Advanced search

Tall, dour-faced and slouch-shouldered character actor Abe Vigoda 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, a tailor -- 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 film-goers, Vigoda first came to prominence in The Godfather (1972) as the double-crossing Tessio, pleading to no avail with Robert Duvall to save his life "for old times' sake". Vigoda had roles in a few nondescript TV films before landing the plum role of the dour, unsmiling, urinary tract-tormented Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom Barney Miller (1975), his best-known role. The character of Fish proved popular enough to be spun off to his own (albeit short-lived) series, Fish (1977).

With his long, blank, rarely smiling face, he remained in high demand in mafioso-type roles, and for a while in the mid-1980s, he was mistakenly believed to have been dead, leading a producer to remark, "I need an Abe Vigoda type actor", not realizing Vigoda was still alive. The 1990s and beyond became busy again for Vigoda, making 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.

Vigoda died in his sleep on January 26, 2016, , a month before his 95th birthday, in suburban Woodland Park, New Jersey. He was interred in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.

Bruce Hidemi Sakow is an award-winning veteran screenwriter who attended the NYU Film School and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He taught screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City for nine years. Since 1975 Sakow has written 20 original screenplays - 15 of which have been optioned or sold and four produced (see attached resume). In 1982 his fourth original screenplay, "Quarantine" (aka "Amoeba"), was sold to director Joseph Zito (director of "Missing In Action," "Invasion USA" and "Red Scorpion"). Their professional association continued when Zito hired him to write "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter." This $1.7 million sequel, fourth in the phenomenally successful "Friday the 13th" series, was released by Paramount Pictures in 1983 and has earned over $50 million in worldwide theatrical release. In 1990 he began collaborating with writer Larry Hama, Marvel Comics writer of "G.I. Joe," and many other titles. Together they have written four screenplays including "the video" that Bruce directed and produced and "Cornered," optioned by producer Gabrielle Kelly and director Tamara Friedman. Recently the pair collaborated on "Dead Grrl" that was optioned by producer Alexandra Taylor and director Bill Butler. In 2002 Bruce began collaborating with veteran parapsychologist Peter Jordan. Together they have written two screenplays: "Out of Body" and "Inferno".

Frank Tripucka was born on 8 December 1927 in Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA. He was married to Randy Jewkes. He died on 12 September 2013 in Woodland Park, New Jersey, USA.