Just One More Thing

Book excerpt: In JUST ONE MORE THING, Peter Falk takes us on an acting journey that begins not in Hollywood but in Hartford, where he worked as a management analyst for the Connecticut State Budget Bureau. His time there was no more successful than an earlier attempt to find work with the Central Intelligence Agency. At loose ends, Falk turned to an old college interest: acting. He came to prominence as an actor in 1956 in the highly successful Off-Broadway revival of 'The Iceman Cometh' with Jason Robards. Although he worked continuously for the next three years, bouncing from one Off-Broadway theater to the next, a theatrical agent advised him not to expect much work in motion pictures because of his glass eye. Surgeons had removed his right eye, along with a malignant tumor, when he was three years old. But in 1958, the actor made the jump to Hollywood, where he landed his first movie, 'Murder Incorporated', and was nominated for an Oscar. Next came Frank Capra's 'A Pocketful of Miracles' starring Bette Davis, which garnered Falk his second Oscar nomination. Falk was a favorite among moviegoers during the 1960s, admired for his roles in classic comedies such as 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' and 'The Great Race'. However, it was through his collaboration with filmmaker John Cassavetes that Falk entered into his most creative period in 1970. Motion pictures such as 'Husbands' and 'A Woman Under the Influence' helped launch the independent film movement. Nevertheless, Falk continued to act in light film comedies, including 'The In-Laws' and Neil Simon's 'The Cheap Detective' and 'Murder by Death', among others. Yet it was through television that Falk reached his widest audience. He has portrayed the beloved Lt. Columbo since the 1970s, winning four Emmys. The series was so successful that ten years after it's demise, 'Columbo' was re-launched, bringing Falk to a new generation of viewers. JUST ONE MORE THING also chronicles the author's more recent work, such as movie appearances in 'A Shark's Tale' and Paul Reiser's 'The Thing About My Folks', as well stories of growing up in New York, Hollywood and Broadway luminaries, and the author's accomplished passion for drawing and painting.