[5] After leaving school, Vigoda worked as a printer before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1943, serving in World War II.

In the late 1940s, he began working in radio, and made his television debut in an installment of the live drama series Studio One.

[9] According to Francis Ford Coppola's commentary on the DVD's widescreen edition, Vigoda landed the role of Tessio in an "open call", in which actors who did not have agents could come for an audition.

[10] He gained further fame as Phil Fish on Barney Miller, a character known for his world-weary demeanor and persistent hemorrhoids.

[14] He took the mistake with good humor, posing for a photograph published in Variety, in which he is sitting up in a coffin, holding the erroneous issue of People.

Jeff Jarvis, a People employee at the time, said that the magazine's editors were known for "messing up" stories, and one of them repeatedly inserted the phrase "the late" in reference to Vigoda, even after a researcher correctly removed it.

[15] In 1987, the same mistake was made when a reporter for WWOR, Channel 9 in Secaucus, New Jersey, mistakenly referred to him as the "late Abe Vigoda".

In 1997, Vigoda appeared in Good Burger as the character Otis, the titular restaurant's french fry man.

[18] At a New York Friars Club roast of Rob Reiner that Vigoda attended, Billy Crystal joked, "I have nothing to say about Abe.

[19][20][21] In addition, in 2005, a "tongue-in-cheek" Firefox extension was released, with the sole purpose of telling the browser's user of Vigoda's status.

He said he was doing well, joked about previous reports of his death, and announced that he had just completed a voice-over for an H&R Block commercial to air during the Super Bowl.

[citation needed] Vigoda and Betty White, both 88 years old, appeared in "Game", a Snickers commercial that debuted during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010.

[12] On January 26, 2016, one month before his 95th birthday,[27] Vigoda died in his sleep at his daughter Carol Fuchs's home in Woodland Park, New Jersey, of natural causes.

[29] Vigoda's funeral was held on January 31, 2016. Notable figures including comic Gilbert Gottfried and former New York City mayor David Dinkins attended.