An installment at a Passaic County library has a new exhibition featuring the memorabilia of actor Abe Vigoda.
Whether you knew him as Phil Fish in “Barney Miller” and “Fish,” or as Salvatore Tessio in “The Godfather,” Vigoda played many memorable roles on screen for more than six decades. Now, for the first time, his life's work is on display at the Little Falls Public Library.
"This is his legacy this is how I look at it, why keep all this stuff in boxes," said Vigoda’s daughter Carol Vigoda Fuchs. Vigoda Fuchs decided it was time to share her father’s history with the people at her favorite library.
“The Private Hollywood Memorabilia of Abe Vigoda” features more than 65 years of work on Broadway, television and movies.
"So many people have been coming in and reacting to different pieces of the exhibition...While you may come in not knowing everything Abe's done, you'll go through and realize, ‘Oh my God, that's right he was in this or ‘Look Who's Talking.’ He did those Snickers commercials,'" said Jeffrey Machno, of the Little Falls Public Library.
From his skits on late-night talk shows to the script of the original “Godfather” to even memorabilia from when he voiced the role of Salvatore Valestra in “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,” Vigoda’s daughter chose everything seen in the collection, with the hope of being able to offer something for everyone.
"I just started making piles of different things and figuring out what I could put in and it was really a lot of fun because I really got to know my father," Vigoda Fuchs said.
"I think the kids are inspired by seeing something like this. Saying, ‘I can be from a small town like Little Falls…and do something as incredible,’” said Little Falls Mayor James Damiano.
Vigoda died in 2016 from natural causes. He was 94 years old.
The collection runs from now through the end of the Month.