I loved the television show, Barney Miller, and today watching a very old rerun, Fish caught my eye, with his deadpan lines and expressionless look, and so I decided to do his chart. You can read about him at his New York Times obituary here.
Abe Vigoda was a solid actor, and part of the Hollywood tableau when minor or supporting actors were acknowledged as the meat and potatoes that hang a movie together. Director Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront) prophesied in the 1950’s, that with everyone wanting to be star, movies would die. Recently, director Martin Scorsese echoed that opinion that “film” was dead because comic book themes and their heroes are dominating the scene — I am amazed it took him so long.
There was no public birth time for Mr. Vigoda so we rectified it, making this a speculative chart.
An electrical Storm
Mr. Vigoda’s ascendant is symbolized by an “electrical storm,” with the keyword Transformation highlighting his aplomb and ability to dramatize the values at hand while simultaneously suggesting the potential ahead. This really summed up his role as Salvatore Tessio, among others, in the epic Francis Ford Coppola movie “The Godfather.”
The Lord of his Ascendant is found conjunct in the Twelfth House of Aries, a cadent house and tells us despite his deadpan man, he was a very hard-working and ambition actor who was willing to take on any role and learn its vagaries thoroughly.
A seesaw Temperament
Mr. Vigoda is a See-Saw or Hour Glass temperament, but unlike most see-saws that have a decided emphasis for one hemisphere over the over, his does not. This makes his two cutting planets, the Sun above and the Pluto below, work well together, almost as though they were conjunct, giving him staying power and a certain dynamism that belies that cool exterior.
Seesaws, Dr. Jones wrote, have a tendency for its planets to group together in pairs. We see that with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (the line of personality) and again with the Sun and Uranus (eleventh house), suggesting a decided bias towards outward expression and end results over method and philosophy.
What’s your Line?
Mr. Vigoda has two other lines in his chart as well. The Line of Vitality (Sun inconjunct the Moon) suggesting resourcefulness of character and the Line of Culture (Uranus inconjunct Neptune 11.45 Leo) suggesting an artistic endeavour would be his calling.
His Part of Fortune at 01.40 Sagittarius, (image the ocean covered with whitecaps) tells us that he will have physically travel from his hometown and flexibility in adapting to a myriad of roles will be a great asset. So with everything sounding good, what happened to his career that it did not soar?
The YOD, on the downloaded version, shows that despite his desire and acting range, he was pigeonholed into a character extra and never a leading man. The problem was not with his talent, it was with the one-dimensionality of a business that did the same to Jimmy Durante, Boris Karloff, Karl Malden, Walter Brennan and many others.
Download the Abe Vigoda chart
