Peter Falk brings emotion and experience to 'Roommates'

Published: Monday, March 6, 1995

Former 'Columbo' star portrays an irascible old curmudgeon in lastest film

By Lael Loewenstein

Daily Bruin Staff

For more than two decades, Peter Falk has been as closely identified with Lieutenant Columbo as that disheveled TV detective was with his trench coat. Now Falk has created another memorable character, Rocky Holeczek, the irrepressible grandfather in Roommates.

Under layers of make-up, Falk, 67, plays Polish immigrant Holeczek from age 75 to 107. The crusty, stubborn Rocky, based on the grandfather of writer Max Apple, made an indelible impression on Falk.

"Rocky is such a vivid guy, he's so memorable, I mean, he's an original," Falk says in his celebrated, often-imitated New York dialect. "He was an original in the sense that he was opinionated, narrow-minded and sometimes you wanted to strangle him, but in moments of crisis he would reveal a wisdom that was worthy of Buddha. And it was the combination of being that narrow-minded and that wise at the same time that I found unique."

When he read the script, Falk was struck by its range of tragic and comic scenes.

In the film, a sudden accident forces Rocky to keep the family together. The real Rocky's strength in times of tragedy was remarkable, Falk says.

"When a family has a crisis disease, death, divorce, unemployment, no money and one person is able to hold the family together so it doesn't splinter, that's unusual. But when that person is 103 years old!! He's indestructable, he's so tough, this little guy.

"He had a great way with words. When he was around 30 he had to have a gall bladder operation and he said (to the doctor), 'Take it out, and while you're in there, if you see anything else that might be a problem you can take that out too.'" Rocky lived for 78 years after that operation, working as a baker well into his 90s.

Although Rocky is one of his favorite roles, the veteran actor has played a number of career-making parts. A dozen years before "Columbo," when he first came to Hollywood, Falk garnered national recognition for his work.

"I think it's kinda funny," Falk says, reflecting on his surprising early success. "I came out here in '60, I'd made one picture (Murder, Inc.) and I got nominated for an Academy Award. In '61, I did another picture (Pocketful of Miracles) and got nominated for another Academy Award. Then I did 'The Price of Tomatoes' and got nominated (for an Emmy, and won). I said to my friends, 'How long has this been goin' on?' I mean, it all seemed so easy. And then, the reality hits," he says, laughing about the fact that there were no more nominations for another decade.

That drought ended in the '70s, when Falk earned a Tony Award for his work in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue" and several Emmys for "Columbo." That NBC series earned Falk a permanent spot in American popular culture for a part that still brings him work. He recently completed a "Columbo" TV-movie which will air in May.

With all the awards he has won it is surprising that Falk, a bona fide star, is so unpretentious.

He found that same quality in John Cassavetes, the independent director who defined himself by working outside of mainstream cinema. Falk made Husbands, his first of three films with Cassavetes, in 1970.

"John was like Rocky a true original. I've met a lot of extremely talented people. But John was more than talented. They say that the description of a genius is an African that dreams of snow. That was John. He saw the dawn about two hours before anybody else."

A case in point, Cassavetes' first film, Shadows (1961), depicted an interracial love relationship well before the civil rights movement. And Husbands was a picture about three middle class married men. "He made that film at a time when we had promiscuity and the (sexual) revolution and flower children. John was talking about family at a time when no one else was," Falk says.

As much as he admired Cassavetes, Falk found it occasionally frustrating to work with the director, who was a man of few words.

"You never knew what the hell the picture was about when you were making it with John. He used to make me crazy. I never could understand what he said. I think he was afraid to be too explicit for fear that his words would be retranslated into a cliché."

Unlike many directors who carefully instruct their actors, Cassavetes gave his actors few guidelines because he didn't want them to reduce their performances to a formula.

"I think he didn't want to give you the chance to say something like, 'How do I play embarrassment?'" Falk says. "John was dealing with ambiguity, so that any emotion at any given time had a mixture of meanings."

"He was uncomfortable with pretentiousness, even in the way he talked. I remember he once said, 'I'd rather work in a sewer than make a picture I didn't like.'"

It is no surprise that Falk and Cassavetes were so close: The same no-nonsense philosophy could apply to the actor, as well as to his latest role. Like Rocky Holeczek, Peter Falk is a true original.