Daughter in fight over Columbo star's Alzheimer's (2024)

The absent-mindedness and dishevelled appearance are now tragically real as Peter Falk, who played the scatterbrained detective in the shabby mac in the Columbo crime series on TV in the 70s, is now reportedly suffering from Alzheimer's disease and is stuck at the centre of an unhappy family feud.

The ageing actor looks sprightly enough in clips on the YouTube website of him playing priest Father Randolph earlier this year in the forthcoming offbeat comedy film American Cowslip, but papers filed by his daughter Catherine Falk in Los Angeles Superior Court last week tell a different and much sadder story. The 81-year-old Falk, twice an Oscar nominee, suffers from Alzheimer's disease and has become unable to care for himself, she stated.

She has asked to become his "conservator", or legal guardian, and also claims that she has been prevented from seeing her father since spring by her stepmother. A court hearing has been set for 27 January.

According to court documents, Falk "requires full-time custodial care for his health and safety" and is no longer able to protect himself against "fraud or undue influence". His daughter also asserted that her father could not "recognise his physical needs or communicate those needs to others who can meet them".

The details behind the formal language are unclear, but, a former private investigator herself, this is not the first time Catherine Falk has resorted to legal action to try to influence her father during their troubled relationship. In 1992 she filed a lawsuit against him after he apparently stopped paying her college fees. They settled out of court.

Peter Falk lives in Beverly Hills with his second wife, Shera Danese. She was a guest star in the Columbo series and she and Falk were married in 1977. He divorced his first wife, Alyce Mayo, in 1976 after 16 years, during which the couple adopted two daughters, Catherine and Jackie.

In addition to the court documents filed last week, Catherine Falk has claimed through her lawyer, Steven Hogan, that Shera Danese Falk has "cruelly" prevented her "and others" from visiting Peter since Father's Day in June. "He has Alzheimer's that has gotten significantly worse. She wants to make sure he gets the care he needs," Hogan said last week.

Court papers assert that Peter Falk is so ill that he can no longer "recognise familiar people, places and things". Not only does he forget major events in his life but he now "remembers events that did not occur", his daughter reported.

Confusion surrounds the star's alleged illness and family relations. Neither he nor his wife have spoken out about the situation so far.

His daughter also revealed in legal filings that six months ago the actor "lost control" of his car and suffered a head injury after crashing into an office building. And the papers claim Peter Falk "is unable to manage his financial resources or to resist fraud or undue influence" and can "easily be deceived into transferring away property".

An incident with the paparazzi hit the headlines in April when he was photographed acting bizarrely in what was described as a "flare-up" in the street near his Beverly Hills home, where he was reportedly wandering in a daze. Passers-by called the police when they witnessed a kerfuffle, but Falk assured the arriving officers that there was nothing amiss - he had simply been out for a walk and was returning home, media reports said at the time.

It was never clear whether the lurking photographers captured Falk behaving oddly or whether their presence or behaviour caused him to become agitated. In the most recent pictures published of him he looked unkempt and overweight.

In his heyday he was charmingly scruffy as the character Lieutenant Columbo, whose trademark line was to spin around just as he was exiting from interviewing a "suspect" and demand "just one more thing". It became a global hit and he won the Emmy award five times, as well as a Golden Globe.

A native New Yorker, Falk was twice nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar - in 1960 and 1961, for his roles in Murder, Inc and Pocketful of Miracles. He played a cab driver in the all-star comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He has also excelled on stage, including starring off-Broadway in Arthur Miller's Mr Peters' Connections in 1998.

British film-maker Firefly finished shooting American Cowslip last December. Executive producer Matthew Hobbs said "everyone had been very happy" with Falk's work on the film. He said it was scheduled for release in March 2009 and that, although he had not been on set, all reports from writers, director and crew were that Falk had been a "great fellow" during filming.

"Everyone felt very lucky, gifted and blessed to have him as part of the shoot. He is a very talented actor," Hobbs said. He had had no reports of any problems during the making of the film.