Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda

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For the band, see Abe Vigoda (band).

Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda, June 2007

Born
Abraham Charles Vigodah
February 24, 1921 (1921-02-24) (age 88)
New York City, New York, U.S.

Occupation
Actor

Years active
1949–present

Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigoda (born February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore Tessio in the 1972 film The Godfather, and for his role as Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975-1977.

He made regular appearances as himself (usually in skits relating to his "advanced age") on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and was honored with a cameo appearance on that show's final episode.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Early life and family
• 2 Career
• 3 False reports of his death
• 4 Filmography
• 5 Television work
• 6 References
• 7 External links

[edit] Early life and family

Vigoda was born in New York City, the son of Lena (née Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, Jewish immigrants from Russia.^[1][2] His father was a tailor and his brother Bill Vigoda was a comic-book artist who drew for the "Archie" comics franchise and others in the 1940s.^[3]

[edit] Career

Vigoda gained fame through his supporting character roles, notably as mobster Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972). He gained further fame playing Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on Barney Miller, and then led its brief spinoff Fish until it was cancelled in 1978. Before Barney Miller, he made a few appearances on the ABC-TV soap Dark Shadows. He has also appeared in several Broadway productions, including Marat/Sade (1967), The Man in the Glass Booth (1968), Inquest (1970), Tough to Get Help (1972), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1987).

On January 23, 2009, Abe Vigoda appeared live on The Today Show. He said he is doing well, joked about previous reports of his death and in fact announced he had just completed a voice-over for an H&R Block commercial to air during the Super Bowl.

Abe Vigoda resides on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

[edit] False reports of his death

In 1982, People magazine erroneously declared him dead. Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question. This rumor was nearly started again in 1987 when a reporter for Secaucus, New Jersey television station WWOR, Channel 9 erroneously referred to him as "the late Abe Vigoda".^{[citation needed]} She corrected herself on the air the next day.

Erroneous reports of Vigoda's death as well as questions of whether he is alive or dead have become a running joke:

• A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, "I'm not dead, you idiot!"
• In a Comedy Central Roast of Drew Carey, with Abe Vigoda present in the audience, comedian Jeffrey Ross stated "and my one regret is that Abe Vigoda isn't alive to see this." He followed that with "Drew, you go to Vegas, what's the over-under on Abe Vigoda?"
• In 2002, Greg Galcik recorded a song "Abe Vigoda's Dead", a parody of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus.
• In the show Yes, Dear Jimmy writes a song titled "Things I Think About at Work" with a line that says "I wonder if Abe Vigoda's still alive".
• A November 2006 Conan O'Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The "deceased person" turned out to be Vigoda.
• There is a website [1] devoted to his current status.

[edit] Filmography