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Abe Vigoda

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Abe Vigoda

This article is about the actor. For the band, see Abe Vigoda (band).
Abe Vigoda
Born Abraham Charles Vigodah
February 24, 1921 (1921-02-24) (age 87)
New York City, U.S.
Other name(s) Abe Vigoda
Occupation Actor
Years active 1949 – Present

Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigodah (born February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor.

Early life and family

Vigoda was born in New York City, the son of Lena (née Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, Jewish immigrants from Russia.[1][2] His father was a tailor and his brother Bill Vigoda was a comic-book artist who drew for the "Archie" comics franchise and others in the 1940s.[3]

Career

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.

False reports of his death

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".[citation needed] 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:

  • A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, "I'm not dead, you idiot!"
  • In a Comedy Central Roast of Drew Carey, with Abe Vigoda present in the audience, comedian Jeffrey Ross stated "and my one regret is that Abe Vigoda isn't alive to see this." He followed that with "Drew, you go to Vegas, what's the over-under on Abe Vigoda?"
  • In 2002, Greg Galcik recorded a song "Abe Vigoda's Dead", a parody of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus.
  • In the show "Yes, Dear" Jimmy writes a song titled "Things I Think About at Work" with a line that says "I wonder if Abe Vigoda's still alive".
  • The Web site at abevigoda.com, run by an outside party, has as its sole purpose a status announcement of whether the actor is alive or dead.
  • In 2004, Bob Vesterman created the "Abe Vigoda Status" add-on for the Firefox web browser. General release of the extension on February 14, 2005 overwhelmed abevigoda.com with traffic.
  • Additionally, a Facebook application, also called "Abe Vigoda Status" and based on the abevigoda.com website, displays the actor's photo and status announcement on users' profiles.
  • A November 2006 Conan O'Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The "deceased person" turned out to be Vigoda.
  • A Twitter account, abevigoda, sends several humorous messages a day that as of Sept 2008 have indicated he's alive.

Trivia

In Walter Becker's album, Circus 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!".[4]

Filmography

Upcoming:

Television work

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Census, April 1, 1930, State of New York, County of Kings, Borough of Brooklyn, enumeration district 566, p. 14-A, family 10.
  2. ↑ http://www.filmreference.com/film/8/Abe-Vigoda.html
  3. ↑ Excerpts from interview with artist Gil Kane, The Comics Journal #186 (April 1986)
  4. ↑ Snapshot of Abe Vigoda holding Circus Money CD.

External links

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Articles with unsourced statements since January 2008
1921 births
American film actors
American Jews
American television actors
Jewish actors
Living people
People from New York City

History

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