![]() ![]() They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral center of a film. I got one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever gotten from someone a few days ago. “As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift. But I realized that for the first twenty years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another,” he told The Associated Press in 2007. “I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. He and Reiner played brothers, one successful (Reiner), one struggling (Arkin), in the 1998 film “The Slums of Beverly Hills.” Through the years, Arkin turned up in such favorites as “Edward Scissorhands,” playing Johnny Depp’s neighbor and in the film version of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” as a dogged real estate salesman. He starred as the bumbling French detective in “Inspector Clouseau” that same year, but the film would become overlooked in favor of Peter Sellers’ Clouseau in the “Pink Panther” movies.Īrkin’s career as a character actor continued to blossom when Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City alumnus, cast him in the starring role as Yossarian, the victim of wartime red tape in 1970’s “Catch-22,” based on Joseph Heller’s million-selling novel. “She was an exquisite lady, so being mean to her was hard.”Īrkin’s rise continued in 1968 with “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” in which he played a sensitive man who could not hear or speak. He recalled in a 1998 interview how difficult it was to terrorize Hepburn’s character. Arkin starred in “Wait Until Dark” as a vicious drug dealer who holds a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) captive in her own apartment, believing a drug shipment is hidden there. ![]() In Arkin’s next major film, he proved he could also play a villain, however reluctantly. He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub that creates a panic when it ventures too close to a small New England town. While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play “Enter Laughing,” based on Reiner’s semi-autobiographical novel. … He’s always been underestimated, partly because he’s never been in service of his own success.” “His accents are impeccable, and he’s even able to change his looks. ![]() “Alan’s never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters,” director Norman Jewison of “The Russians are Coming” once observed. His trademarks were likability, relatability and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual, whether playing a Russian submarine officer in “The Russians are Coming” who struggles to communicate with the equally jittery Americans, or standing out as the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine.” He wasn’t a sex symbol or superstar, but was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films. WATCH: How intimacy coordinators ensure safety on theater and film setsĪrkin once joked to The Associated Press that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role. ‘I’d answer ‘Which kind is Alan Arkin?’ and that shut them up.” “When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one,” Michael McKean tweeted Friday. In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series “The Kominsky Method,” a role that earned him two Emmy nominations. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said in a statement.Ī member of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit “Little Miss Sunshine.” More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for “The Russians are Coming,” from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning “Argo.” His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on Friday. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. ![]()
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