Peter Falk’s life was a collision of grit, humor, and damage he never fully outran. Losing his eye as a toddler might have written him off, yet he weaponized it, turning vulnerability into a punchline and a shield. That same defiant energy powered Columbo: a working‑class trickster who made the mighty underestimate him, then quietly took their armor apart. But away from the set, the charm curdled. Friends and family recall nights soaked in alcohol and smoke, a man who could be magnetic in public and unreachable at home. His ambition and demons often arrived together, leaving strained marriages and wounded children in their wake. Still, audiences sensed something real behind the act — a tenderness hard‑won from pain. Falk endures because he never played invincible; he showed how brilliance and brokenness can inhabit the same, rumpled coat.