Abe Vigoda, the famed character actor best known for his role in “The Godfather,” died on Tuesday in New Jersey, loved ones said. He was 94.
Daughter Carol Vigoda Fuchs said the veteran actor died in his sleep at her home in Woodland Park.
People magazine erroneously reported in 1982 that Vigoda had passed away, sparking a decades-long joke about his dead-or-alive condition.
Vigoda rolled with the running gag, since he was in good health despite his sickly, sunken-eyed look.
“This man was never sick,” Fuchs said.
Vigoda played Sal Tessio, an old pal of Don Vito Corleone, in the 1972 mob classic “The Godfather.”
A generation of TV fans also knew Vigoda as dry, lethargic Detective Phil Fish on “Barney Miller.”
He then enjoyed a long-time cult following as a result of the People blunder, with movie and TV fans really believing he had passed away.
Vigoda said he was once recognized by a sales clerk in Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan in 1997.
“You look like Abe Vigoda,” he quoted the clerk saying. “But you can’t be Abe Vigoda because he’s dead.”
Abraham Charles “Abe” Vigoda was born on Feb. 24, 1921, in Brooklyn.
He attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall and worked steadily for years in the early days of TV and Broadway.
His big “Godfather” break came decades later, and Vigoda said he didn’t mind success coming at a later age.
“When I was a young man, I was told success had to come in my youth,” he once said. “I found this to be a myth. My experiences have taught me that if you deeply believe in what you are doing, success can come at any age.”
In “The Godfather,” Vigoda’s Sal Tessio was planning to betray the Corleone family once Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone died.
But before he could arrange the rubout of heir Michael Corleone — played by Al Pacino — the son’s henchmen got the drop on him.
Vigoda’s character looked at Michael Corleone loyalist Tom Hagen, played by Robert Duvall, and uttered his most famous line in the movie: “Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old times’ sake?”
Duvall’s Hagen shook his head and responded: “Can’t do it, Sally.”
As Tessio was led to a car, the camera followed Hagen walking away. Muffled gunshots moments later signaled Tessio’s death.
Vigoda parlayed the “Godfather” credit into a long-running gig on the cop comedy “Barney Miller.” He appeared in 64 episodes between 1974 and 1982
The character was so popular, it led to a 35-episode spinoff, “Fish.”
“I’m the same Abe Vigoda,” he told an interviewer after attaining his “Godfather” and “Barney Miller” fame.
“I have the same friends, but the difference now is that I can buy the things I never could afford before. I have never had a house before, so now I would like a house with a nice garden and a pool. Hollywood has been very kind to me.”
Vigoda was married twice, outliving both wives, Sonja Gohlke and Beatrice Schy.
He is survived by his daughter, grandchildren Jamie, Paul and Steven, and a great-grandson.