"I know that if I can't move people, then I have no business being an actor."
Alan Wolf Arkin (March 26, 1934 – June 29, 2023) was an American actor, director, screenwriter, musician, and singer.
Known for his roles in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Little Miss Sunshine, and Argo, Arkin has received four Academy Award nominations (winning Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine), as well as eight Golden Globe Award nominations (winning for The Russians Are Coming) and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
He was the father of actors Adam Arkin, Anthony Arkin, and Matthew Arkin. He's not related to Turkish actor Cüneyt Arkın or American actor David Arkin, however.
Works Alan Arkin appeared in:
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Film
- The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)
- Wait Until Dark (1967)
- The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (1968)
- People Soup (1969) (short film, also director)
- Catch-22 (1970)
- Freebie and the Bean (1974)
- The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976)
- The In-Laws (1979)
- The Last Unicorn (1982) (voice)
- The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
- Escape from Sobibór (1987)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- The Rocketeer (1991)
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
- So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
- North (1994)
- Mother Night (1996)
- Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
- Gattaca (1997)
- Four Days in September (1997)
- Jakob the Liar (1999)
- America's Sweethearts (2001)
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- Graduation (2007)
- The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
- Get Smart (2008)
- Marley & Me (2008)
- Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
- City Island (2009)
- The Muppets (2011) (cameo)
- Argo (2012)
- Stand Up Guys (2012)
- The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
- Grudge Match (2013)
- Million Dollar Arm (2014)
- Love the Coopers (2015)
- Going in Style (2017)
- Dumbo (2019)
- Spenser Confidential (2020)
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) (voice)
TV
- Sesame Street (1970-71)
- The Muppet Show (1980)
- St. Elsewhere (1983)
- Faerie Tale Theatre (1985)
- Chicago Hope (1997)note
- Will & Grace (2005)
- Bojack Horseman (2015-16) (voice)
- Get Shorty (2017)
- The Kominsky Method (2018-21)
Theatre
- Enter Laughing (1963)
- Luv (1964)
Tropes associated with his roles:
- Cool Old Guy: He commonly played chummy old guys in his elder years.
- Fake Nationality: Arkin, a Brooklyn native of Ashkenazic Jewish descent, specialized in this, especially early in his career, including playing a Russian (The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming), a Cuban (Popi), a Mexican-American (Freebie and the Bean), the Austrian Sigmund Freud (The Seven Per Cent Solution), a Lithuanian (the Made-for-TV Movie The Defection of Simas Kudirka) and a Central American local (Bad Medicine).
- He Also Did: Was a member of The Tarriers
, a Folk Music group that had a couple hits in The '50s, and directed several Broadway plays, most notably the original production of The Sunshine Boys. His father David Arkin was a case as well, having written the lyrics to "Black and White" in 1954, 18 years before it became a #1 hit for Three Dog Night. - Old Shame:
- Disowned his involvement in the film Freebie and the Bean in 1974, saying he had only accepted the role because "he needed the bread.".
- Attempt to bring up the film where he played Inspector Clouseau, and he would express deep embarrassment. He said once he was becoming a rather egotistical actor during that time period, and foolishly thought he'd become the next Clouseau. His absolute failure in the role (and the entire film in general) made him more humble.
- What Could Have Been: He was originally slated to play Saul Bloom in Steven Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's Eleven in 2001. After dropping out of the production, he was replaced by Carl Reiner. Arkin won a 1963 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play as well as a Theatre World Award for playing a character based on Carl Reiner in the Broadway production of Reiner's autobiographical novel Enter Laughing in 1967.
