Twice today I foud myself redirected to sites dealing with Abe Vigoda. :smack: What a lucky guy I must be! 
Anyway, I noticed that Wikipedia says he’s of Russian & Jewish ancestory, but NNDB says he’s Italian.
Not that it matters, but which is it?
It doesn’t really matter; he’s dead anyway.
He’s alive and living in New York City. 86 years old. His imdb.co bio says he WAS mistakenly reported as dead in the 1980s and that he milked that for some publicity:
“In the 1980s, a well-known magazine referred to Vigoda as ‘the late Abe Vigoda’ in a story, leading to the belief by many that he was dead. Abe enjoyed some publicity from the premature death announcement, even posing for a photograph while sitting up in a coffin!”
He was heard to remark the other day:
“I’m not dead yet, in fact I thought I would go for a walk”
He is only 86 after all. He was in his early 50s when he play Sgt Fish and looked much older.
I have no clue if he is Italian or Jewish.
You can normally keep track of his living or dead status here at http://www.abevigoda.com/, but the site appears to be dead.
For what it is worth NNDB is often incorrect about its facts. (not unlike wiki).
Jim
ETA: Siam Sam, **Baffle ** was making a joke on the running joke.
Oh-oh! I’ve been Whooshed!
Is this a joke?
I didn’t think there was any question that he was Jewish. Now whether his family is of Russian extraction or some other (like possibly italian), who knows. A cursory glance at the Vigoda names currently listed in the Social Security Death index would seem that they have given names that tend to be non-Italian in appearance (like Hyman), and even one Abraham Vigoda who died in 1976.
Oops, yes, I screwed up my post.
It was suppose to be
I shouldn’t post before I finish my coffee.
*I was stuck
Stuck in a pagoda
With Tricia Toyota
(I’m stuck…)
We were watching Abe Vigoda
Then every thing will be fine
*
I don’t think there is any doubt that Abe is indeed Jewish. However, I don’t believe that Al Pacino is Italian. It is my theory that he was abandoned by Jewish birth parents and adopted by the Pacinos. Even as Michael Corleone I didn’t believe he was Sicilian. He is a wonderful actor, mind you, but everyhting in me just screams “You’re a Jew, embrace it, Al”. Am I alone in this thinking?
Al Pacino could easily pass for a member of my Sicilian family. And if you saw my siblings and I standing side by side, you’d see how it was perfectly possible for James Caan and Al Pacino to be cast as brothers (someone else I know said the casting was bad, appearance-wise. Not at all impossible.)
That’s for sure. On their Muhammad Ali they state:
In 1978, he lost the title to Leon Spinks, and at 36, it was widely believed that Ali’s fighting career was over. Seven months later he KO’d Spinks, and Ali held the title until announcing his retirement in 1979.
I remember watching that fight. it went a full 15 rounds. Ali won but he did NOT K.O. spinks. I emailed them long ago over this, but they’ve yet to change it.
The poster appears to be honest, as I’ve been able to verify quite a bit of the info posted. Abe’s brother, Bill, was indeed a famous comic artist.
The poster’s mention of a barmitvah (sic) picture would pretty much clinch the “Jewish” connection.
“Famous” is a stretch; he worked for Archie Comics. The listings I found involved “Li’l Archie” and “Pureheart the Powerful.”
I’m sure that whatever he is, it was never personal; it was just business.
From the U.S. Census take on 1 April 1930:
State of New York, County of Kings, Borough of Brooklyn.
- Vigoda, Samuel, 37, head. Occupation: tailor, ladies’ dresses. Born in Russia, immigrated to U.S. in 1915. Parents born in Russia. Mother tongue: Yiddish.
- Vigoda, Lena, 33, wife. Born in Russia, immigrated to U.S. in 1901. Parents born in Russia. Mother tongue: Yiddish.
- Vigoda, William, 10, son. Born in New York.
- Vigoda, Abraham, 9, son. Born in New York.
- Vigoda, Herman, 6, son. Born in New York.
Bingo.
Jewish, Russian, possibly Italian and also an Irish twin.
If you are thinking that the name sounds Italian, rather than Russian, remember that the clerks at Ellis Island often did truly bizarre things to family names as immigrants came through.
The myth of Ellis Island name changes, from Dick Eastman at Ancestry.com.