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Alan Arkin, a one-of-a-kind stage and screen character actor known for extraordinary range and subversive wit in over 80 films, has died at 89.
Arkin scored four Oscar nominations, most recently for 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine, playing an irascible, potty-mouthed grandfather. He won back-to-back Emmy nods playing a Hollywood agent in the Michael Douglas Netflix series The Kominsky Method.
Arkin’s death was announced in a joint statement by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony: “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.”
Tributes poured in on Twitter praising the actor, whose career spanned six decades with such hits as Argo, The In-Laws, Glengarry Glen Ross and Edward Scissorhands.
Arkin began his career as a musician in the folk group the Tarriers, who had a hit with “Day-O” that outsold Harry Belafonte’s version. In 1960 he joined the legendary Second City comedy troupe that included Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara performing skits and revues. He discovered a gift for comedy he’d never known he had. “Second City saved my life. It literally saved my life,” Arkin said. “I have a feeling it’s true for a lot of other people, too.”
He went on to star in the 1963 play Enter Laughing, an adaptation of Carl Reiner’s semi-autobiographical novel about a struggling actor from New York. The show ran over a year to rave reviews, winning newcomer Arkin a Tony in his Broadway debut.
His big break was an iconic comic role as a political officer on a Russian submarine in Norman Jewison’s 1966 Best Picture nominee, The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, for which he got his first Oscar nomination. Arkin continued to land roles, with parts ranging from a conniving movie executive in the Oscar-winning 2012 Argo to a shady real estate salesman in 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross. “I never had any doubts about making it in movies,” he told the New York Daily News a year later. “I just knew I had to, because there was no alternative.”
Born in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, Arkin and his family, which included two younger brothers, moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His parents found jobs as teachers, but were fired during the post-World War II Red Scare because they were Communists, according to AP.
“We were dirt poor, so I couldn’t afford to go to the movies often,” he told the AP in 1998. “But I went whenever I could and focused in on movies, as they were more important than anything in my life.”
Arkin is survived by his third wife Suzanne, sons Matthew, Anthony and Adam and grandchildren Molly, Emmet, Atticus and Abigail. He has one great grandson, Elliott.
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