Alan Arkin, a US actor best known for playing the eccentric grandfather in the movie Little Miss Sunshine, has passed away at the age of 89.
Arkin starred in Argo, Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning film, over a seven-decade-long career on the stage and in films. His three boys released a statement as a family on Friday confirming his passing.
He was hailed as a “wonderful actor” who “left an indelible mark” by Michael Douglas, his co-star in the Netflix series The Kominsky Method, who also led the tributes.
“Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” his sons Adam, Matthew, and Anthony stated.
Alan Arkin was adored and will be much missed. He was a devoted husband, father, grandpa, and great-grandfather.
In the animated series BoJack Horseman from 2015 to 2016, Arkin also provided the voice of JD Salinger.
When Paul Reiser learned of his passing, he tweeted,
“A world without Alan Arkin is… not so great.”
“I’ve loved this man from the moment he came on screen in The Russians Are Coming (Whitaker Walt!),” the author remarked. “I was 8.
“Getting to know him and making him laugh is the high point of my life. Sadly, my friend, RIP.
Michael McKean, who starred in Spinal Tap, offered tribute as well, saying:
“When I was a young actor, people asked me if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny actor.
“Which kind is Alan Arkin?” was my go-to response to silence them.”
Arkin, in his words, was “charming, hilarious, and armed with a flawless [nonsense] detector, he was pure pleasure to be with.”
The actor, director, and screenwriter who was born in New York and reared in Los Angeles and is renowned for his deadpan comic timing had acting training as a child, but his career truly began when he joined a folk band named The Tarriers and sang and played guitar.
The Banana Boat Song, which Harry Belafonte later made famous, was one of their top five hits in 1956.
He moved to Chicago in 1960 as a college dropout and soon joined the Second City improv group, which he has said: “literally saved my life.”
His Broadway performance in the comedy Enter Laughing in 1963, which earned him a Tony Award for outstanding actor, marked the successful start of his dramatic career.
His roles in movies like 1966’s The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter—both of which earned him Oscar nominations for best actor—helped him become well-known. The former, a comedy set during the Cold War, earned him a Golden Globe.
Early on, he began directing, and in 1973, for his off-stage work on the play The Sunshine Boys, he received another Tony nomination.
After starring alongside Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s 1990 fantasy romance Edward Scissorhands and in the drama film Glengarry Glen Ross with a stellar cast that included Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin, his performance in 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine earned him an Oscar and a Bafta for best-supporting actor.
The tragicomedy was centered on members of an unhappy family sending their youngest to a contest for young girls.
In it, Arkin played the foul-mouthed grandfather Edwin Hoover, who was kicked out of a retirement community for sniffing heroin and moved in with his family.
He then instructs his granddaughter Olive, who aspires to be a beauty queen, how to striptease in order to prepare for the contest.
Alan Arkin once remarked,
“He’s crazy, but to me, he was perfectly believable.
The actor was never interested in the discussion that surrounded him and his films, despite the fact that reviewers adored his work. He chuckled, “I’ve never met Oscar Buzz. “I’ve heard a lot of things about him, but I’ve never met the man.”
He admitted that despite his accomplishments as a young man, he had been totally miserable for the majority of the period in his 2018 biography Out of My Mind.
Speaking to the Guardian around the publication of the book, he said that he had always struggled with anxiety and that acting, which he had described as feeling like “torture” at times, had helped him overcome this.
“I had this sense that I didn’t exist,” he admitted. “My parents were excellent individuals in many ways, yet they lacked affection. I don’t recall either of them ever touching me.
“Acting was my lifeline to not feel like I was being demolished; I felt neglected to the point where I didn’t even exist. For many years, performing on stage was the only place I felt alive.”
Alan Arkin described how he had used meditation and Eastern philosophy to transform his personal life.
Affleck played Lester Siegel, a fictitious Hollywood producer, in the 2012 historical drama Argo, which unexpectedly won the best picture Oscar.
The movie takes place during the Iran hostage crisis, where US embassy staff are being held hostage. A scheme is planned to free them using a phony movie being shot there.
In addition to being a voracious reader, Arkin portrayed Captain John Yossarian (Bombardier) in Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Joseph Heller’s satirical black comedy novel Catch-22.
He received Emmy nods for his role as the agent of a former successful actor played by Douglas in TV dramas like Escape from Sobibor, The Pentagon Papers, and the most recent comedy-drama series The Kominsky Method.
In 2019, the veteran received recognition with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
His children and third wife, psychologist Suzanne Newlande, both survive him.
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