Tall dourfaced and slouchshouldered character actor Abraham Charles Vigoda February 24 1921 January 26 2016 proved himself in both gritty dramatic roles and as an actor with wonderful comedic timing Vigoda was born in Brooklyn New York to Lena Moses and Samuel Vigoda both Russian Jewish immigrants His father was a tailor on the Lower East Side He made his first stage appearance at the age of 17 and plodded away in small theater shows for over 20 years For the majority of filmgoers Vigoda first came to prominence in The Godfather 1972 as the doublecrossing Tessio pleading with Robert Duvall to get him off the hook for old times sake He also appeared in its sequel Vigoda had roles in a few nondescript TV films before landing the plum part of Sgt Phil Fish on the brilliant sitcom Barney Miller 1974 Perhaps his best known role Sgt Fish proved popular enough to be spun off to his own shortlived series Fish 1977 With his long face and unusual looks Vigoda remained in high demand in mafiosotype roles and for a while in the mid1980s he was mistakenly believed to have been dead leading producers to remark I need an Abe Vigoda type actor not realizing Vigoda was still alive and well The 1990s and beyond became busy again for him with appearances in North 1994 The Misery Brothers 1995 A Brooklyn State of Mind 1998 and Crime Spree 2003 He continued acting into his 90s surprising audiences with his entertaining style Abe Vigoda died in his sleep on January 26 2016 in Woodland Park New Jersey