Peter Falk has passed away at age 83:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/06/24/peter-falk-rip.aspx

I usually put these down in "Off-Topic," but his passing is that of a chess player. He was on the cover of Chess Life, and I met him at the U.S. Open in 1983. He was kind enough to give me an autograph.

I don't believe he ever played a USCF tournament, but he was an active follower of the game.

Yes, a television era has passed, in that, Lieutenant Columbo has died!


Chess Fan

Weirdly, on Wednesday just gone I made the mistake of thinking he had already passed away. I thought I was listening to an interview with him on the radio then worked out it was tennis coach Nick Bolletieri, and thought to myself 'Peter Falk died a few years ago anyway, didn't he?'. What an odd coincidence...

Indeed odd, Kevin, indeed odd.

Columbo, right after the Fischer-Spassy match, had an episode with Laurence Harvey as an American grandmaster who murders his Slavic rival. I wonder if that episode is on Hulu or something.

It is also interesting that none of the other series became cultural icons: not McMillan and Wife, Hec Ramsey, Banacek, McCloud, only Columbo.

My only problem with the Columbo series is somebody would have shot him for meddling, even if it was too late to matter. You don't confront a suspect by yourself in an uncontrolled environment and let them know what you know. Any detective will tell you that's just foolish.

Coincidence? I was just using "Push the button, Max!" as a sig line last week.

Actually, I was surprised in the series that someone didn't shoot Columbo just for being annoying. I see on the news that police colleges now teach a questioning technique they call the "Columbo method".