Happy Birthday: Abe Vigoda (1921–2016)

Abe Vigoda (1921–2016)

Born: February 24, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Died: January 26, 2016 (age 94) in Woodland Park, New Jersey, USA

(Explaining how he ended up playing Det. Sgt. Fish on Barney Miller (1974)) “I got the role because the producer thought I looked tired. But I looked tired because I had been jogging earlier that day. He said to me, ‘You look tired, Abe.’ I said, ‘I am. I was just jogging five miles.’ He said, ‘You also look like you have haemorrhoids.’ I said, ‘What are you? A doctor or a producer?’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m a producer and you know what? You’ve got the role.’ Just like that.”

I’ve always been content just to be working and making a modest living for my wife and child.

While living in Los Angeles, I’d jog three to five miles a day. One morning jogging, my agent calls about a new series called Barney Miller (1974), saying, “Go there at once.” Well, I was tired and exhausted … I must have run five miles that morning. I said. “I have to go home and take a shower.” “No, no, no. go right now to Studio City, you’re very right for it, they know you from The Godfather (1972), they want to see you.” “With my shorts?” “Go”. Danny Arnold and Ted Flicker, the producers, look at me, I look at them, they look at me again. “You look tired.” “Of course I’m tired, I jogged five miles this morning, I’m exhausted.” “Yeah, yeah, tell me, you look like you have haemorrhoids.” “What are you, a doctor or a producer?”

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