Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin was the kind of actor who could make impatience, suspicion or plain exhaustion as compelling as a grand speech. Across comedy and drama, he brought a restless intelligence to the screen, often finding the nervous energy or dry humor tucked inside a character. Born in Brooklyn on March 26, 1934, Arkin began taking acting lessons at age ten and later studied a psychological approach to performance. His career first took shape through music: he sang and played guitar with the folk group The Tarriers, whose hits included Cindy, Oh Cindy and Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). He then became an early member of the Second City comedy troupe before making his mark on Broadway. His performance in Enter Laughing earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Film quickly gave Arkin room to show his range. His first full-length film role, in the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, brought an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win. Two years later, his performance as a deaf man in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter earned another Oscar nomination. As Captain John Yossarian in Catch-22, he was well matched with the story’s satirical frustration and absurdity. Arkin never confined himself to acting. He directed the short film People Soup, the black comedy Little Murders and Fire Sale, as well as work for television and theatre. On screen, his credits moved easily from The In-Laws and The Last Unicorn to Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grosse Point Blank and Gattaca. A later generation knew him as the foul-mouthed grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine, a supporting performance that won him an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and an Independent Spirit Award. He received another Oscar nomination for playing producer Lester Siegel in Argo, then starred opposite Michael Douglas in The Kominsky Method. His final film performance was the voice of Wild Knuckles in Minions: The Rise of Gru. Arkin died in 2023, leaving behind a career whose variety reflected just how many ways he knew how to hold a scene.