Alan Arkin, the legendary character actor, has died at age 89. The Arkin family confirmed his passing in a statement to People Magazine. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Indeed, the legendary Alan Arkin had an incredible, enduring career. He first made a name for himself on stage, but here’s an interesting tidbit – he was nominated for an Oscar for his first movie role: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He was a Tony Award winner when he was cast but had yet to make a movie. He won the role because he was raised in a Russian-Jewish household, making him the ideal choice to play the film’s comic hero. Arkin’s performance was so lauded that he became a sensation playing ethnic roles. He played a Puerto Rican widower in the hit film Popi and even replaced Peter Sellers in the movie Inspector Clouseau.
Around the same time, Arkin earned another Oscar nomination for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and he had a big financial hit with the film Freebie and the Bean, considered one of the prototypical buddy-cop action movies. Other hits include The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (where he played Sigmund Freud in Nicol Williamson’s Sherlock Holmes), The In-Laws (opposite Peter Falk) and many more. In the nineties, he moved into character roles, such as in The Rocketeer, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grosse Pointe Blank, Gattaca and many more.
Perhaps Arkin’s greatest fame came later in life when he won an Oscar for co-starring in Little Miss Sunshine and then earned another nomination for Ben Affleck’s Argo. He remained busy until the end, co-starring with Michael Douglas on two seasons of The Kominski Method and recently starring opposite Mark Wahlberg in Spencer Underground and voicing a character in Minions: The Rise of Gru.
Arkin was certainly one of a kind and will be missed. What’s your favourite Alan Arkin role? Let us know in the comments!