Peter Falk: Charity Work & Causes

Peter Falk is best remembered for his role as Columbo.

He was a passionate supporter of PETA. In 1989, he helped the organization defeat Bobby Berosini, the Las Vegas animal trainer who was caught beating the orangutans he used in his nightclub act.

In 2000, he penned a letter to law-enforcement officials, reminding them that people who abuse and kill animals rarely stop there; cruelty to animals is often a precursor to other violent crimes.

“You don’t have to be a detective to know that Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the young shooters at Columbine High School all had something in common: Each of them abused or killed animals before murdering humans,” he wrote in the letter. "Did you know, however, that every high-profile young assailant involved in a school massacre recently (from Springfield, Ore., to West Paducah, Ky.) has had a history of torturing or killing animals?

“Please remind your officers and staff that torturing animals is not innocent childhood behavior, it is a chilling sign of violent acts to come. If they take it seriously, they can go beyond solving crimes—to actually preventing them.”

On PETA’s behalf, Peter wrote to the Fraternal Order of Police to ask police and sheriff’s departments not to use elephants in fundraisers.

He also only let cruelty-free cosmetics to be used on the set of Columbo.