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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Abe Vigoda, sunken-eyed character actor, dead at 94
HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Char-
acter actor Abe Vigoda,
whose leathery, sunken-
eyed face made him ideal
for playing the over-the-hill Miller,” which starred Hal
detective Phil Fish in the
1970s TV series “Barney Mill-
er” and the doomed Mafia
soldier in “The Godfather,”
died Tuesday at age 94.
Vigoda’s daughter, Carol
Vigoda Fuchs, told The As-
sociated Press that Vigoda
died Tuesday morning in
his sleep at Fuchs’ home in
Woodland Park, New Jer-
sey.
The cause of death was
old age. “This man was
never sick,” Fuchs said.
Vigoda worked in relative
obscurity as a support-
ing actor in the New York
theater and in television
until Francis Ford Cop-
pola cast him in the 1972
Oscar-winning “The God-
father.” Vigoda played
Sal Tessio, an old friend
of Vito Corleone’s (Mar-
lon Brando) who hopes to
take over the family after
Vito’s death by killing his
son Michael Corleone (Al
Pacino). But Michael an-
ticipates that Sal’s sugges-
tion for a “peace summit”
among crime families is a
setup and the escorts Sal
thought were taking him to
the meeting turn out to be
his executioners.
“Tell Mike it was only busi-
ness,” Sal mutters to consi-
gliere Tom Hagen (Robert
Duvall) as he’s led away.
The great success of the film
and “The Godfather Part II”
‘60 Minutes’ Bowie interview 15 years of missed connections
DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A brief
“60 Minutes” piece on the
late David Bowie that aired
Sunday was the result of a
15-year journey of missed
connections involving three
of the newsmagazine’s
correspondents and a rock
star gone underground.
Bowie talked about his art-
istry and getting old in in-
terview clips from 2003 that
were never aired before
Sunday on “60 Minutes.”
The rock star died of can-
cer at age 69 on Jan. 10.
made his face and voice, if
not his name, recognizable
to the general public and
led to numerous roles, of-
ten as hoodlums. But it was
his comic turn in “Barney
Linden and ran from 1975
In a 2006 photo, actor-comedian Abe Vigoda attends the Friars
Club celebrity roast of legendary comedian Jerry Lewis in New
York City. Vigoda died in his sleep Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, at his
daughter’s home in Woodland Park, N.J. He was 94.
to 1982, that brought Vigo-
da’s greatest recognition.
He liked to tell the story of that Vigoda was the hit of
how he won the role of
Detective Fish. An exercise
enthusiast, Vigoda had
just returned from a five-
mile jog when his agent
called and told him to re-
port immediately to the of-
fice of Danny Arnold, who
was producing a pilot for
a police station comedy.
Arnold remarked that Vi-
goda looked tired, and the
actor explained about his
Robert Zimet, an editor at
“60 Minutes,” proposed an
in-depth profile of Bowie
for the newsmagazine in
2000, and correspondent
Ed Bradley was assigned.
Before much was done, the
2001 terrorist attacks hap-
pened. Then the Iraq War.
A rock-star profile wasn’t a
priority.
The idea was resurrected
as Bowie prepared his “Re-
ality” album and tour in
2003, and Zimet and pro-
ducer Peter Klein traveled
to Woodstock, New York, to
record some material and
jog. “You know, you look
like you might have hemor-
rhoids,” Arnold said. “What
are you — a doctor or a
producer?” Vigoda asked.
He was cast on the spot.
“The Complete Directory
to Prime Time Network and
(AP Photo/Stephen Chernin) ball Run II,” ‘’Look Who’s
Cable TV Shows,” a refer-
ence book, commented
“Barney Miller.” ‘’Not only
did he look incredible, he
sounded and acted like
every breath might be
his last,” it said. “Fish was
always on the verge of
retirement, and his worst
day was when the station
house toilet broke down.”
Vigoda remained a regu-
lar on “Barney Miller” un-
til 1977 when he took the
character to his own series,
conduct preliminary inter-
views. Bradley was to fol-
low but the correspondent,
who died in 2006, became
ill and had to cancel.
Zimet convinced Mike Wal-
lace to take over the story
and arrangements were
made for an interview in
Poughkeepsie, New York,
where Bowie was perform-
ing in advance of his tour.
Wallace, who was in his
mid-80s at the time, fell on
vacation and doctors or-
dered him to take it easy.
“60 Minutes” got yet anoth-
er correspondent involved
“Fish.” The storyline dealt
with the detective’s do-
mestic life and his relations formed, he wrote his own,
with five street kids that he about a circus barker. At a
and his wife took into their
home. The show lasted a
season and a half. Vigoda
continued making occa-
sional guest appearances
on “Barney Miller,” quitting
over billing and salary dif-
ferences. But he remained
a popular character actor
in films, including “Cannon-
Talking,” ‘’Joe Versus the
Volcano” and “North.” His
resemblance to Boris Karl-
off led to his casting in the are doing, success can
1986 New York revival of
“Arsenic and Old Lace,”
playing the role Karloff
originated on the stage
in the 1940s. (The murder-
ous character in the black
comedy is famously said by
other characters to resem-
ble Boris Karloff, a great
joke back when the real
Karloff was playing him.)
Born in New York City in
1921, Vigoda attended the
Theater School of Dramatic
Arts at Carnegie Hall. In the He was married twice,
early 1950s, he appeared
as straight man for the Jim-
my Durante and Ed Wynn
TV comedies. For 30 years,
he worked in the theater,
acting in dozens of plays in
such diverse characters as
John of Gaunt in “Richard
II” (his favorite role) and
Abraham Lincoln in a short-
lived Broadway comedy
“Tough to Get Help.”
Vigoda attributed his high
percentage in winning
roles to his performance
in auditions. Instead of
— Lesley Stahl — and she
spoke with Bowie. There
wasn’t enough time to do
the in-depth interview that
the show wanted before
Bowie had to leave for his
European tour, however.
It was on this tour, in 2004, online story about Bowie’s
when Bowie suffered a
heart attack and reced-
ed from public view. He
stopped giving interviews.
When Bowie surprised his
fans with the 2013 album,
“The Next Day,” Zimet ap-
proached his camp to
complete the profile but
was rebuffed. It was the
Wednesday 27 January 2016
delivering the tired solilo-
quies that most actors per-
surprise 80th birthday party
in New Jersey in 2001, he
gave a spirited recital of
the monologue to the de-
light of the 100 guests.
Reflecting on his delayed
success, Vigoda once re-
marked: “When I was a
young man, I was told suc-
cess had to come in my
youth. I found this to be
a myth. My experiences
have taught me that if you
deeply believe in what you
come at any age.”
“Barney Miller” became his
first steady acting job.
“I’m the same Abe Vigo-
da,” he told an interviewer.
“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.”
most recently to Beatrice
Schy, who died in 1992.
He had his daughter with
his first wife, Sonja Gohlke,
who has also died. Vigoda
is survived by his daugh-
ter, grandchildren Jamie,
Paul and Steven, and a
great-grandson. Reruns of
“Barney Miller” and repeat-
ed screenings of the two
“Godfather” epics kept
Vigoda in the public eye,
and unlike some celebri-
ties, he enjoyed being rec-
ognized. q
same thing late in 2015,
when Zimet learned that
the “Blackstar” disc was
coming.
The 2003 footage remained
on a shelf at CBS until Zimet
took it out to include in an
death. His bosses took no-
tice and the material was
used on “CBS This Morning”
and in the brief piece intro-
duced by Bill Whitaker on
Sunday.
“I had never given up hope
that at some point we
would be able to complete
this,” Zimet said.q