Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MARCH 2016 27 V ery rarely do we do obituaries for non-police in American Police Beat but sometimes you just have to make exceptions. Character actor Abe Vi- goda, the man who played over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series Barney Miller died recently at the age of 94. The cause of death was listed as old age. “This man was never sick,” according to Vigoda’s daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs. Vigoda was a working character actor in the New York theater scene until he hit it big when Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the 1972 Oscar-winning film, “The Godfather.” Vi- goda played Sal Tessio, an old friend of Vito Corleone’s. Everyone remembers the scene where Vi- goda knows his time is up. “Tell Mike it was only business,” the char- acter Sal mutters to consigliere Tom Hagen played by Robert Du- vall. Vigoda could do it all. He played the gangster role straight but he was as funny as they come. Barney Miller, still con- sidered by many to be the high-water mark for cop shows, just wouldn’t have been the same without Det. Fish. Vigoda remained a regular on Barney Miller until 1977 when he took the character to his own series, Fish. Vigoda was born in New York City in 1921. He attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall. In addition to being a wildly talented actor, Vigo- da was also a deep thinker. “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.” Another thing about Abe was the fact that he was cool. Unlike the celebrities of today that request their staff not to make eye contact with their fans and hate giving autographs, Vigoda actually liked people. One of the better stories is from 1997. Vigoda was shop- ping in Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan and a salesman told him, “You look like Abe Vigoda. But you can’t be Abe Vigoda, because he’s dead.” Vigoda often appeared on lists of living celebrities be- lieved to have passed away over the last 10 years. He thought it was hysterical. RIP Detective Fish Abe Vigoda Actor Abe Vigoda passed away recently If you don’t know who these people are, just ask any of the old-timers at your agency. RISE ABOVE 360 24/7 SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. ON DEMAND. Skywatch provides the deployable, capable, integrated surveillance system required by today’s law enforcement professionals to monitor key events and locations. With a wide variety of sensors to choose from, Skywatch can be tailored to fit any environment or budget. In a world that requires vision and flexibility, accept no compromises. SEE HOW AT WWW.FLIR.COM/APB