As Detective Phil Fish on Barney Miller, he quickly became so popular that the character was spun off to his own program, simply titled Fish, to less success.
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A noted NY stage actor by the time Francis Ford Coppola came calling about “The Godfather”, Vigoda had not read the book and wasn’t thinking about mobster roles; he was Jewish, not Italian.
Veteran actor Abe Vigoda has enjoyed a career more vast and varied than many of his fellow performers, with a resumé that spans 65 years and includes everything from masterpieces like The Godfather to classic television like Barney Miller. Carol Vigoda Fuchs indicated that her father died due to “old age,” advising that he was “never sick”.
In the Godfather, he played Sal Tessio, a friend of patriarch Vito Corleone.
Vigoda was nominated for three Emmy awards for his performance as Fish.
Abraham Charles Vigoda was born in New York City in 1921 to Jewish immigrants from Russian Federation. ‘You know, you look like you might have hemorrhoids, ‘ Arnold said. He also reprised the role of Salvatore Tessio for a series of video games based on The Godfather in 2006 and 2007.
Unlike the creaky, lethargic Fish, Vigoda was a vigorous man who played handball regularly and was still jogging and working as an actor into his 80s. “More so than me”, Linden told CNN. Vigoda also was a frequent guest star on TV, with appearances on “Law & Order”, “Touched by an Angel”, “Mad About You” and many other shows.
Then the obsession with Vigoda’s death, or non-death, really took off on the Internet.
Vigoda told the New York Times he “learned to live” with questions of his mortality after his name often appeared on lists of living celebrities thought to be dead.
Vigoda worked in TV and movies well into his 80s.
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Vigoda’s second wife, Beatrice Schy, died in 1992.
