Abe Vigoda

Known for ActingBorn 1921-02-24Died 2016-01-26New York City, New York, USA

Tall, dour-faced and slouch-shouldered character actor Abraham Charles Vigoda (February 24, 1921 – January 26, 2016) proved himself in both gritty dramatic roles, and as an actor with wonderful comedic timing. Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lena (Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, both Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a tailor on the Lower East Side. He made his first stage appearance at the age of 17 and plodded away in small theater shows for over 20 years. For the majority of film-goers, Vigoda first came to prominence in The Godfather (1972) as the double-crossing Tessio, pleading with Robert Duvall to get him off the hook "for old times' sake." He also appeared in its sequel. Vigoda had roles in a few nondescript TV films before landing the plum part of Sgt. Phil Fish on the brilliant sitcom Barney Miller (1974). Perhaps his best known role, Sgt. Fish proved popular enough to be spun off to his own (short-lived) series Fish (1977). With his long face and unusual looks, Vigoda remained in high demand in mafioso-type roles, and for a while in the mid-1980s, he was mistakenly believed to have been dead, leading producers to remark, "I need an Abe Vigoda type actor," not realizing Vigoda was still alive and well. The 1990s and beyond became busy again for him, with appearances in North (1994), The Misery Brothers (1995), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), and Crime Spree (2003). He continued acting into his 90s, surprising audiences with his entertaining style. Abe Vigoda died in his sleep on January 26, 2016 in Woodland Park, New Jersey.Read more

Movies & web series

Deadline

Farticus

The Sandy Duncan Show

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980

The Godfather

Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television

The Godfather Part II

Having Babies

MacGyver

Buck Rogers

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Toma

Family Guy

Murder, She Wrote

The Rockford Files

The Norm Show

The Littlest Hobo

The Captain and Tennille

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Law & Order

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Barney Miller

Touched by an Angel

Witness to the Mob

Tales from the Darkside

Kojak

Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special

Diagnosis: Murder

Tea Cakes or Cannoli

Dark Shadows

Hawaii Five-O

Monsters

Wings

The Bionic Woman

Tattletales

Dinah!

Mad About You

Vega$

Saturday Night Live

The Rookies

Harper Valley

Mannix

Weird Science

Toma

The Adventures of the Black Stallion

The Bob Hope Show

Promised Land

Cannon