Alan Wolf Arkin
11 min read
Reading time
2,183
Words
Published
117
Film credits
9
Books
14
Awards
Alan Arkin co-wrote the 1956 hit The Banana Boat Song before turning to acting. He earned an Oscar nomination for his film debut in The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming 1966 and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine 2006. He directed Broadway plays, wrote children’s books, and was a founding member of the Second City improv troupe.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Alan Arkin — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Alan Arkin by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Alan Arkin — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Alan Wolf Arkin was born on March 26, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York, to David I. Arkin, an artist and writer, and Beatrice Arkin, a teacher. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1946. At age 10, he began taking acting classes. He attended Franklin High School, Los Angeles City College from 1951 to 1953, and Bennington College in Vermont from 1953 to 1954. To form the folk group The Tarriers, he dropped out of Bennington, where he co-wrote The Banana Boat Song.
Arkin made his film debut as a lead singer with The Tarriers in Calypso Heat Wave 1957. His breakthrough came on Broadway with Enter Laughing 1963, winning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He earned his first Academy Award nomination for his feature acting debut in The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming 1966, playing a Soviet submariner. As the psychopathic killer Roat in Wait Until Dark 1967 opposite Audrey Hepburn, he showed his dramatic range. His second Oscar nomination came for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 1968. He played Captain Yossarian in Catch-22 1970. After a period directing, he returned with The Seven-Per-Cent Solution 1976. In the 1990s, he starred in Grosse Pointe Blank 1997 and Slums of Beverly Hills 1998. His role as the heroin-snorting grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine 2006 won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Arkin was married three times: to Jeremy Yaffe from 1955 to 1961, Barbara Dana from 1964 to 1999, and Suzanne Newlander Arkin from 1999 until his death. He had three sons: Adam Arkin, Matthew Arkin, and Anthony Arkin. He supported organic living and environmental preservation. He lived in New Mexico with his wife Suzanne and was given the Indian name Grey Wolf by Native American friends.
Alan Arkin’s legacy spans acting, directing, writing, and music. He is one of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for his first screen appearance. His co-writing of The Banana Boat Song remains a pop culture staple. He influenced generations of actors through his work with Second City and his teaching. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019. He is most remembered for his Oscar-winning role in Little Miss Sunshine and his performances in Catch-22 and Wait Until Dark.
The complete filmography of Alan Arkin — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Alan Arkin — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Alan Arkin's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Alan Arkin — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
It’s Not Enough for Me to Just Be a Personality and Go up There and Say Lines Nicely. I Want to Tell a Story with a Character.
Well, I’ve Always Been a Character Actor. I’ve Never Been a Leading Man. It Gave Me an Opportunity Not to Have to Take My Clothes off All the Time.
I Don’t Believe in Competitions Between Artists. This Is Insane. Who Has the Authority to Say Someone Is Better?
Everybody’s Career Has Ups and Downs. I Like to Take Chances, I Don’t Like to Stand Still. and I Don’t Give a Damn What the Market Is Interested In; I Want to Try Things. Success Has Nothing to Do with Box Office as Far as I’m Concerned. Success Has to Do with Achieving Your Goals, Your Internal Goals, and Growing as a Person. It Would Have Been Nice to Have Been Connected with a Couple More Box Office Hits, but in the Long Run I Don’t Think It Makes You Happier.
I Like to Jump Categories – I Don’t Like to Stay in One Place If I Can Help It.
I Like Pushing Myself Around in as Many Different Styles as I Can Find.
I Know That If I Can’t Move People, Then I Have No Business Being an Actor.
David Mamet Is Harder Than Shakespeare, by Far.
I Have No Twitter. Life Is Too Short.
Little-known facts about Alan Arkin — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
In addition to acting, he taught improvisation workshops; students described him as warm, insightful, and very funny.
He disliked filming the scene in Wait Until Dark 1967 where his character Harry Roat Jr. terrorizes Audrey Hepburn’s Suzy Hendrix.
Though he later played quirky fatherly figures, in the 1960s and 1970s he was an edgy, intense actor. His darkest role was the vicious psychopath Harry Roat in Wait Until Dark 1967.
He is one of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for his first screen appearance, joining Orson Welles, Lawrence Tibbett, James Dean, Paul Muni, and Montgomery Clift.
As a founding member of the folk group The Tarriers, he co-wrote The Banana Boat Song, which later became a mega-hit for Harry Belafonte.
He was a founding member of the Second City improv troupe in Chicago.
He was reluctant to join Second City; he agreed halfheartedly thinking it was a joke, but later realized it fostered the kind of acting he was involved in.
He disowned his involvement in the film Freebie and the Bean 1974, saying he accepted the role because he needed the money.
Two of his films, Popi 1969 and Freebie and the Bean 1974, were later adapted into television series starring Hector Elizondo in the roles Arkin brought to the screen.
He won Broadway’s 1963 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for Enter Laughing, and was nominated for a 1973 Tony as Best Director for The Sunshine Boys.
In his later years, he lived in New Mexico with his wife Suzanne Newlander Arkin.
He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Boulevard on June 7, 2019.
He appeared in three Best Picture Oscar nominees: The Russians Are Coming 1966, Little Miss Sunshine 2006, and Argo 2012, the latter winning.
The longest gap between his Oscar nominations was 38 years, between The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 1968 and Little Miss Sunshine 2006.
He was cast as Inspector Clouseau in 1968 after Peter Sellers declined, and the film was the last Clouseau until Sellers returned in 1975.
He was father of actors Adam Arkin, Matthew Arkin, and Anthony Arkin.
He was originally cast as Saul Bloom in Ocean’s Eleven 2001 but dropped out and was replaced by Carl Reiner.
He was cast as Judge Myron Kovitsky in The Bonfire of the Vanities 1990, but the character was rewritten as African-American and played by Morgan Freeman.
He was nominated for a 2019 Golden Globe for his role in The Kominsky Method but lost to Ben Whishaw.
He is the only actor to have played Inspector Clouseau who won a competitive Oscar Steve Martin won an honorary Oscar.
He wrote the children’s books The Lemming Condition, Cassie Loves Beethoven, and One Present for Flekman’s.
He was father-in-law of Phyllis Lyons and Amelia Campbell, and grandfather of son Adam Arkin’s daughter Molly.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Alan Arkin.
Celebrities similar to Alan Arkin — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇫🇷 France
🇺🇸 United States
