Alan Arkin, an Oscar-winning actor from "Little Miss Sunshine," passes away at age 89.
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| Alan Arkin, an Oscar-winning actor from "Little Miss Sunshine," passes away at age 89. |
LA (Associated Press) – Alan Arkin, a witty character actor
who showed his range in comedy and drama while earning four Academy Award
nominations and an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has
passed away. He was 89.
Through the actor's publicist on Friday, his sons Adam,
Matthew, and Anthony provided confirmation of their father's passing. In a
statement, they claimed that their father "was a uniquely talented force
of nature, both as an artist and a man."
A member of Chicago's renowned Second City comedy group,
Arkin achieved early film success with the Cold War parody "The Russians
Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and reached his professional height
in his later years when he won the best supporting actor Oscar for the
unexpected 2006 hit "Little Miss Sunshine." His first Oscar
nomination, for "The Russians are Coming," came more than 40 years
after his nomination for his role as a cunning Hollywood producer in the
Oscar-winning film "Argo."
He received two Emmy nods for his role in the Netflix comedy
series "The Kominsky Method," which he played with Michael Douglas in
recent years.
Arkin reportedly made light of the fact that character actors
don't have to strip off for their roles in an interview with The Associated
Press. Although he wasn't a sex icon or a big star, he did appear in more than
100 TV shows and films. No matter how strange the part, his trademarks were
likeability, reliability, and total immersion in the character, whether he was
portraying a Russian submarine lieutenant in "The Russians Are
Coming"
Director of "The Russians are Coming," Norman
Jewison, once remarked that Alan "has never had an identifiable screen
personality because he just disappears into his characters." He can even
modify his appearance, and his accents are flawless. … He has never been taken
seriously, in part because he has never put his own achievement first.
Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the youthful
protagonist in the 1963 Broadway comedy "Enter Laughing," which was
based on Reiner's semi-autobiographical book, while still a member of Second
City.
He received positive reviews and Jewison's attention as he
was getting ready to helm a comedy about a Russian submarine that causes chaos
when it gets too close to a small New England town in 1966. Arkin demonstrated
his ability to play a villain in his next significant movie, albeit grudgingly.
In the movie "Wait Until Dark," Audrey Hepburn played a blind woman
who is being held captive by a ruthless drug dealer who believes there is a
heroin shipment stashed in her flat.
He remembers how challenging it was to terrorize Hepburn's
character in an interview from 1998.
It was "just awful," he claimed. It was difficult
to be cruel to her because she was a beautiful person.
Arkin's status in Hollywood was further enhanced by 1968's
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," in which he portrayed a sensitive man
who was deaf and mute. The same year, he played the clumsy French investigator
in "Inspector Clouseau," but the movie was overshadowed by Peter
Sellers' portrayal of Clouseau in The "Pink Panther" films.
When Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City graduate, gave Arkin
the lead role as Rossarian, the victim of wartime red tape in the 1970 film
"Catch-22," based on Joseph Heller's best-selling novel, Arkin's
reputation as a character actor continued to flourish.
Over the years, Arkin had appearances in beloved films like
"Edward Scissor Hands," where he played Johnny Depp's neighbor, and
in the movie adaptation of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," where
he played a tenacious real estate salesman. In the 1998 movie "The Slums
of Beverly Hills," he and Reiner portrayed two brothers, one struggling
and the other successful.
Oscarwinning
"I used to believe that my work was quite diverse.
However, I came to the realization that for the first twenty years or so, the
majority of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their
surroundings, or foreigners in some other way," he told The Associated
Press in 2007.
"That started to change as I began to feel more at ease
with myself. A few days ago, I received one of the kindest comments I've ever
received. They expressed the opinion that my characters were frequently the
moral core and heart of a movie. Even though I didn't really grasp it, I liked
it and it made me happy.
Other recent credits include the TV series "The Kominsky
Method" and the 2017 remake of "Going in Style," which starred
fellow Oscar winners Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
Along with Little Murders, a dark comedy by Jules Feiffer
from 1971, Arkin also helmed "The Sunshine Boys," a play by Neil
Simon from 1972 about quarreling former vaudeville colleagues. In addition to
playing a night court judge in Sidney Lumet's drama series "100 Centre
Street" on A&E, Arkin also made appearances in the ill-fated shows
"Fay" and "Harry" on television. He has produced a number
of children's novels.
He was raised in Los Angeles with his family, which includes
two younger brothers, after being born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York
City. His parents were hired as teachers but were sacked because of their
Communist beliefs during the post-World War II Red Scare.
"We were dirt poor, so I couldn't afford to go to the
movies very often," he told the AP in 1998. But since watching films was
the most important thing in my life, I went whenever I could.
He pursued acting studies at Bennington College in Vermont
after receiving a scholarship from the once-all-girls school, California State
University, Los Angeles, and Los Angeles City College.
He wed Jeremy Yaffe, a classmate, and the couple produced two
sons, Adam and Matthew.
Following his divorce from Yaffe in 1961, Arkin wed the
actress-writer Barbara Dana, with whom he had a son named Anthony. All three
sons pursued acting careers; Adam starred in the television program
"Chicago Hope."
As an organizer and performer for The Tarriers, a group that briefly
rode the folk music revival wave of the late 1950s, Arkin launched his career
in entertainment. Later, he began performing on stage, always in tragic parts
and off-Broadway.
He collaborated at Second City with people like Nichols,
Elaine May, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, and others to produce intelligent,
quick-witted impromptu parodies on current fads and follies.
Before joining Second City, he claimed, "I never knew
that I could be funny."
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