Abe Vigoda - # 125

Abe Vigoda, 'Barney Miller' and 'Godfather' Star, Dies at 94

He was number 125 on the list.

Abe Vigoda, the beloved actor known for playing Det. Fish on Barney Miller and mobster Sal Tessio in The Godfather, and for weathering years of mistaken reports about his death, died in his sleep in New Jersey on Tuesday, January 26, at the age of 94.

Audiences first got to know the actor in 1972’s The Godfather, when the then 51-year-old actor played Tessio, a longtime friend and associate of the Corleone family who’s killed when the Corleones find out he’s been working with a rival mob family.

In 1975, Vigoda began playing Det. Phil Fish on the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning ABC sitcom Barney Miller. Fish was a cantankerous New York City detective whose advancing age had led to a lot of physical ailments, namely a persistent hemorrhoids issue that fed his grumpiness and made the squad’s bathroom one of his frequent hangouts.

The role earned Vigoda three Emmy nominations, and led to a spin-off, Fish, in which an eventually-retired Fish and his wife Bernice (Florence Stanley) raised a group of foster children (including one played by a pre-Diff’rent Strokes Todd Bridges). The series ran for two seasons on ABC.

In author Louis Zorich’s 2009 book What Have You Done?: The Inside Stories of Auditioning, from the Ridiculous to the Sublime, Vigoda recalled how he was cast on Miller. He had completed his daily five-mile jog when he got a call from his agent, who told him to head to the studio to audition right away. He said he needed to take a shower first and change out of his running shorts.

“’No, no, no, go right now to Studio City, you’re very right for it, they know you from The Godfather, they want to see you,’” he said his agent told him. Vigoda arrived, still wearing the shorts and looking tired, which Miller producers Danny Arnold and Ted Flicker pointed out to him.

“’Of course I’m tired,’” he said he told them. “’I jogged five miles this morning, I’m exhausted.’”

The producers: “Yeah, yeah, tell me, you look like you have hemorrhoids.”

Vigoda: “What are you, a doctor or a producer?”

The star, born in Brooklyn on Feb. 24, 1921 to parents who immigrated from Russia, began his acting career in 1947, and appeared in several Broadway productions before his breakout role in The Godfather.

He also guest-starred on TV shows like Dark Shadows, Kojak, and Hawaii Five-0, and, post-Barney Miller and Fish, had memorable roles in Cannonball Run, Look Who’s Talking, Joe Versus the Volcano, and Good Burger.

Vigoda, who always looked a bit older than his actual age, also played along with what became a running joke: premature reports of his death. In 1982, People magazine mistakenly printed a story that referred to him as “the late” Abe Vigoda, which prompted him to pose, sitting up, in a coffin, holding a copy of People, for a photo that ran in Variety to prove he was very much alive.

Various TV reports, late-night TV hosts David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, and numerous Websites either mistakenly reported his death or poked fun at the idea that he was frequently the subject of such rumors. A pair of Websites — Abe Vigoda Status  and Is Abe Vigoda Dead?  — exist solely to keep tabs on whether or not he’s still alive, and Vigoda won a whole new fanbase for his good humor and longevity as faux reports of his death became a meme.

Filmography

Film

    Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) as Waiter (uncredited)

    The Godfather (1972) as Salvatore Tessio

    The Devil's Daughter (1973) as Alikhine

    The Don Is Dead (1973) as Don Talusso,

    The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd (1974) as Dominic Morrell

    Newman's Law (1974) as John Dellanzia

    The Godfather Part II (1974) as Salvatore Tessio

    Having Babies (1976) as Al Schneider

    The Cheap Detective (1978) as Sgt. Rizzuto

    Death Car on the Freeway (1979) as Mr. Frisch

    Gridlock (1980) as Herb

    The Big Stuffed Dog (1981) as Carnival Pitchman

    Cannonball Run II (1984) as Caesar

    The Stuff (1985) as Special Guest Star in Stuff Commercial (cameo)

    Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter (1986) as Detective Abe Fossi

    Plain Clothes (1987) as Mr. Wiseman

    Look Who's Talking (1989) as Grandpa

    Prancer (1989) as Orel Benton

    Keaton's Cop (1990) as Louis Keaton

    Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) as Chief of the Waponis

    Fist of Honor (1993) as Victor Malucci

    Sugar Hill (1993) as Gus Molino

    Me and the Kid (1993) as Pawn Broker

    Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) as Salvatore Valestra (voice)

    North (1994) as Alaskan Grandpa

    Home of Angels (1994) as Grandpa

    Jury Duty (1995) as Judge Powell

    The Misery Brothers (1995) as Don Frito Layleone

    Love Is All There Is (1996) as Rudy

    Saturday Night Live (1996) as himself

    Underworld (1996) as Will Cassady

    Good Burger (1997) as Otis

    Me and the Gods (1997) as Zeuz

    A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997) as Uncle Guy

    Witness to the Mob (1998) as Paul Castellano

    Just the Ticket (1999) as Arty

    Chump Change (2000) as The Frog

    Tea Cake or Cannoli (2000)

    Crime Spree (2003) as Angelo Giancarlo

    Farce of the Penguins (2007) as Penguin from Boca (voice)

    The Unknown Trilogy (2007) as Uncle Morty (segment "Frankie the Squirrel")

    Sweet Destiny (2014) (final film role)

Television

    Studio One (1949)

    Dark Shadows (cast member in 1969) as Ezra Braithwaite

    Toma (1973) as Donzer

    Mannix (1973) as Anton Valine

    Hawaii Five-O (1974) as Abe Kemper

    Barney Miller (cast member from 1975–1977)

    The Bionic Woman (1976) as Barlow

    Fish (1977–1978) as Det. Phil Fish

    The Comedy Company (1978) as Jake

    How to Pick Up Girls! (1978) as Nathan Perlmutter

    The Rockford Files (1978) as Phil 'The Dancer' Gabriel / Al Dancer

    B. J. and the Bear (1980) as Grandpa Ben Rule

    The Littlest Hobo (1980) as Howard Mattson

    As the World Turns (cast member in 1985)

    Tales from the Darkside – "A Choice of Dreams" (1986) as Jake Corelli

    Superboy (Season 1, Episode 3 "Back to Oblivion" – 1988) as Mr. Wagner

    Santa Barbara (cast member in 1989) as Lyle DeFranco

    Monster (ep. "The Gift" – 1990) as Dolan

    MacGyver (ep. 7 season 6) as Bill Cody

    Lucky Luke (1993) as Judge Rinehart

    Law & Order – "Remand" (1996) as Ret. Detective Landis

    Wings – "All about Christmas Eve" (1996) as Harry

    The Norm Show – "Norm,

Good Burger 1997 Crusading Social Worker" (1999) as Sal

    Late Night with Conan O'Brien (recurring) as Himself

    High School USA! (ep. 12, 2013) as Otto