Alan Arkin was an actor known for roles in films including “Wait Until Dark” (1967) “Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992), and “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
- Died: June 29, 2023 (Who else died on June 29?)
- Details of death: Died of heart problems at his home in Carlsbad, California at the age of 89.
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Alan Arkin’s legacy
Arkin’s first taste of the entertainment world – and his first film role – came not as an actor, but as a musician, a member of the folk group the Tarriers. He sang and played guitar on the band’s hit song, a reworking of “The Banana Boat Song,” that was featured in the 1957 movie “Calypso Heat Wave.” But Arkin had always wanted to act, and it wasn’t long before he began transitioning to the career that would make him famous.
Early in his acting career, Arkin was a member of the Second City improvisational comedy troupe in Chicago before his acclaimed debut in “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.” In “Wait Until Dark,” he played a violent man stalking Audrey Hepurn’s blind character, and he starred as reluctant airman Yossarian in “Catch-22.” Arkin portrayed Sigmund Freud in “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,” an emotionally conflicted therapist in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” an enthusiastic but inappropriate grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine,” and a film producer helming a fake film as cover for a hostage rescue operation in “Argo.”
Arkin’s other films include “Hearts of the West,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “The Rocketeer,” “Slums of Beverly Hills,” “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing,” “Sunshine Cleaning,” and “Get Smart.” Arkin also directed films including “Little Murders” (1971). On television, Arkin made appearances on shows including “Sesame Street,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Chicago Hope,” and “Will and Grace,” and he starred in the Netflix series “The Kominsky Method.”
Arkin only won one Oscar, but he was nominated for three others, beginning with his first major role in a feature film in 1966’s “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.” He was one of only a handful of actors to be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for their debut, and he followed the feat with another Best Actor nomination two years later for “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” (1968). Arkin’s final Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actor in “Argo” (2012). He was the father of actors Adam Arkin and Matthew Arkin.
Arkin on being an actor
“My father said that at the age of five I asked him if he could keep a secret. He said yes he could, so I told him I was going to be an actor when I grew up. At five, acting was already a fever in my blood, and somehow I knew, even then, that the decision was made and there would be no turning back.” —from Arkin’s 2011 memoir, “An Improvised Life”
Tributes to Alan Arkin
Full obituary: Variety
