Abe Vigoda

Abraham Charles ‘Abe’ Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York Click to look into! >> Read More... in the year 1921, to Lena and Samuel, who were Jewish immigrants living in Russia. Abe was the eldest of the three sons. At Carnegie Hall, Vigoda attended the Theatre School of Dramatic Arts. Born to a tailor, Vigoda started off his career from the theatre.

It took him many years to become successful, but he always knew that he wanted to become an actor and make it big in his life. He acted in many shows as a stage actor in Broadway plays of Shakespeare, Shaw for about 20 years or more. When asked in an interview about his belated success he replied that people say that success comes to a man in his youth but what I believe is that if you work hard at what you do you can get success at any age! His most recognized role as a gangster was in the movie 'The Godfather' directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

It was one of the most memorable characters in history, and Vigoda was nominated thrice for the Emmy Awards under the category of Best Supporting Actor. He went on to make a sequel as 'Godfather II' in the year 1974 which also became a huge success. A much greater role ever done by Abe was on the television show "Barney Miller" where he played the role of Detective Fish. It was the story of how Fish and his wife adopt five foster children who are of different color and religions and their relationship with each other.

Abe was a fitness freak, and the story of who he got cast in the Barney Miller was a popular one. One day after Vigoda had finished his jogging he was called by Ted Flicker and Danny Arnold who were the producers. Danny saw that Abe looked really exhausted and said to him not to exercise so much or else he would get hemorrhoids

. Immediately Abe asked him was he his producer or doctor? Danny got impressed and cast him on the spot. Abe got married to Sonja Gohlke, who passed away after few years of their marriage. They both had a daughter named Carol Vigoda Fuchs. Then he got married the second time to Beatrice Schy, who also passed away in the year 1992. He died on January 26, 2016, in his sleep at his daughter's home in Woodland Park, New Jersey.