Los Angeles (AP) – Alan Arkin, the versatile comedic actor known for his multi-talented performances in comedy and drama, including receiving four Academy Award nominations and winning an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has passed away. He was 89 years old.
In a statement released by his sons, Adam, Matthew, and Anthony, through the actor’s publicist, they verified their father’s death. They said,” Our father was a unique and extraordinarily talented force of nature as both an artist and a person.”
A member of the famed Second City comedy troop in Chicago, Arkin achieved immediate success in flicks with the megahit” Little Miss Sunshine,” for which he won an Oscar in 2007 for Stylish Supporting Actor. He also gained recognition for his part in the 2006 megahit” Argo,” portraying a cunning Hollywood patron, earning his first Academy Award nomination in over 40 times since his nomination for” The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.”
In recent times, he appeared in the Netflix comedy series” The Kominsky Method” alongside Michael Douglas, entering two Emmy nominations for his performance in a part that showcased his uproarious brilliance.
Arkin formerly jokingly said in an interview with The Associated Press that the beauty of being a character actor isn’t having to take off his clothes for a part. He was not a coitus symbol or a megastar, but he infrequently stayed down from work, appearing in over 100 television and point flicks. His trademarks were versatility, slyness, and complete absorption in his characters, no matter how eccentric or unconventional they may be, whether it was playing a Russian submarine officer engaging in dialogue with bickering Americans in” The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming,” or portraying a medicine- addicted forefather in” Little Miss Sunshine.”
Norman Jewison, the director of” The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming,” formerly said,” Alan noway came an identifiable screen personality because he disappears into his places.”” His delivery is indefectible, and he’s able of transubstantiating himself. He has always been underappreciated, incompletely because he has noway served his success.”
While abiding in Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the immature promoter in the 1963 Broadway play” Enter Laughing,” grounded on Reiner’ssemi-autobiographical novel.
He garnered excellent reviews and caught the attention of critics with his direction of a Russian play in 1966, which was set to be a comedy about an assistant, causing anxiety when coming to a small town in New England. In Arkin’s next major film, he proved that he could also play the role of a villain, albeit reluctantly. In “Wait Until Dark,” Arkin portrayed a cunning drug dealer who traps a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) in her own apartment, believing that a hidden drug shipment is there.
In a 1998 interview, he recalled how challenging it was to terrorize Hepburn’s character. “It was terrifying,” he said. “She was such a great lady, so it was difficult to be mean to her.”
His role in the 1968 film “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” where he portrayed a sensitive character who couldn’t hear or speak, elevated Arkin’s status in Hollywood once again. That same year, he played a bumbling French spy in “Inspector Clouseau” but was overlooked in the “Pink Panther” films, overshadowed by Peter Sellers’ portrayal of Clouseau.
Arkin’s career blossomed as a character actor when his Second City comrade, former classmate Mike Nichols, cast him in the role of Yossarian, the besieged squadron bombardier in the 1970s war satire “Catch-22,” based on Joseph Heller’s bestselling novel. Over the years, Arkin appeared in beloved films like “Edward Scissorhands” alongside Johnny Depp as a neighbor, and as a stubborn real estate salesman in the film adaptation of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross.” He also played brothers in the 1998 film “The Slums of Beverly Hills,” with one being successful (played by Renner) and the other struggling (played by Arkin).
“I thought my repertoire was pretty varied. But I realized that for the first 20 years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, somehow foreign,” he told the Associated Press in 2007.
“As I became more comfortable with myself, it started to change. Just recently, I got one of the best reviews I’ve ever received from someone. They said they think my characters often become the heart, the moral center of a film. I didn’t quite understand it, but I liked it; it made me happy.”
In recent credits, he appeared in the 2017 remake “Going in Style,” alongside fellow Oscar winner Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and the TV series “The Kominsky Method.”