One of my favorite people is Peter Falk, who as well as being unique is wise. Unfortunately, at this writing, he’s suffering from Alzheimer’s.
When I turned fifty, I started to get in touch with my mortality in a really uncomfortable way. I asked Peter his feelings on the subject, and I’ll never forget his answer: “I figure if so many people have done it [died], I can do it.” It actually helped—a lot.
I once asked him to star in a movie I wrote. He loved the writing but said, “Nothing happens in this movie.” It was made, but Peter was right. It really wasn’t what we expect from a movie.
One day I took him to spend some time at Walter Matthau’s house. They had met but didn’t really know each other. As we left, I asked Peter what he thought of Walter. He said, “I never know what to say to Walter. I just don’t know what would interest him.”
Peter’s greatest charm is his ability to be interested in just about anything, a trait in which I’m sorely lacking. At a New Year’s Eve dinner I sat a close friend next to him. Afterward, I asked her what she thought of him. She said, “He’s more interested in what I have to say than I am.”
As big a treat as he was on Columbo, he was an even bigger treat in person.