Peter Falk Roasted Frank Sinatra in Character as “Columbo” While Promoting the Last Season of the Show's Original Run

Angela AndaloroThu, May 14, 2026 at 4:11 PM UTC

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Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo (left), Frank Sinatra
Credit: NBC via Getty; Bettmann -

Peter Falk played Lt. Columbo on Columbo across three decades of his career

The actor, who died in 2011, once took part in the roast of Frank Sinatra while in character

Falk had many memorable moments and cemented a place in history with his portrayal of the detective character

Peter Falk had some fun in what he thought would be his final days working on Columbo.

What was at the time the final season of the beloved detective series, part of The NBC Mystery Movie lineup, began in November 1977. In an appearance promoting the season, Falk appeared on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Frank Sinatra in February 1978.

Falk's appearance saw him appear alongside fellow roasters Orson Welles, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Telly Savalas, Ernest Borgnine and Ronald Reagan, while staying in character as Columbo. The actor had the audience in continuous laughter as he babbled through a speech, never once breaking character as the stars and the singer himself reacted.

During the roast, Falk as Columbo kept his jabs good-natured and focused on trying to get Sinatra to give his wife an autograph. He also revealed a bit of Columbo trivia, confirming the sleuth's first name was Frank. The roast marked the actor's final appearance as Columbo for nearly a decade until the show returned for season 8 in 1989.

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The final episode of the original series aired on May 13, 1978. It featured Columbo tracking down Joe Devlin (Clive Revilla), a poet who was also a gunrunner for the Irish Republican Army.

Columbo's last line is "This far, and no farther," echoing Devlin's mantra throughout the episode. The phrase actually originates from a speech by 19th-century Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) leader Charles Stewart Parnell.

Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo
Credit: NBC via Getty

Falk, who died in 2011 at the age of 83, per The New York Times, famously had a glass eye, which became a signature trait of his detective character.

The actor won three Emmys for the role during the original run, in 1972, 1975 and 1976. Over a decade after the seventh season, the show was revived by ABC as part of The ABC Mystery Movie in 1989.

The actor returned to portray the bumbling detective in later iterations of the show, and continued to do so through 2003. He even earned one more Emmy in 1990, cementing his and the character's legacy.

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