“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.”
Although his dream was to be an actor since the age of five, Alan dropped out of college to join the folk music group The Tarriers. He and the rest of the group made their film debut in the 1957 musical movie Calypso Heat Wave, playing themselves.
In 1963, Alan won a Tony Award for his role in the Broadway play Enter Laughing.
His breakout film role, for which he received his first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, was in the 1966 comedy film The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Alan received another Oscar nomination for his memorable role as a deaf/mute in the drama The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), but it wasn’t until 2007 at the age of 72 that he finally won an Oscar for his role in the 2006 comedy, Little Miss Sunshine.
Most recently, Alan starred opposite Michael Douglas on two seasons of the Netflix series The Kominsky Method from 2018 to 2019, but didn’t return for the third season.
Besides his sons from his first two marriages, Alan Arkin is survived by his third wife Suzanne, to whom he was married for 27 years. ~Alexandra Heilbron