After more than 30 years of fake reporting of his 'death' Godfather actor Abe Vigoda has passed away.
The actor died while being cared at a hospice in Woodland Park, New Jersey, at the age of 94.
His daughter Carol Vigoda Fuchs confirmed the sad news this morning.
She said the cause of death was old age adding “this man was never sick”.
In fact his longevity became a running joke in the US after hoax reports of death dating back to the 1980s.
The first was in 1982 when People magazine claimed he was dead - which he later
spoofed by holding the inaccurate report while he sat in a coffin.
Following a similar mistake on TV news in 1987, Vigoda would continue to joke about reports of his death and in 2001 a website was set up purely to state whether he was alive or not.
“I'm 74 years old, but I feel more like 44," Vigoda said in 1995. “My doctor says I have the body of a man of 40.”
Three years later, comedian Jeff Ross spotted Vigoda at a Comedy Central taping of a Friars Club roast and joked, “Comedy Central is praying that Abe doesn’t die before the show airs.”
TV host David Letterman got in on the act as well, and during one skit he tried to summon Vigoda's ghost.
In walked Vigoda declaring, “I’m not dead yet, you pinhead!”
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