Alan Arkin
- Category : Actor
- Type : PE
- Profile : 2/4 - Hermit / Opportunist
- Definition : Triple Split
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Service 1
Biography
Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and director. He is best-known for starring in such films as Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Glengarry Glen Ross and Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2007. He is the father of actor Adam Arkin.
Early life and career
Arkin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Beatrice (née Wortis), a teacher, and David I. Arkin, a painter and writer who mostly worked as a teacher. Arkin was raised in a Jewish family with "no emphasis on religion"; his maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Odessa, Ukraine. The family moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, California when Arkin was 11 years old, but an eight-month Hollywood strike cost Arkin's father a set designer job he had wanted to take. Arkin's parents were accused during the 1950s Red Scare of being Communists, which led to Arkin's father losing his job after refusing to answer questions regarding his political affiliation. David Arkin challenged the dismissal and ultimately prevailed, but after his death.
Arkin, who had been taking acting lessons since age 10, became a scholarship student at various drama academies, including one run by Stanislavsky student Benjamin Zemach, who had taught Arkin a psychological approach to acting. Arkin attended Franklin High School, in Los Angeles, followed by Los Angeles City College from 1951 to 1953. With two friends, he formed the folk music group The Tarriers, in which Arkin sang and played guitar. The band-members co-composed the group's 1956 hit "The Banana Boat Song" — a reworking, with some new lyrics, of a traditional, same-name Jamaican calypso folk song combined with another titled "Hill and Gully Rider". It reached #4 on the Billboard magazine chart the same year as Harry Belafonte's better-known hit version.
From 1958 to 1968, Arkin performed and recorded with the children's folk group, The Baby Sitters.
Acting career
Arkin is one of only eight actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance (for The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming in 1966). Two years later, he was again nominated, for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
Arkin is equally comfortable in comedy and dramatic roles. Among those for which he has garnered the most favorable critical attention are his Oscar-nominated turns above; Wait Until Dark, as the erudite killer stalking Audrey Hepburn; director Mike Nichols' Catch-22; The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (where he played Sigmund Freud); writer Jules Feiffer's Little Murders, which Arkin directed; the The In-Laws, co-starring Peter Falk; Glengarry Glen Ross; and Little Miss Sunshine, for which he received his third Oscar nomination, in the category of Best Supporting Actor. On the 11th February 2007 he received a BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Grandfather Edwin in Little Miss Sunshine. On February 25, 2007, upon winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Arkin, who plays a foul-mouthed grandfather with a taste for heroin said, "More than anything, I'm deeply moved by the open-hearted appreciation our small film has received, which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth and connection". At 72 years old, Arkin became the sixth oldest winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
On Broadway, Arkin starred in Enter Laughing, for which he won a Tony Award, and Luv. He also directed The Sunshine Boys, among others.
Author
Arkin is also the author of many books, including the children's stories The Lemming Condition and The Clearing.
Personal life
Arkin has been married three times. He and Jeremy Yaffe, to whom he was married from 1955 to 1960, have two sons: Adam Arkin, born Aug. 19, 1956 or 1957 (accounts differ), and Matthew Arkin, born in 1960. In 1967, Arkin had son Anthony (Tony) Dana Arkin with actress-screenwriter Barbara Dana (born 1940), to whom he was married from June 16, 1964 to the mid-1990s. In 1996, Arkin married a psychotherapist, Suzanne Newlander. As of 2007, they live in New Mexico.
Filmography (actor)
In chronological order. For releases in same year/month, specific dates are given.
Calypso Heat Wave (1957) – Tarriers lead singer (uncredited)
"That's Me" (1963 short; nominated for 1964 Academy Award for Live-Action Short Subject)
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) - Lt. Rozanov
"The Last Mohican" (1966 short) – Pretzel Peddler
Woman Times Seven (June 1967) - Fred (segment "The Suicides")
Wait Until Dark (Oct. 1967) - Harry Roat
Inspector Clouseau (July 19, 1968) - Insp. Jacques Clouseau
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (July 31, 1968) - John Singer
Popi (May 1969) - Abraham Rodriguez
The Monitors (Oct. 1969) - Cameo appearance
Catch-22 (1970) - Capt. John Yossarian
Little Murders (1971; also director) - Lt. Practice
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Aug. 1972) - Barney Cashman
Deadhead Miles (month n.a., 1972) - Cooper
It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (Nov. 1974 TV-movie)
Freebie and the Bean (Dec. 1974) - Bean
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (Feb. 1975; a.k.a. Rafferty and the Highway Hustlers) - Gunny Rafferty
Hearts of the West (Oct. 1975) - Burt Kessler
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) - Dr. Sigmund Freud
Fire Sale (movie) (1977; also director) - Ezra Fikus
The Other Side of Hell (Jan. 17, 1978 TV-movie) - Frank Dole
The Defection of Simas Kudirka (Jan. 23, 1978 TV-movie) - Simas Kudirka
The In-Laws (June 1979) - Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S.
The Magician of Lublin (Nov. 1979) - Yasha Mazur
Simon (1980) - Prof. Simon Mendelssohn
Full Moon High (1981; U.S. release uncertain) - Dr. Brand
Improper Channels (May 1981) - Jeffrey Martley
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (Aug. 1981) - Flash
The Last Unicorn (1982) (voice of Schmendrick)
The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) - Captain Invincible
A Matter of Principle (1984 TV-movie) - Flagg Purdy
The Fourth Wise Man (March 1985 TV-movie) - Orontes
Joshua Then and Now (Sept.1985) - Reuben Shapiro
Bad Medicine (Nov. 1985) - Dr. Ramón Madera
A Deadly Business (March 1986) (TV) - Harold Kaufman
Big Trouble (May 1986) - Leonard Hoffman
Escape from Sobibor (1987) (TV) - Leon Feldhendler
Necessary Parties (1988) (TV) - Archie Corelli
Coupe de Ville (March 1990) - Fred Libner
Edward Scissorhands (Dec. 7, 1990) - Bill
Havana (Dec. 12, 1990) - Joe Volpi
The Rocketeer (1991) - A. 'Peevy' Peabody
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - George Aaronow
Cooperstown (Jan. 1993 TV-movie) - Harry Willette
Indian Summer (April 1993) - Unca Lou Handler
Taking the Heat (June 1993 TV-movie) - Tommy Canard
So I Married an Axe Murderer (July 1993) - Police Captain (uncredited)
Samuel Beckett is Coming Soon (1993 short; also director) - The Director (character)
North (July 22, 1994) - Judge Buckle
Doomsday Gun (July 23, 1994 TV-movie) - Col. Yossi
Picture Windows (Oct. 1994 TV-movie) – Tully in segment "Soir Bleu"
The Jerky Boys (Feb. 1995) - Ernie Lazarro
Steal Big Steal Little (Sept. 1995) - Lou Perilli
Heck's Way Home (March 1996) (TV) - Dogcatcher
Mother Night (Nov. 1996) - George Kraft
Grosse Pointe Blank (April 1997) - Dr. Oatman
O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (Brazil-U.S) (May 1997; U.S. Jan. 1998, a.k.a. Four Days in September) - Charles Burke Elbrick
Gattaca (Oct. 1997) - Det. Hugo
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) - Murray Samuel Abromowitz
Jakob the Liar (Sept. 1999) - Max Frankfurter
Blood Money (month n.a. 1999 TV-movie) - Willy "The Hammer" Canzaro
Arigo (2000? produced? produced and unreleased? also director)
Magicians (2000 direct-to-video) - Milo
Varian's War (UK-US-Canada) (April 2001 TV-movie) - Freier
America's Sweethearts (July 2001) - Wellness Guide
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2002) – Gene
The Pentagon Papers (March 2003 TV-movie) - Harry Rowen
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (Sept. 2003 TV-movie) - Sam Drebben
The Novice (Sept. 2004) - Father Benkhe
Noel (Nov. 2004 TV-movie) - Artie Venzuela
Eros (multinational) (First theatrical release Italy Dec. 2004; U.S. April 2005) - Dr. Pearl / Hal in segment "Equilibrium"
Firewall (Feb. 2006) - Arlin Forester
Little Miss Sunshine (July 2006) - Edwin Hoover
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (Dec. 2006) - Bud Newman
Raising Flagg (Feb. 2007) - Flagg Purdy
Bee Movie (scheduled 2007) - voice of Uncle Howard
Rendition (October 2007)
Sunshine Cleaning (scheduled 2008)
Get Smart (scheduled July 2008) - the Chief of CONTROL
Episodic television
East Side/West Side – "The Beatnik and the Politician" (1964) - Ted Miller
ABC Stage 67 – "The Love Song of Barney Kempinski" (1966) - Barney Kempinski
Sesame Street (1969) - Larry (episodes n.a., 1970–1972)
Carol Burnett & Company: Episode 1, Season 2 (1979)
St. Elsewhere: "Ties That Bind," "Lust En Veritas," "Newheart"
Faerie Tale Theatre: "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1985)
Harry (March 4–25,1987 ABC TV series - Harry Porschak
Chicago Hope: The Son Also Rises (1997) - Zoltan Karpathein
100 Centre Street (2001–2002 A&E TV series - Joe Rifkind
Will & Grace: "It's a Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad World" (2005) - Marty Adler
Boston Legal Two episodes in Season 3 as a prosecutor.
Filmography (director)
Little Murders (1971; also actor)
Fire Sale (1977; also actor)
References
^ Alan Arkin Biography (1934-)
^ a b Sierchio, Pat. "Alan Arkin—not just another kid From Brooklyn", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 2007-02-16. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
^ a b Alan Arkin biography. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
^ Life (Oct. 1970): "Yossarian in Connecticut: Since Catch-22, actor’s actor Alan Arkin finally stars as...Alan Arkin", by Barry Farrell
^ Franklin High School official site
^ As in "to tarry", and sometimes given incorrectly as "The Terriers
^ New York Newsday (Jan. 7, 2007): "Fast Chat: Alan Arkin", by Frank Lovece
^ FolkEra.com: The Tarriers
^ Alan Arkin Biography. Hollywood.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
^ , filmsite.org
^ 'Dreamgirl' Jennifer Hudson Wins Oscar. NewsMax.com, February 26, 2007.
