Follow TV Tropes

Following

Creator / Alan Alda

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alan_alda.jpeg

"It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that."

Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936 in the Bronx, New York City) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and podcaster.

A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he's enjoyed a long and highly accomplished career with a litany of roles under his belt. However, he's likely best known for his iconic performance as Capt. "Hawkeye" Pierce in the long-running TV series M*A*S*H. In contrast to the fun-loving and rebellious Hawkeye, Alda has mostly played staunch authority figures and/or villains in his later career (something that can partly be explained by an offscreen incident with an overzealous dentist when he was in his 50s; the man accidentally cut through the frenum of Alda's upper lip, removing part of its support and movement structure and making it all but impossible for Alda to smile correctly).

He is also a major supporter of the sciences and hosted Scientific American Frontiers on PBS from 1993 to 2005. In 2009, he founded the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, which teaches scientists how to present their work in way the general public can understand.

He's also known for his simultaneously thick and nasally voice, and for his outspoken left-leaning political views. Most definitely a Cool Old Guy.


Filmography on this wiki:

    open/close all folders 

    Film roles 

    Television roles 

    Other roles 


Tropes associated With Alan Alda:

  • Alliterative Name: Alan Alda, although it's his stage name rather than his real name.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: The title of his memoir "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed" was borne from a childhood incident where his beloved dog had died and his father, in an effort to appease Alan's grief, had the animal stuffed and put on display, much to his horror. This led to a lesson about accepting some things as they are and how trying to fix a problem can sometimes just make it worse.
  • Big Applesauce: He was born and raised in the Bronx.
  • Cool Old Guy: Many of his later roles and he's definitely one in real life as well.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Most famously as Hawkeye but many of his other roles are this as well.
  • Happily Married: To his wife Arlene since 1957, an astonishingly long time, especially for a Hollywood marriage.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Tends to keep his famous New York accent, no matter the role he's playing.
  • Playing Against Type: His bad-guy roles were initially playing against type, but over time they've become his type.
  • Podcast: Since 2018 he's hosted one called Clear+Vivid, in which he discusses a variety of topics with one or more guests.
  • Stage Names: His father was already acting under the name Robert Alda, so Alan changed to "Alan" and followed suit.
  • Typecasting: Tends to play a lot of politicians and government workers or upper-class corporate types. In something of an ironic play against his outspoken liberal-left views and reputation as something of a Cool Old Guy, many of these characters tend to be somewhat right-leaning and sinister.


Top