Alan Arkin dead at 89: The Oscar-winning ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ star has died at his home in California
Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin has passed away at the age of 89 after a glittering career spanning over six decades on stage and screen.
His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death in a statement to People.
“Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and as a person.” “As a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, he was adored and we will miss him dearly,” they said.
According to Variety, he died at his home in Carlsbad, California.
During his prolific career, Arkin won an Academy Award for his role in the dark comedy Little Miss Sunshine in 2006 and a Tony for Enter Laughing in 1963.
Critically acclaimed actor Alan Arkin has passed away at the age of 89. pictured in Little Miss Sunshine, the film that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Arkin depicted in The Kominsky Method with Michael Douglas
Arkin was born in Brooklyn in 1934 but moved to Los Angeles 11 years later when his father David, a painter, began working in Los Angeles as a set designer.
However, David Arkin’s Hollywood career was torpedoed first by a month-long strike and then by the ‘Red Scare’, in which he was accused of Communism and ousted from office for his left-wing politics.
His father’s troubles didn’t quench Alan’s enthusiasm for show business, which initially propelled him to pursue a music career.
Alan was part of a folk group called the Tarriers, which managed to produce a hit single, The Banana Boat Song, in 1957.
Eventually he decided to pursue his own career as an actor and landed a job with the now legendary Chicago comedy troupe Second City in the early 1960s.
Alan initially had reservations about joining Second City, thinking, “I’m going to bury myself in a hole in the wall in Chicago?” It would be the end of my career.”
However, when he came to Second City, he was “happier than ever.” When I got there, I realized I had found a home,” he told NPR.
In 1963 he made his Broadway debut in Enter Laughing, a play based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner.
Alan’s Broadway debut was a triumph, earning him critical acclaim and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
However, his stage work early in his career was “torture,” he said, as actors “are not encouraged to experiment or act much.”
He mused, “The play is going to be performed the moment it premieres, and … that’s what you’re supposed to do next year.” And I’m just inherently incapable of feeling any kind of excitement in an experience like that or to find creativity.”
Alan made his way to Hollywood and earned his first Oscar nomination in 1967 for the Cold War satire The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.
A year later, he appeared in the film adaptation of Carson McCullers’ classic novel The Lonely Hunter, for which he received a second Oscar nomination.
In 1969, he directed a short film called People Soup, directed by his sons Adam and Matthew Arkin, which earned him another Oscar nomination.