Alan Arkin, Oscar winning actor, dies at the age of 89
File image of Alan Arkin
Veteran actor and comedian Alan Arkin is dead. The news was confirmed to the media by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony who released a joint statement on behalf of the Arkin family."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."
Arkin was last seen in The Kominsky Method on Netflix which co-starred Michael Douglas. The project fetched him Emmy nominations in 2019 and 2020, and Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations in 2020 and 2021.
The actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his 14 minutes appearance in the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine.
Arkin's memorable role in the 2012 Ben Affleck-directed political drama Argo earned him his fourth Oscar nomination. He played veteran producer Lester Siegel, whose sharp sense of humour and biting line delivery won over audiences.
His son, Adam Arkin, 66, is also a well-known actor and director who has starred in TV hits including Chicago Hope, 8 Simple Rules and Sons of Anarchy.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in March 1934, Alan Arkin moved to Los Angeles with his family in his childhood. The actor attended several different colleges and dropped out of at least three, including Bennington College in Vermont, which lists him as an alumnus of the class of 1955.
In his initial years after college,he dabbled in a career in music briefly with a folk group called the Tarriers, where he sang and played guitar. The short-lived group produced the hit top-5 single 'The Banana Boat Song' in 1957.
But Arkin, who had taken acting lessons since childhood, soon quit the band and set about trying to establish himself as an actor.In Chicago, he became an early member of the Second City improvisational comedy troupe.
He eventually made his debut in Broadway in 1961 in From the Second City and followed it up with a Tony-winning performance in 1963's Enter Laughing.
More television and film roles followed in the subsequent years and soon started doing films, He received his first of four career Oscar nominations in 1967 for his role in the comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.
Over the next 50-plus years, Arkin went on to appear in more than 100 movies and films, in films like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968), which earned him his second Oscar nomination; Catch-22 (1970); Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) to name a few.
Arkin is survived by his wife Suzanne Newlander, whom he married in 1996, and three children: sons Adam Arkin and Matthew Arkin, whom he shared with his first wife Jeremy Yaffe, and Anthony Dana Arkin, whom he shared with his second wife Dana.
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