Vigoda told the New York Times in a 2001 interview that the movie changed his life. In this, he was greatly aided by his long, mournful face and basset-hound eyes.
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To continue the comedy train, there’s the 1989 film Look Who’s Talking.
For a man who became famous in his later years for the number of times his death was erroneously reported, Abe Vigoda became something of a survivor, and took the various declarations of his death with good humour.
Vigoda, who through handball and jogging was actually in terrific physical condition well into his senior years, said he identified with Fish because of his own struggle as an actor. He tapped Vigoda to portray Salvatore Tessio, an underworld figure who tries to betray Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone and pays the price. Vigoda stars as Travolta’s character’s grandfather.
“He took it in good humour and so on, and so I went and met him and chatted with him and took a picture of him jogging down the street denying he was dead”, said Geddes, now senior digital producer at CBC Edmonton. He has played in over 65 works in film and television and has been nominated for a prime time Emmy award three years in a row. In 1977, he starred in the spinoff, Fish, which ran until 1978. One of his last performances was in a Snickers commercial, first shown during the 2010 Super Bowl, which also featured his fellow octogenarian Betty White.
According to Ross, Vigoda’s understated sense of humor set the tone for a generation of comics.
The role was a springboard to a number of others, including his turn as Det. However, his previous successes continued to trail him. He even lent his signature gravelly voice to the animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
Born in New York City in 1921, Vigoda attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall. He began actor in his teens.
In between he appeared onstage in NY, 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.
The same mistake was repeated in 1987 when a WWOR television reporter in Secaucus, New Jersey, called him “the late Abe Vigoda”.
Since then, his mistaken death reports have become a running joke in the industry. On an episode of “Late Night With David Letterman”, when the host tried to conjure up Vigoda’s ghost, the actor walked on stage and stated, “I’m not dead yet, you pinhead!”
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“I’m really not a Mafia person”, Vigoda would tell Vanity Fair in 2009. His second wife Beatrice Schy passed away in 1992. Vigoda is made due by his little girl, grandchildren Jamie, Paul and Steven, and an incredible grandson.
