Abe Vigoda#False reports of his death

Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 24, 1921,{{cite book| last1=Hamrick|first1=Craig|last2=Jamison|first2=R. J.|title=Barnabas & Company: The Cast of the TV Classic Dark Shadows |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wybe87Ui7x8C&pg=PA445|year=2012|publisher=iUniverse|location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1-4759-1034-6| page=445}} the son of Samuel Vigoda and Lena Moses, Jewish immigrants from Russia.US Census, April 1, 1930, State of New York, County of Kings, Borough of Brooklyn, enumeration district 566, p. 14-A, family 10. His father was a tailor who had two other sons: Hy and Bill. The latter was a comic book artist who drew for the Archie Comics franchise and others in the 1940s.{{cite web |title=Gil Kane, Interviewed by Gary Groth| format = excerpt| url= http://archives.tcj.com/2_archives/i_kane.html| work =The Comics Journal| number= 186| access-date=January 7, 2014| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120406102544/http://archives.tcj.com/2_archives/i_kane.html|archive-date=April 6, 2012|url-status=dead}} After leaving school, Vigoda worked as a printer before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1943, serving in World War II. After his military service, he studied acting on the G.I. Bill at the American Theatre Wing. In the late 1940s, he began working in radio, and made his television debut in an installment of the live drama series Studio One.{{cite news | url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12125433/Abe-Vigoda-actor-obituary.html |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160603163103/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12125433/Abe-Vigoda-actor-obituary.html |title = Abe Vigoda, actor | format= obituary| work =The Telegraph| archivedate = 2016-06-03| accessdate= March 19, 2020}}

File:Abe Vigoda Fish 1977.jpg in Fish (1977)]]

Vigoda began acting while in his 20s, working with the American Theatre Wing.{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/abe-vigoda-259337|title=Abe Vigoda Biography|work=A+E Networks|access-date=February 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326215810/https://www.biography.com/people/abe-vigoda-259337|archive-date=March 26, 2019}} His career as a professional actor began in 1947.{{cite news|first=Lee|last=Marguiles|agency=Associated Press|work=Youngstown Vindicator|title=Fame Comes Late to "Sad-faced" Vigoda|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DIVJAAAAIBAJ&pg=1234,872952&dq=fish+vigoda&hl=en|date=April 18, 1976|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=January 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129082032/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DIVJAAAAIBAJ&pg=1234%2C872952&dq=fish+vigoda&hl=en|url-status=live}}

He gained acting notability in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his work in Broadway productions, including Marat/Sade (1967), portraying Mad Animal; The Man in the Glass Booth (1968), portraying Landau; Inquest (1970); and Tough to Get Help (1972), portraying Abraham Lincoln.

His best known film role is that of Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972). He also appeared briefly in The Godfather Part II, in a flashback sequence at the end of the film.{{cite book|last=Schumacher|first=Michael|title=Francis Ford Coppola: a filmmaker's life|url=https://archive.org/details/francisfordcoppo00schu|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Crown|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-517-70445-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/francisfordcoppo00schu/page/164 164]}} According to Francis Ford Coppola's commentary on the DVD's widescreen edition, Vigoda landed the role of Tessio in an "open call", in which actors who did not have agents could come for an audition.{{cite video|year=2004|title=The Godfather: Widescreen Collection|medium=DVD|publisher=Paramount Pictures}}

He gained further fame as Phil Fish on Barney Miller, a character known for his world-weary demeanor and persistent hemorrhoids.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ThJjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4096,5281966|title=Abe Vigoda Likes the Recognition He's Earned as TV's "Fish"|newspaper=The Evening News|agency=Associated Press|last=Sharbutt|first=Jay|page=6C|date=May 26, 1977|location=Newburgh, NY|archive-date=August 12, 2021|access-date=November 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812015907/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ThJjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4096%2C5281966|url-status=live}} Vigoda landed the role after an unusual audition, in which he unwittingly displayed that he was a perfect fit for the role:

{{blockquote|While living in Los Angeles, I'd jog three to five miles a day. One morning jogging, my agent calls about a new series called Barney Miller, saying, "Go there at once."
Well, I was tired and exhausted ... I must have run five miles that morning. I said. "I have to go home and take a shower."
"No, no, no. Go right now to Studio City, you're very right for it, they know you from The Godfather, they want to see you."
"With my shorts?"
"Go."
Danny Arnold and Ted Flicker, the producers, look at me, I look at them, they look at me again. "You look tired."
"Of course I'm tired, I jogged five miles this morning, I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, yeah, tell me, you look like you have hemorrhoids."
"What are you, a doctor or a producer?"|Abe Vigoda|quoted in Louis Zorich's What Have You Done?: The Inside Stories of Auditioning—from the Ridiculous to the Sublime (2009)}}

Vigoda's character on Barney Miller was popular, and a spin-off television series, Fish, was created for him in 1977. The series, a situation comedy, ran from February 5, 1977, to May 18, 1978.{{cite book|last=Bridges|first=Todd|title=Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted|url=https://archive.org/details/killingwillisfro0000brid|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-1-4391-5589-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/killingwillisfro0000brid/page/70 70]}}

Prior to his actual death in January 2016, Vigoda was a repeated victim of mistaken death announcements. These led to jokes, often with Vigoda as a participant.

In 1982, People magazine mistakenly referred to Vigoda as dead. At the time, Vigoda, aged 60, was performing in a stage play in Calgary.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/23/abe.vigoda/index.html|title=Abe Vigoda is still alive, thank you very much|last=Leopold|first=Todd|work=CNN Entertainment|date=September 23, 2008|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=July 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702085738/http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/23/abe.vigoda/index.html|url-status=live}} He took the mistake with good humor, posing for a photograph published in Variety, in which he is sitting up in a coffin, holding the erroneous issue of People. Jeff Jarvis, a People employee at the time, said that the magazine's editors were known for "messing up" stories, and one of them repeatedly inserted the phrase "the late" in reference to Vigoda, even after a researcher correctly removed it.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdBOKzu91QEC&pg=PA174|pages=174–75|title=Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech|first1=Craig|last1=Silverman|first2=Jeff|last2=Jarvis|publisher=Sterling|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4027-6564-3}} The erroneous version was what went to print.

In 1987, the same mistake was made when a reporter for WWOR, Channel 9 in Secaucus, New Jersey, mistakenly referred to him as the "late Abe Vigoda". She realized and corrected her mistake the next day.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voIe7XkFvEsC&pg=PA114|pages=114–15|title=Truth and rumors: the reality behind TV's most famous myths|last=Brioux|first=Bill|publisher=Greenwood|year=2007|isbn=978-0-275-99247-7|series=The Praeger television collection}}

He had been the subject of many running gags pertaining to the mistaken reports of his death. In 1997, Vigoda appeared in Good Burger as the character Otis, the titular restaurant's french fry man. Several jokes were made about his high age, including his character Otis saying, "I should've died years ago". That same year, he was shopping at Bloomingdale's in Manhattan when the salesman remarked, "You look like Abe Vigoda. But you can't be Abe Vigoda because he's dead."{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/abe-vigoda-sunken-eyed-character-actor-dead-at-94/ar-BBoJH6p?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UE01DHP|title=Abe Vigoda, sunken-eyed character actor, dead at 94|last=Italie|first=Hillel|newspaper=Associated Press|date=January 26, 2016|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203010602/https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/abe-vigoda-sunken-eyed-character-actor-dead-at-94/ar-BBoJH6p?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UE01DHP|archive-date=February 3, 2016}} A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost, but Vigoda walked in and declared, "I'm not dead yet, you pinhead!"[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y7VORt_rbQC&dq=I%27m+not+dead+yet,+you+pinhead!+Late+Night+with+David+Letterman&pg=PA125 Rumours of his death are premature]{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Hollywood Scandal Almanac Page 125 6 February 2016.

At a New York Friars Club roast of Rob Reiner that Vigoda attended, Billy Crystal joked, "I have nothing to say about Abe. I was always taught to speak well of the dead."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/arts/television/abe-vigoda-actor-of-godfather-fame-dies-at-94.html|title=Abe Vigoda, of 'Godfather' and 'Barney Miller,' dies at 94|last=Lavietes|first=Stuart|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 26, 2016|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=May 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518145103/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/arts/television/abe-vigoda-actor-of-godfather-fame-dies-at-94.html|url-status=live}}

In May 2001, a website was created with only one purpose: to report whether Vigoda was alive or dead; it eventually went offline no later than 2023.{{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/abevigoda.com|title=Whois Record For AbeVigOda.com|work=DomainTools|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=July 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702082403/https://whois.domaintools.com/abevigoda.com|url-status=live}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=af3e1Xpw4nUC&pg=PA210|page=210|title=Thinning the Herd: Tales of the Weirdly Departed|last=Ceilán|first=Cynthia|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59921-219-7}}{{cite journal|journal=New York|volume=43|year=2010|page=239 |title=Vigoda's non-death (he is now 88) is a pop culture meme to this day. Abevigoda.com, for example, does only one thing: indicate whether Abe is alive or dead.}} In addition, in 2005, a "tongue-in-cheek" Firefox extension was released, with the sole purpose of telling the browser's user of Vigoda's status.

Continuing the gag, he frequently appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to make fun of his status, including a guest appearance on the show's final episode. At the 1998 New York Friars Club roast of Drew Carey, with Vigoda in the audience, Jeff Ross joked, "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?"{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iY5hp9uB7i4C&pg=PA163|pages=163–64|last=Ross|first=Jeffrey|author-link=Jeffrey Ross|title=I Only Roast the Ones I Love: Busting Balls Without Burning Bridges|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2009|isbn=9781439101407}} On January 23, 2009, Vigoda appeared on The Today Show. He said he was doing well, joked about previous reports of his death, and announced that he had just completed a voice-over for an H&R Block commercial to air during the Super Bowl.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

Vigoda and Betty White, both 88 years old, appeared in "Game", a Snickers commercial that debuted during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010. The synopsis made fun of the advanced age of the actors. The Super Bowl Ad Meter poll respondents rated the ad the highest of any shown during the game.{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/02/08/super-bowl-ads-play-it-safe.html|title=Super Bowl Ads Play It Safe|date=February 8, 2010|last=Othmer|first=James P.|newspaper=The Daily Beast|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062233/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/02/08/super-bowl-ads-play-it-safe.html|url-status=live}}

On October 31, 2013, at age 92, Vigoda again defied rumors of his demise by appearing on stage with the American rock band Phish in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during a performance of the band's song "Wombat", from their 2014 album Fuego, which mentions Vigoda by name.{{cite news|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/abe-vigoda-phish-wombat-video-6858186/#!|title=Watch Abe Vigoda Join Phish On Stage Dressed as a Wombat in 2013|date=January 26, 2016|last=Atkinson|first=Katie|magazine=Billboard|access-date=March 6, 2024|archive-date=March 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307193111/https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/abe-vigoda-phish-wombat-video-6858186/#!|url-status=live}}

Vigoda and his first wife Sonja Gohlke had one daughter named Carol. Their marriage ended in divorce.{{cite web|url=http://www.famoushookups.com/site/celebrity_profile.php?name=Sonja-Gohlke&celebid=27453|title=Famous Hookups|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=February 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207071433/http://www.famoushookups.com/site/celebrity_profile.php?name=Sonja-Gohlke&celebid=27453|url-status=dead}} His second marriage to Beatrice Schy lasted from 1968{{cite web|url=http://heavy.com/entertainment/2016/01/abe-vigoda-dead-dies-rip-death-hoax-godfather-actor-sal-tessio-funeral-cause-of-death-wife-beatrice-schy-daughter-carol/|title=Abe Vigoda Dead|date=January 27, 2016|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=March 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323082620/https://heavy.com/entertainment/2016/01/abe-vigoda-dead-dies-rip-death-hoax-godfather-actor-sal-tessio-funeral-cause-of-death-wife-beatrice-schy-daughter-carol/|url-status=live}} until her death in 1992.

Vigoda enjoyed playing handball, and stated in an interview that he was "almost" a champion at the game in his youth.{{cite book|last=Zorich|first=Louis|title=What Have You Done?: The Inside Stories of Auditioning—from the Ridiculous to the Sublime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJgygK0SMNUC&pg=PA159|year=2009|publisher=Hal Leonard|location=Milwaukee, WI|isbn=978-0-87910-365-1|page=159}}

On January 26, 2016, one month before his 95th birthday,{{cite web|last=Hinckley|first=David|title=Why you knew Abe Vigoda|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/opinions/abe-vigoda-barney-miller-godfather-hinckley/index.html|date=January 27, 2016|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=CNN|quote=when he died Tuesday, a month short of his 95th birthday|archive-date=January 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131031500/https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/opinions/abe-vigoda-barney-miller-godfather-hinckley/index.html|url-status=live}} Vigoda died in his sleep at his daughter Carol Fuchs's home in Woodland Park, New Jersey, of natural causes.{{cite news|title=Abe Vigoda, sunken-eyed 'Godfather,' 'Barney Miller' actor, dies at 94|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/abe-vigoda-sunken-eyed-godfather-barney-miller-actor-dies-at-94/2016/01/26/17a523b4-c460-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 26, 2016|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=January 26, 2016|access-date=January 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126210742/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/abe-vigoda-sunken-eyed-godfather-barney-miller-actor-dies-at-94/2016/01/26/17a523b4-c460-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html|url-status=live}} He had gone there "to escape the hazards of a blizzard".{{cite news |last1=Balsamo |first1=Michael |title=Brooklyn native Abe Vigoda, famed character actor, recalled as a class act |url=https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/02/01/brooklyn-native-abe-vigoda-famed-character-actor-recalled-as-a-class-act/ |access-date=15 March 2019 |publisher=Brooklyn Eage |date=February 1, 2016 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205070732/https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/02/01/brooklyn-native-abe-vigoda-famed-character-actor-recalled-as-a-class-act/ |url-status=live }}

Vigoda's funeral was held on January 31, 2016. Notable figures including comic Gilbert Gottfried and former New York City mayor David Dinkins attended.{{cite web | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/abe-vigoda-funeral-manhattan/ | title=Famed Character Actor Abe Vigoda Remembered as a Class Act | website=CBS News | date=January 31, 2016 | access-date=May 23, 2023 | archive-date=July 2, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702082402/https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/abe-vigoda-funeral-manhattan/ | url-status=live }} He was buried in the Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, Nassau County, New York.

At the 2016 Academy Awards show, Vigoda was not included in the show's memorial reel, surprising many and prompting a small backlash.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-memoriam-abe-vigoda-snubs-870765|title=Oscars "In Memoriam": Abe Vigoda Among Snubs|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=February 28, 2016|access-date=February 9, 2018|archive-date=February 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212022321/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-memoriam-abe-vigoda-snubs-870765|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2016/02/28/oscars-2016-in-memoriam-montage-abe-vigoda/|title=Oscars 2016: In Memoriam montage excludes Abe Vigoda|website=EW.com|access-date=June 29, 2019|archive-date=July 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702082404/https://ew.com/article/2016/02/28/oscars-2016-in-memoriam-montage-abe-vigoda/|url-status=live}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite news|title=Abe Vigoda the sunken Godfather|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= January 26, 2016|issn=0190-8286}}
• {{cite journal|title=Abe Vigoda|author=Obituaries|journal=The Daily Telegraph|date=January 28, 2016|ref=pp.27}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lavietes|first=Stuart|date=January 26, 2016|title=Abe Vigoda, of 'Godfather' and 'Barney Miller,' dies at 94|journal=New York Times}}
• {{cite journal|last=Marguiles|first=Lee|date=April 18, 1976|title=Fame Comes Late to "Sad-faced" Vigoda"|journal=Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press}}

{{Commons category|Abe Vigoda}}

• {{IMDb name|1820}}
• {{IBDB name|63254}}
• {{iobdb name|27725}}
• {{find a Grave|157477529}}
• {{Discogs artist|Abe Vigoda (2)}}

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