Editing Peter Falk (section)

===Stage career===
[[File:Peter Falk NBC 1967 You Don't Say!.jpg|thumb|upright|On the television game show ''[[You Don't Say!]]'' in 1967]]
While working in Hartford, Falk joined a community theater group called the Mark Twain Masquers, where he performed in plays that included ''[[The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (play)|The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial]]'', ''[[The Crucible]]'', and ''[[The Country Girl (1954 film)|The Country Girl]]'' by [[Clifford Odets]]. Falk also studied with [[Eva Le Gallienne]], who was giving an acting class at the [[White Barn Theatre]] in [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]], Connecticut. Falk later recalled how he "lied his way" into the class, which was for professional actors. He drove down to Westport from Hartford every Wednesday, when the classes were held, and was usually late.<ref name='Cigar'/> In his 1997 interview with [[Arthur Marx]] in ''Cigar Aficionado'' Magazine, Falk said of Le Gallienne: "One evening when I arrived late, she looked at me and asked, 'Young man, why are you always late?' and I said, 'I have to drive down from Hartford.'" She looked down her nose and said, "What do you do in Hartford? There's no theater there. How do you make a living acting?" Falk confessed he was not a professional actor. According to him Le Gallienne looked at him sternly and said: "Well, you should be." He drove back to Hartford and quit his job.<ref name='Cigar'/> Falk stayed with the Le Gallienne group for a few months more, and obtained a letter of recommendation from Le Galliene to an agent at the [[William Morris Agency]] in New York.<ref name='Cigar'/> In 1956, he left his job with the Budget Bureau and moved to [[Greenwich Village]] to pursue an acting career.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peterfalk.com/BIO2.htm |title=Peter Falk Biography |website=Official website of Peter Falk |access-date=January 7, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205143942/http://peterfalk.com/BIO2.htm}}</ref>

Falk's first New York stage role was in an [[off-Broadway]] production of [[Molière]]'s ''[[Don Juan]]'' at the Fourth Street Theatre that closed after its only performance on January 3, 1956. Falk played the second lead, Sganarelle.{{sfn|Falk|2006|p=42}} His next theater role proved far better for his career. In May, he appeared as Rocky Pioggi at [[Circle in the Square]] in a revival of ''[[The Iceman Cometh]]'' directed by [[Jose Quintero]], with [[Jason Robards]] playing the lead role of Theodore "Hickey" Hickman.<ref name='OfficialBio'/><ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Falk |publisher=[[Lortel Archives]], [[Lucille Lortel]] Foundation |work=Internet Off Broadway Database |url=http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Peter&last=Falk&middle= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720122750/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Peter&last=Falk&middle= |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 20, 2009 |access-date=January 31, 2009}}</ref>

Later in 1956, Falk made his Broadway debut, appearing in [[Alexander Ostrovsky]]'s ''[[Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man|Diary of a Scoundrel]]''. As the year came to an end, he appeared again on Broadway as an English soldier in [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]]'s ''[[Saint Joan (play)|Saint Joan]]'' with [[Siobhán McKenna]].<ref name='IBDB'>{{IBDB name|40121}}</ref> Falk continued to act in summer stock theater productions, including a staging of [[Arnold Schulman]]'s ''[[A Hole in the Head]]'', at the Colonie Summer Theatre (near Albany, NY) in July 1962; it starred [[Priscilla Morrill]].

In 1972, Falk appeared in Broadway's ''[[The Prisoner of Second Avenue]]''. According to film historian [[Ephraim Katz]]: "His characters derive added authenticity from his squinty gaze, the result of the loss of an eye..."<ref>Katz, Ephraim. ''The Film Encyclopedia'', HarperCollins (1998) p. 436</ref> However, this production caused Falk a great deal of stress, both on and offstage. He struggled with memorizing a short speech, spending hours trying to memorize three lines. The next day at rehearsal, he reported behaving strangely and feeling a tingling sensation in his neck. This caught the attention of a stage manager, who told him to go "take a [[Valium]]". Only later did Falk realize he was having an [[anxiety attack]]. He would not go on to perform in any other plays, citing both this incident and his preference for acting in film and [[television productions]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kramer |first1=Carol |title=The 'Conceit' of Playing Lt. Columbo |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/376949052/ |access-date=January 13, 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=February 6, 1972}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Falk admitted that one form of acting gave him an ''anxiety attack'' |url=https://www.metv.com/stories/peter-falk-admitted-that-one-form-of-acting-gave-him-an-anxiety-attack|access-date=January 13, 2024 |website=Me-TV Network |language=en}}</ref>