Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda was an American actor whose career began in 1947 with the American Theatre Wing. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he used the G.I. Bill to study acting at the American Theatre Wing after serving in World War II. In the late 1940s he worked in radio and made his television debut on the live drama Studio One. During the 1960s and 1970s he appeared in Broadway productions such as Marat/Sade, The Man in the Glass Booth, Inquest, and Tough to Get Help. His best-known film role was Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972), and he also briefly appeared in a flashback in The Godfather Part II. On television he played Phil Fish on Barney Miller, a world-weary character, and the part led to the spin-off sitcom Fish, which ran from 1977 to 1978. He died in 2016.