#12: A Studio Boss Once Rejected Peter Falk for Having One Eye
Peter Falk lost his right eye to cancer when he was just three years old. Years later, after a screen test at Columbia Pictures, studio head Harry Cohn brutally dismissed him, saying, “For the same price, I can get an actor with two eyes.”
Cohn wasn’t just anyone — he was the powerful, notoriously ruthless boss of Columbia Pictures, known for shaping classic Hollywood careers and crushing others just as easily. Falk’s unconventional look didn’t fit old-school studio ideals, but it eventually became part of what made Columbo unforgettable. The rejection aged very badly.