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Abe Vigoda, sunken-eyed character actor, dead at 94

Posted at 2:19 PM, Jan 26, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-26 14:19:56-05
Abe Vigoda attends the 55th Annual New York Emmy Awards gala at the Marriott Marquis Times Square on April 1, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

Abe Vigoda attends the 55th Annual New York Emmy Awards gala at the Marriott Marquis Times Square on April 1, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (AP) — Character actor Abe Vigoda has died.

Vigoda’s daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, told The Associated Press that Vigoda died Tuesday morning in his sleep. He was 94 and had been staying at Fuchs’ home in Woodland Park, New Jersey. She said the cause of death was old age. “This man was never sick,” Fuchs said.

Vigoda’s leathery, sunken-eyed face made him ideal for playing his two most noted roles, the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series “Barney Miller” and the doomed Mafia soldier in “The Godfather.”