Actor Abe Vigoda,
best known for his roles as mobster Tessio in “The Godfather” and
as Detective Sgt. Fish in TV’s “Barney Miller” and a spinoff
series in which he starred, has died. He was 94 and died in New
Jersey of natural causes, his daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs told the
Associated Press.
The tall character
actor with the characteristically slouched shoulders and hangdog face
became something of a pop culture figure due to repeated false
reports of his demise, which became the subject of jokes. Reflecting
his somewhat odd celebrity was the existence of a punk rock band
named Abe Vigoda; his recurring appearances in the late 2000s on
“Late Night With Conan O’Brien”; and the existence of a website
named Isabevigodadead.com, which for years consisted simply of a
blank page with the word No.
As Tessio in the Godfather movies |
Vigoda made his
feature debut in a bit part in Marcel Carne’s 1965 effort “Three
Rooms in Manhattan,” but the stage actor was essentially unknown
when he was cast in “The Godfather” as the ultimately disloyal
Tessio in 1972, having landed the part in an open call. In the wake
of “The Godfather,” in which Vigoda managed to make an impression
despite the amount of high-powered acting talent in the film, the
middle-aged actor became in demand. On the bigscreen, he appeared in
the 1973 mob drama “The Don Is Dead” and 1974 crime drama
“Newman’s Law,” and he reprised his role as Tessio in a
flashback in “The Godfather: Part II.”
As Fish in Barney Miller |
Younger audiences
might recognize him as the tribal chieftain in the Tom Hanks comedy
“Joe Versus the Volcano” (1990), which was a box office failure
but developed a cult following.
Meanwhile, after a
few guest roles on TV series, Vigoda was cast as the aged,
malady-laden and slow-moving cop Phil Fish in ABC police sitcom
“Barney Miller,” which started its long run in 1974. The
character was so popular that the network launched a spinoff, simply
titled “Fish,” in 1977. For a while, Vigoda appeared on both
series. (The actor riffed on his cop role in Peter Falk feature
comedy “The Cheap Detective” in 1978.) Vigoda also guested on
series including “Hawaii Five-O,” “Kojak,” “The Bionic
Woman,” “The Rockford Files” and “Eight Is Enough.”
Born in New York,
Abraham Vigoda made appearances in very early television — episodes
of “Suspense” and “Studio One in Hollywood” in 1949 and an
episode of “All Star Revue” in 1951 — but then disappeared from
the medium until he began guesting on series starting with “Dark
Shadows” in 1969.
In between he
appeared onstage in New York, including roles in “Richard III” in
1960 and 1961, “The Cherry Orchard” in 1962-63, “A Darker
Flower” in 1963 and “The Cat and the Canary” in 1965. He first
hit Broadway with a role in a revival of “The Persecution and
Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat” in 1967, followed by “The Man
in the Glass Booth” in 1968-69 and “Inquest” in 1970.
During the 1980s
and ’90s, he appeared on shows including “The New Mike Hammer,”
“Tales From the Darkside,” “MacGyver,” “Murder, She Wrote,”
“Law and Order” and “Wings”; he also did stints on a pair of
soaps, “As the World Turns” and “Santa Barbara.” In 1998
Vigoda played gangster Paul Castellano in the NBC telepic “Witness
to the Mob.”
The actor also
enjoyed steady film work, including in “Joe Versus the Volcano.”
He played the judge in the Pauly Shore comedy “Jury Duty” and
appeared in small roles as grandpas and gangsters in a stream of
low-profile pics during the 1990s and 2000s.
In 1986-87 he
starred on Broadway in a revival of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
During the 2010
Super Bowl, Vigoda appeared with Betty White in a commercial for
Snickers candy bars.
Vigoda’s wife
Beatrice died in 1992. He is survived by a daughter.
--- Extract from Variety
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