Actor Peter Falk dies at age 83

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Peter Falk, an Emmy winning actor who played the absent-minded but smart police detective Columbo on hit 1970's television show "Columbo," has died, a family attorney said on Friday.

"Peter Falk, 83 year-old Academy Award nominee and star of television series, Columbo, died peacefully at his Beverly Hills home in the evening of June 23, 2011," said a statement issued by the attorney.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte and Alex Dobuzinskis, Editing by Sandra Maler)

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]