An actor who became a household name and a familiar face through appearances on film and on TV has died.
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Vigoda’s daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, confirmed that he died Tuesday morning in his sleep at her home in Woodland Park, N.J.
But to be fair, “Mistaken reports of his death” is the third category in Vigoda’s Wikipedia profile, right after early life and career, and ahead of personal life, filmography, television work and sexual adventures while wearing sock garters. In 1972, Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the Oscar-winning gangster saga The Godfather, where he played the well-connected gangster Sal Tessio, gunning for power and Michael Corleone.
Later, after the dawn of the Internet, there was a website devoted to answering the much-Googled question, “Is Abe Vigoda dead?”. Phil Fish in the 1970s comedic series Barney Miller, which gained him widespread recognition. The popular show even had a spinoff based on his character, Fish, which aired from 1977 to 1978. In 2007 he lent his voice to the Godfather video games. “One of the last times I saw him was at this 90th birthday party a few years ago…He was the same, you still couldn’t get him off the microphone”.
IGN expresses its deepest condolences to Vigoda’s family and friends.
Vigoda apparently died of old age. David Letterman cracked Vigoda-is-dead jokes for years, and Conan O’Brien later frequently called on Vigoda for comedy cameos, gaining the actor a following of younger fans who ate up his “Droopy Dog” act and perhaps related to the perpetual annoyance with the world that he projected.
Vigoda appeared in an impressive number of films and television series throughout his long career, which began in 1947.
“Abe was essentially responsible for a whole genre of Abe Vigoda jokes because he took it so well”, said Ross. “They kept looking at me, as if to say, ‘What family is he from?’ ” Vigoda said. Well, I was tired and exhausted …
Born in 1921 in New York City, Abe Vigoda attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall.
“Tom, can you get me off the hook, for old time’s sake?” His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russian Federation, and his father worked as a tailor. But he just had that demeanor that made him look exhausted and old and he played it so well that you believed he was actually old.
He of course nailed the audition and won the part on Barney Miller.
Vigoda said the movie was his crowning achievement.
According to Ross, Vigoda’s understated sense of humor set the tone for a generation of comics.
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He was seen in dozens of movies as well, including “Cannonball Run II” (1984), “Look Who’s Talking” (1989), “Joe Versus the Volcano” (1990), “Sugar Hill” (1993) and “Underworld” (1996).
