Abe Vigoda

Tall, dour-faced and slouch-shouldered character actor Abraham Charles Vigoda (February 24, 1921 – January 26, 2016) proved himself in both gritty dramatic roles, and as an actor with wonderful comedic timing. Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lena (Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, both Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a tailor on the Lower East Side. He made his first stage appearance at the age of 17 and plodded away in small theater shows for over 20 years. For the majority of film-goers, Vigoda first came to prominence in The Godfather (1972) as the double-crossing Tessio, pleading with Robert Duvall to get him off the hook "for old times' sake." He also appeared in its sequel. Vigoda had roles in a few nondescript TV films before landing the plum part of Sgt. Phil Fish on the brilliant sitcom Barney Miller (1974). Perhaps his best known role, Sgt. Fish proved popular enough to be spun off to his own (short-lived) series Fish (1977). With his long face and unusual looks, Vigoda remained in high demand in mafioso-type roles, and for a while in the mid-1980s, he was mistakenly believed to have been dead, leading producers to remark, "I need an Abe Vigoda type actor," not realizing Vigoda was still alive and well. The 1990s and beyond became busy again for him, with appearances in North (1994), The Misery Brothers (1995), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), and Crime Spree (2003). He continued acting into his 90s, surprising audiences with his entertaining style. Abe Vigoda died in his sleep on January 26, 2016 in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

Known For: Acting

Born: New York City, New York, USA, 1921-02-24

Died: 2016-01-26

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1965	Three Rooms in Manhattan	Waiter (uncredited)	60
2	1972	The Godfather	Sal Tessio	87
3	1973	The Devil's Daughter	Alikhine	65
4	1973	Toma	Donzer	75
5	1973	The Don Is Dead	Don Talusso	60
6	1974	The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd	Dominic Morrell	40
7	1974	Newman's Law	John Dellanzia	61
8	1974	The Godfather Part II	Salvatore 'Sal' Tessio	86
9	1976	Joys	Self	40
10	1976	Having Babies	Al Schneider	60
11	1976	Dean Martin's Red Hot Scandals of 1926	Self	0
12	1978	The Cheap Detective	Sergeant Rizzuto	63
13	1978	The Comedy Company	Jake	20
14	1978	How to Pick Up Girls!	Nathan Perlmutter	20
15	1979	Death Car on the Freeway	Mr. Frisch	53
16	1980	Gridlock	Herb	60
17	1981	The Big Stuffed Dog	Carnival Pitchman	30
18	1981	The Godfather 1901–1959: The Complete Epic	Salvatore "Sal" Tessio (uncredited)	94
19	1984	Cannonball Run II	Caesar	54
20	1985	The Stuff	Stuff Commercial Spokesman	60
21	1986	Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter	Abe	10
22	1988	Plain Clothes	Mr. Wiseman	60
23	1989	Look Who's Talking	Grandpa	63
24	1989	Prancer	Orel Benton	59
25	1990	Keaton's Cop	Louis Keaton	37
26	1990	Joe Versus the Volcano	Chief of the Waponis	58
27	1990	Night of 100 Stars III	Self	40
28	1993	Fist of Honor	Victor Malucci	53
29	1993	Me and the Kid	Pawn Broker	47
30	1993	Batman: Mask of the Phantasm	Salvatore Valestra (voice)	75
31	1994	Home of Angels		0
32	1994	Sugar Hill	Gus Molino	56
33	1994	North	Alaskan Grandpa	50
34	1995	The Misery Brothers	Don Frito Layleone	20
35	1995	Jury Duty	Judge Powell	44
36	1996	Love Is All There Is	Rudy	51
37	1996	Underworld	Will Cassady	50
38	1996	A Christmas Journey Home	Grandpa	0
39	1997	Farticus	Zeus	0
40	1997	Good Burger	Otis	61
41	1998	A Brooklyn State of Mind	Uncle Guy	48
42	1998	Just the Ticket	Arty	55
43	1998	Witness to the Mob	Paul Castellano	71
44	2000	Chump Change	The Frog	35
45	2000	Tea Cakes or Cannoli		0
46	2003	Crime Spree	Angelo Giancarlo	56
47	2003	Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special	Self	68
48	2006	Farce of the Penguins	Penguin from Boca (voice)	40
49	2008	The Unknown Trilogy	Uncle Morty (segment "Frankie the Squirrel")	20
50	2013	Cutaways		0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Studio One	Old Train Passenger	50
2	1949	Suspense		49
3	1950	The Bob Hope Show	Self	70
4	1962	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Self	75
5	1966	Dark Shadows		72
6	1967	Mannix	Anton Valine	67
7	1968	Hawaii Five-O	Abe Kemper	71
8	1969	Love, American Style	Mr. Burdick (uncredited)	61
9	1971	Cannon		65
10	1972	The Rookies		68
11	1972	The Sandy Duncan Show		0
12	1973	Toma		78
13	1973	Kojak	Kilty	70
14	1974	Tattletales		60
15	1974	The Rockford Files	Al Dancer	75
16	1974	The Rockford Files	Phil 'The Dancer' Gabriel	75
17	1974	Tony Orlando and Dawn	Self	35
18	1975	Barney Miller	Philip Fish	73
19	1975	Barney Miller	Det. Phil Fish (uncredited)	73
20	1975	Barney Miller	Det. Phil Fish	73
21	1975	Saturday Night Live	Self - Cameo (uncredited)	70
22	1976	The Bionic Woman		70
23	1976	The Captain and Tennille	Self	55
24	1977	Fish	Phil Fish	57
25	1977	Eight Is Enough		60
26	1977	The Love Boat	Charlie Fletcher	63
27	1977	Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television	Salvatore "Sal" Tessio (uncredited)	86
28	1978	Vega$		70
29	1979	Sweepstakes		0
30	1979	Supertrain		43
31	1979	B. J. and the Bear		55
32	1979	The Littlest Hobo		73
33	1981	Harper Valley		63
34	1984	Murder, She Wrote	George	75
35	1984	Tales from the Darkside	Jake Corelli	72
36	1985	MacGyver	Bill Cody	77
37	1988	Superboy		64
38	1988	Monsters		71
39	1989	B.L. Stryker	Clayton Baskin	60
40	1990	Wings	Harry	69
41	1990	Law & Order	Detective Landis	74
42	1992	The Adventures of the Black Stallion		63
43	1992	Lucky Luke	Judge Rinehart	57
44	1992	Mad About You	Kalman Wertzel	67
45	1993	Diagnosis: Murder	Alfredo Bartolo / Al Bartell / Mr. Johnson	71
46	1994	Weird Science		67
47	1994	Touched by an Angel	Receptionist Angel	72
48	1996	Promised Land		66
49	1999	Family Guy	Abe Vigoda (voice)	74
50	1999	The Norm Show		70
51	2000	Deadline	Joseph Spiaggio	0
52	2003	TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV		0

Abe Vigoda

Film

Television