson was a devouring suburban nightmare, a paean to unmoored youth and disillusioned adulthood and life-draining, soul-killing upper middle class ennui.

Over four decades later, the name still resonates, her portrait so deeply carved into the pop culture by Anne Bancroft’s letter perfect Oscar-nominated performance that Mrs. Robinson remains the proto-milf/cougar,...

It is to be expected that the obituaries and commemorations for Peter Falk, who passed away last Thursday, would center on his four-time Emmy-winning starring role in the long-running series Columbo (the character was first introduced in a 1968 TV movie, it was turned into an NBC series running 1971-1977, then ABC revived the brand in 1989 for 24 TV movies, the last airing in 2003). His role as the perennially rumpled, misleadingly bumbling, “Ahhh, just one more thing…” homicide detective was not only his most famous and memorable character, but one which achieved that rarified altitude of “iconic.” Think Falk; think Columbo.

And as deserving as the tributes are, as laudatory as the valedictories have been, they still don’t do justice to the range and power Falk demonstrated throughout his career as an actor on both large and small screen.

Even the laurels thrown on his work in Columbo focus on the visible elements,...

Us actor whose success as the scruffy TV detective Columbo was complemented by a wide range of stage and screen roles

Show-business history records that the American actor Peter Falk, who has died aged 83, made his stage debut the year before he left high school, presciently cast as a detective. Despite the 17-year-old's fleeting success, he had no thoughts of pursuing acting as a career – if only because tough kids from the Bronx considered it an unsuitable job for a man. Just 24 years later, Falk made his first television appearance as the scruffy detective, Columbo, not only becoming the highest paid actor on television – commanding $500,000 an episode during the 1970s – but also the most famous.

Inevitably the lieutenant dedicated to unravelling the villainy of the wealthy and glamorous dominated his career, although – unlike some actors – he escaped the straitjacket, or in his case shabby raincoat, of typecasting. In addition to stage work,...

Peter Falk Peter Falk, the two-time Oscar nominee best known for playing television police detective Columbo, died Thursday, June 23, at his Beverly Hills home. Falk, who had been suffering from dementia (apparently a consequence of Alzheimer's disease), was 83. Falk's two Oscar nods, both in the Best Supporting Actor category, came back-to-back in the early '60s: as a cold-blooded hitman in Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg's 1960 crime drama Murder, Inc., and as a typical Damon Runyon underworld character — named Joy Boy — in Frank Capra's dismal 1961 remake of his own Lady for a Day, Pocketful of Miracles. Among Falk's other notable film roles are those in two John Cassavetes movies: the very, very, very long 1970 drama Husbands, co-starring Ben Gazzara and Cassavetes himself, and the director' biggest box-office hit, the 1974 release A Woman Under the Influence, co-starring Gena Rowlands as the mentally unbalanced title character. In the film, which many consider Cassavetes' best work,...

Columbo star Peter Falkis dead at the age of 83. Falk reported died peacefully at his home in Beverly Hills on Thursday evening. Peter Falk was best known for his starring role as Lt. Columbo in the long running television series of the same name. Columbo ran for 69 episodes from 1968 to 2003.

A representative for the family announced Columbo star Peter Falk died in a press statement on Friday. Falk is “survived by his wife, Shera, of 34 years and two daughters from a previous marriage,” the statement said. No official cause of death was released, but Falk was known to have suffered from Alzheimer’s.

In addition to his lengthy and impressive television career, Peter Falk also starred in such films as The Princess Bride, Wings of Desire and The Great Race. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his performances in Murder, Inc. and Pocketful of Miracles. He also won a...

Los Angeles – Peter Falk, the stage and movie actor who became identified as the squinty, rumpled detective in "Columbo," which spanned 30 years in prime-time television and established one of the most iconic characters in movie police work, has died. He was 83.

Falk died Thursday in his Beverly Hills home, according to a statement released Friday by family friend Larry Larson.

In a court document filed in December 2008, Falk's daughter Catherine Falk said her father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

"Columbo" began its history in 1971 as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie series, appearing every third week. The show became by far the most popular of the three mysteries, the others being "McCloud" and "McMillan and Wife."

Falk was reportedly paid $250,000 a movie and could have made much more if he had accepted an offer to convert "Columbo" into a weekly series. He declined, reasoning that carrying a weekly detective...

Peter Falk, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor best known for his portrayal of the raincoat-wearing, cigar smoking TV detective Columbo, died Thursday evening at his home in Beverly Hills, CA; he was 83. Though an exact cause of death was not released by his family, it had been known that Falk was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Though he received two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in 1960 and 1961 for Murder, Inc. and Pocketful of Miracles, and was an acclaimed stage actor, winning a Tony Award for 1972's The Prisoner of Second Avenue, he was known to millions as the irascible Lieutenant Columbo, one of television most beloved detectives, whose apparent absent-mindedness belied his cunning deductive skills and ease at outwitting even the most clever and devious of criminals. In all, he received four Emmy Awards and 10 nominations for the role, which he played from 1968 (in the TV film Prescription: Murder) to a special 2003 episode of the series.

Born in New York City in 1927, Falk underwent surgery at only the age of three to have his right eye removed because of a malignant tumor; for the rest of his life he would wear a glass eye, which became one of his most notable traits. Rejected by the armed forces because of his eyesight, he enlisted in the Merchant Marines during World War II, returning home to finish his college education, obtaining a master's degree in public administration and taking a job as an efficiency expert in Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1950s. It was there that he began his acting career, studying with the acclaimed actress and teacher Eva Le Gallienne. After moving to New York to pursue acting full time, he co-starred in the 1956 revival of The Iceman Cometh alongside Jason Robards, and was on Broadway within the same year, and started appearing on television as well. In the late '50s he took a number of small film roles, and was hailed by critics for his turn as a murderer in the 1960 gangster film Murder Inc., which proved to be his breakthrough role. An Oscar nomination followed, as did a role in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles the next year, which was the acclaimed director's last film and for which Falk received a second Oscar nod.

With back-to-back Academy Award nominations and his first Emmy Award (for a 1961 episode of The Dick Powell Theater), Falk worked steadily throughout the 1960s in both television and film, with small roles in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Robin and the 7 Hoods, and a starring role in the short-lived legal TV series The Trials of O'Brien. He first played the role of Lieutenant Columbo in the 1968 TV movie Prescription: Murder, which was originally written as a Broadway play and then reworked for television. The film set up a number of tropes for the upcoming TV series: the seeming ineptitude of detective Columbo and the intricate cat-and-mouse mysteries in which the killer, known to viewers, seemed to dance around the detective's bumbling investigations. Columbo became a TV series in 1971, with a young 25-year-old Steven Spielberg helming the very first episode. The series was an unqualified hit for NBC, and ran through 1977 in 90 or 120 minute movie-length segments that appeared every third week as part of the network's "Sunday Mystery Movie" series, with a wide variety of acclaimed guest stars. Even after it went off the air, it spawned the short-lived Mrs. Columbo (based on the detective's unseen wife), starring a young Kate Mulgrew.

While becoming one of the signature television stars of the 1970s, Falk also appeared on the big screen in two of close friend John Cassavetes' films, Husbands (1970) and the Oscar-nominated A Woman Under the Influence (1971). Falk also played a Sam Spade-style detective in the comedy Murder By Death, and also starred in The Brink's Job (1978), The Cheap Detective (also 1978), and The In-Laws (1979). After the Columbo series came to a close in 1977, Falk continued acting in film, appearing in two highly notable roles in 1987: the storybook-reading Grandfather in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride, and an acclaimed turn as a slightly modified version of himself as a man who converses with angels in Wim Wender's Wings of Desire. He returned to the role of Columbo in 1989 when ABC began commission TV movies centered on the character that would appear twice a year. After his last Columbo turn in 2003, Falk appeared sporadically in film and TV, his last role in the 2009 indie comedy American Cowslip.

In December 2008, his daughter Catherine Falk had filed court documents stating her father suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and petitioned to be his guardian; he is survived by his two daughters and wife, Shera.

Film and television fans around the world are mourning the loss of a true Hollywood legend today as veteran actor Peter Falk has died at the age of 83, Variety reports.

Best known for portraying the iconic television detective "Colombo" over the span of several decades beginning in 1968, Falk also appeared in more than 40 films, with his most famous big screen role arguably coming as the grandfather narrating the hit 1987 film "The Princess Bride."

Born in 1927, Falk lost his right eye to a tumor at the age of three, resulting in the use of a glass eye for the rest of his life. Because of this quirk, which many studios viewed as a career ending deformity, he didn't break into movies until the age of 30. Once in the door, however, he quickly proved his star quality by earning Academy Award nominations for 1961's "Murder, Inc." and 1962's "Pocketful of Miracles."

Over...

Chicago – He will surely be most-remembered for the trenchcoat-wearing eccentric detective “Columbo” but Peter Falk was a successful and underrated actor outside of the role that defined him. The great Falk passed away today at the age of 83 and the worlds of film and television will miss him greatly.

Born in New York City in 1927, Peter Falk made his first stage appearance at the age of 12. His glass eye (his was removed at the age of three due to a tumor) kept him out of World War II, but he wanted to serve and joined the Marines as a cook. After serving, he would work various jobs but found his love when he made his Broadway debut in 1956. 16 years later, he would win a Tony for his work on Broadway’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.”

Peter Falk

Photo credit: Getty Images

Of course, image-conscious Hollywood was hard for Peter Falk...

The beloved rumpled trenchcoat-wearing police lieutenant on the Columbo TV series died at his Beverly Hills home last night after a long bout with Alzheimer's Disease, according to his daughter, who gave the news to Knx-1070. He was 83. The five-time Emmy winner (four for Columbo) also was a two-time Oscar nominee (for 1960's Murder, Inc and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles). He was a key member of iconoclastic filmmaker John Cassavetes' regular ensemble, starring in such independent film classics as Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), and in a cameo at the end of Opening Night. In 1972 he won a Tony for his performance in Broadway's The Prisoner of Second Avenue. But his most famous role was Columbo, which first aired in 1968 as part of an anthology series on NBC from 1971-1978, took a five-year respite, and returned occasionally on ABC from 1983-2003. He once described Columbo as "an...

Jeff Goldblum has a novel way of relaxing before he thrills audiences with his role in a West End play - he sings and plays piano backstage.

The Hollywood actor is currently starring in The Prisoner of Second Avenue in London and he's revealed he has been trying out a new method of steadying his nerves before the performance begins.

He tells British TV show This Morning, "It's always an experiment to me. I'm always trying different things. I play piano. I have a piano backstage, so that relaxes me and stimulates me. So sometimes I play piano and sing."

The actor also likes to read books to his castmates to calm himself down, adding, "Sometimes I like to read aloud to people, whether they like it or not, but I continue."...

In what seems like a deja vu, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is going through another major casting change. Jeff Goldblum, through his representatives, announced that he is not returning to the USA network show as Detective Zach Nichols. The actors consideration indeed expired on July 31 after a month of extension from June.

Goldblum did not release a statement to Variety but said that his departure is not a negotiating tactic. Although an option is left open for him to come back, the actor is firm on leaving the show which future is still uncertain. Deadline said the leave has also something to do with the actor switching agent from Gersh to CAA.

USA and Dick Wolf's Wolf Films apparently blessed Goldblum's decision for the parting is said to be "amicable". The actor is now keeping himself busy with the acting stint in Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" at London's Old Vic.

There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA in the past month or so. I hear the network looked at a number of scenarios, including a full-season pickup, two-season pickup and a partial season pickup until settling on the idea for an eight-episode order for what would be the show's 10th and final season. I hear that a final pickup decision, which largely hinges on making the economics work, will be made in the next couple of days, and the network is looking to bring some of the show's original players, including Vincent D'Onofrio. Meanwhile, Jeff Goldblum, who starred on the show for the last 2 seasons, has decided not to return. The options on all the actors formally expired on July 31 after being extended by a month on June 30 when they were originally up. For Goldblum, the decision coincided with an agency switch.

HollywoodNews.com: ‘Jurassic Park’ star Jeff Goldblum said he doesn’t like to watch himself in his own films. Goldblum, 57, is back on the London West End stage as he is starring in Neil Simon’s comedy ‘The Prisoner of Second Avenue.’

The actor has starred in hit movies such as ‘The Fly’ and ‘Independence Day’ and said he isn’t a fan of watching the films back. He said to the BBC: “I do keep DVDs of movies I’m in, but I don’t watch them. I don’t know why I keep them. I’m not a keeper of stuff.”

Goldblum added: “When I come across them on television, I might look for a second and then I flick by it. I guess it’s nice that I see something and I think, I know how to do that better now.”

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He plays jazz piano, thinks acting is a 'magical, mystical journey' – and couldn't care less about the money. Kira Cochrane talks to Jeff Goldblum as he hits the West End

Jeff Goldblum was just a small child when he resolved to become an actor, but he kept this passion secret for the best part of a decade. The idea of acting intoxicated him, he says, leaning towards me in an upstairs room at the Old Vic theatre in London, his long limbs folding in on themselves, eyes bulging, a rhythmic click emanating occasionally from his throat. (It's not hard to see why David Cronenberg cast him as a fly.) He continues speaking in his strange scat-singer style.

"During those years, I would take a shower," he says, "and it had a door, not a curtain, a door, a glass door, which would steam up, and I'd write every morning – because I hadn't told anyone,...