Peter Falk Is Gone. Long Live Peter Falk!

I’ll have more to say this afternoon about the Columbo star’s death, but for now, here are the basics, courtesy of the Associated Press:

Peter Falk, the stage and movie actor who became identified as the squinty, rumpled detective in Columbo, which spanned 30 years in prime-time television and established one of the most iconic characters in movie police work, has died. He was 83.

Falk died Thursday in his Beverly Hills home, according to a statement released Friday by family friend Larry Larson.

READ MORE: “Peter Falk, TV’s Columbo, Dead at 83,” by Greg Braxton (Los Angeles Times).