Abe Vigoda dead: Godfather actor who played Sal Tessio dies aged 94

Actor Abe Vigoda who shot to fame as detective Phil Fish from the 1970s TV series Barney Miller, passed away on Tuesday.

Vigoda died in his sleep on Tuesday at his daughter’s home in New Jersey.

A reporter from the publication was at the party and noted the “late” Vigoda was not in attendance, coming as quite a surprise to the then-vigorous 60-year-old actor.

Following a long stint on the stage – on Broadway (The Man in the Glass Booth, Marat/Sade) and elsewhere – Vigoda landed the role of Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) ally-turned-traitor Salvatore Tessio in Francis Ford Coppola’s multiple Oscar-winning 1972 adaptation of Mario Puzo’s bestseller The Godfather. But he may be best remembered as Fish on the ABC sitcom “Barney Miller”, a role that led to a short-lived starring role on the spinoff “Fish“. He earned three Emmy nominations as part of the “Barney Miller” cast for best supporting actor.

He acted 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).

Aside from “The Godfather” and “Barney Miller”, Mr. Vigoda appeared in television movies and on many prime-time series such as “Law & Order”, “Mad About You” and “Touched by an Angel”. A ordinary person, like us Many people liked Fish because he had numerous same ordinary problems they did, Vigoda told the Los Angeles Times in 1982.

Born as Abraham Charles Vigoda in New York City on February 24, 1921, to Samuel Vigoda, a tailor, and the former Lena Moses, immigrants from Russian Federation.

LIMBONG: Abe Vigoda was a tall guy with hunched-over shoulders and droopy eyes, a distinctive character-actor. I said, ‘You must be joking.’ She said, ‘No, I’m not. “I found him to be a quiet man. He kept mostly to himself”, Vigoda told CNN in 2008.

The show lasted a season and a half.

“It seems he’d seen me in a play or plays”, Vigoda recalled. Vigoda worked steadily in theater and television for decades before gaining prominence with his roles in “The Godfather” and “Barney Miller”.

As the cranky Fish, the oldest of the detectives and a member of the force for almost 40 years, Vigoda often complained about his sore feet and yes, his hemorrhoids.

Vigoda’s wife, Beatrice, died in 1992.

The New York Times re-posted the actor’s comments.

Mistaken reports of his death returned to plague him in 1997 when he appeared in the film, Good Burger, as the character Otis the French Fry Man. In one scene, Otis responded, “I should’ve died years ago” to jokes about his advanced age, which came back to haunt him during a shopping trip to Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan.