Abe Vigoda gained fame well into his middle ages, and became a light-hearted joke on late night talk shows about his old age and false death reports.

Vigoda rose to fame at the age of 51 in the 1972 classic The Godfather as the villainous Sal Tessio, who was planning to take out Michael Corleone after his father Vito passed away, to take over the crime family. Let's just say, things didn't turn out well for him.

He also had flashback scenes in The Godfather II.

Vigoda would often go on shows like Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien to poke fun at death rumors.

[Note: The movie with John Travolta was later re-titled Look Who's Talking]

Conan O'Brien would often have Vigoda on his show to address the false rumors that he had passed on, or to light-heartedly poke fun at his age. One of my favorite bits they did together was the Total Vigodal Eclipse:

Here's Abe ViYoda

RIP, Abe!

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