Abe Vigoda, 94; portrayed 'Barney Miller' detective

NEW YORK - Abe Vigoda, 94, a character actor whose leathery, sad-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series

Barney Miller

and the doomed Mafia soldier in

The Godfather

, died Tuesday.

Mr. Vigoda's daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, said that Mr. Vigoda died in his sleep at Fuchs' home in Woodland Park, N.J. The cause of death was old age. "This man was never sick," Fuchs said.

His death brought to an end years of questions on whether he was still alive - sparked by a false report of his death more than three decades ago. Though Mr. Vigoda took it in stride, the question of whether he was dead or alive became something of a running joke: There was even a website devoted to answering the much-Googled question, "Is Abe Vigoda dead?" (On Tuesday, it had been updated with "Yes," with the date of his death.)

Mr. Vigoda worked in relative obscurity as a supporting actor in the New York theater and in television until Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the 1972 Oscar-winning The Godfather.

The great success of the film and The Godfather Part II made Mr. Vigoda's face and voice, if not his name, recognizable to the general public and led to numerous roles, often as hoodlums.

But it was his comic turn in Barney Miller, which starred Hal Linden and ran from 1975 to 1982, that brought Mr. Vigoda's greatest recognition.

Mr. Vigoda remained a regular on Barney Miller until 1977 when he took the character to his own series, Fish. The story line dealt with the detective's domestic life and his relations with five street kids that he and his wife took into their home.

The show lasted a season and a half. Mr. Vigoda continued making occasional guest appearances on Barney Miller, quitting over billing and salary differences.

But he remained a popular character actor in films, including Cannonball Run II, Look Who's Talking, Joe Versus the Volcano and North.

Born in New York City in 1921, Mr. Vigoda attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall. In the early 1950s, he appeared as straight man for the Jimmy Durante and Ed Wynn TV comedies.

Reflecting on his delayed success, Mr. Vigoda once remarked: "When I was a young man, I was told success had to come in my youth. I found this to be a myth. My experiences have taught me that if you deeply believe in what you are doing, success can come at any age."

Barney Miller became his first steady acting job.

"I'm the same Abe Vigoda," he told an interviewer. "I have the same friends, but the difference now is that I can buy the things I never could afford before. I have never had a house before, so now I would like a house with a nice garden and a pool. Hollywood has been very kind to me."

Reruns of Barney Miller and repeated screenings of the two Godfather epics kept Mr. Vigoda in the public eye, and unlike some celebrities, he enjoyed being recognized. In 1997 he was shopping in Bloomingdale's in Manhattan when a salesman remarked: "You look like Abe Vigoda. But you can't be Abe Vigoda because he's dead."