

He has three different mobster movies in various stages of completion - "The Driver" opposite fellow gangster-film regular Vincent Pastore, "Mafioso II" and, showing a willingness to make fun of the whole thing, the indie-made genre spoof "Mobster Movie." At 90 years old, long after many might have retired from the biz and enjoyed the fruits of their "Godfather" royalty checks, he's still at it. He doesn't seem to mind being typecast, though. But that’s just some of the brilliance behind this casting choice in police sitcom Barney Miller. In 1994, he starred in a modern sort of mobster movie, playing a crime boss in the Wesley Snipes action flick "Sugar Hill," set in New York City's troubled Harlem neighborhood. Whatever Happened To Abe Vigoda, Sergeant Phil Fish From ‘Barney Miller’ by Dana Daly 2 years ago Looking at the tired, old Phil Fish, you’d never guess his actor stayed so lively throughout his life. Between them he also starred in the largely forgotten "The Don Is Dead" (1973), and he returned to the business after his jaunt on television.


It wasn't just Francis Ford Coppola's legendary "Godfather" pictures that made Vigoda's bones in the mob business. Phil Fish, and he stuck with the show for the first three seasons, doing the third season part-time while also starring in his very own spinoff, aptly named "Fish." The spinoff itself lasted for two seasons, and the first season will be included with the "Barney Miller" DVD set that comes out on Oct.
#FISH FROM BARNEY MILLER SERIES#
The series featured Vigoda as the aging and crotchety Det. The films, considered undisputed classics today, were sensations even at the time, and so it's likely that he was already inextricably associated with his mobster persona when "Barney Miller" premiered in 1974. If you recognize the gaunt and lanky star, it's likely from his turns at playing the loyal mafia killer in the first two "Godfather" films from 19. Every photo in our collection is an original vintage print from a.
#FISH FROM BARNEY MILLER TV#
He was either a TV cop who was ironically cast in mob movies, or a mob-movie man who got to play at being one of the good guys on TV. 1976 Press Photo Abe Vigoda stars as Fish, a detective in Barney MIller. Abraham Charles Vigoda 1 (Febru January 26, 2016) was an American actor known for his portrayals of Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972) and Phil Fish in both Barney Miller (19751977, 1982) and Fish (19771978).

Vigorous was never Vigoda’s comic trademark.īut goodness, for a while there, did he make ill health seem like the funniest thing on earth.There's definitely irony in the career of longtime supporting actor Abe Vigoda, but it's kind of hard to say where. And while Vigoda laughed them off, they surely took their toll on his career in an industry that puts such a premium on youth and vigor. Indeed, hoaxes about his death became a recurring joke, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and elsewhere. Fish is an ABC network sitcom series and spin-off of the series Barney Miller, starring Abe Vigoda in the lead role. He was only 57 when Fish went off the air, but that role had branded him, not just as an old man, but as an old man nearer to death than thee. Barney ran on until 1982 without him, save for one 1981 guest appearance.
#FISH FROM BARNEY MILLER FULL#
For a brief while he appeared in both shows, but by the fall of 1977 he was off on his own - and by spring of 1978, his own show was cancelled. Fish (1975) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Noam Pitlik Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Jack Elliott Allyn Ferguson Editing by Fred Golan Paul Schatzkin Casting By Beth Uffner Art Direction by John C. Two years into Barney’s run, that popularity led to a spinoff, Fish, that even at the time was considered by many to be ill-advised. Old, tired, constantly complaining about his feet, his hemorrhoids, and his wife Bernice, Fish was Barney Miller’s everyman elder statesman, a representative of a New York that seemed to be vanishing in the ‘70s but may have been more tenacious than we imagined.īarney was a very popular show and Fish was its most popular character, which became a blessing and a curse to Vigoda. It was a name that fit the Brooklyn-born Vigoda’s style, and a character that became so identified with him, he never broke free.
