Abraham Charles Vigodah (born February 24, 1921), best known as Abe Vigoda, is an American movie and television actor.
Vigoda was born in New York City to Lena and Samuel Vigodah, Jewish immigrants from Russia. His brother Bill Vigoda was a comic-book artist who drew for the "Archie" comics franchise and others in the 1940s.
Vigoda gained fame through his supporting character roles, notably as mobster Sal Tessio in the 1972 movie The Godfather. He later played Detective Sgt. Fish on the television series Barney Miller and its spinoff Fish. Before Barney Miller, he made a few appearances on the ABC-TV soap Dark Shadows. He has appeared on Broadway in Marat/Sade (1967), The Man in the Glass Booth (1968), Inquest (1970), Tough to Get Help (1972), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1987).
He has been mentioned in popular works by artists such as the Beastie Boys and Liz Phair and The Dickies "Stuck in a Pagoda with Tricia Toyota". He makes regular appearances as himself (usually in skits relating to his age) on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Vigoda resides on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
In 1982, People magazine erroneously declared him dead. Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question. This rumor was nearly started again in 1987 when a reporter for Secaucus, New Jersey television station WWOR, Channel 9 erroneously referred to him as "the late Abe Vigoda". She corrected herself on the air the next day.
Erroneous reports of Vigoda's death as well as questions of whether he is alive or dead have become a running joke:
Vigoda's name is mentioned in the rap group the Beastie Boys' song Posse in Effect off their 1986 album Licensed To Ill. In Walter Becker's album, 'Cirus Money' (2008), Becker is pictured with his engineer, Larry Klein. The caption below the photo reads: "Not shown: Skip Gildersleeve and Abe Vigoda. When asked about this reference, Vigoda claimed not to have known, but said "I suppose that's an honor!".
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