Alan Arkin, the American actor who won an Oscar for his role as a heroin-using grandpa in the movie Little Miss Sunshine, has died. He was 89.
In a statement through Arkin’s publicist, his sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, said: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Arkin was known for his decades-long acting career on both the stage and screen.
A 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.
In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method, a role that earned him two Emmy nominations.
Actor Michael McKean paid tribute to his friend with a joke on Twitter Friday.
“When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one. I’d answer ‘Which kind is Alan Arkin?’ and that shut them up,” he wrote, adding, “Rest in peace, Alan. Nobody better, ever.”
Arkin died at his home in Carlsbad, Calif. on Thursday, Variety reported.
Arkin was known for his range – both his dry wit and tragic flair earned him four Academy Award nominations of the course of his career and he won a Tony Award in 1963 for his first major stage role in Carl Reiner’s Enter Laughing.
He was initially turned down for the role in Little Miss Sunshine when the casting team deemed him too healthy for the character of the 80-year-old grandpa who was frail from years of drug abuse.
“It’s the best rejection I ever got in my life – they thought I was too virile,” Arkin said, flexing his biceps and striking a muscleman pose during a 2007 interview with The New York Times.
He remained remarkably active in film and television well into his 80s.
Some of Arkin’s other films included The Seven-Per-Cent Solution in 1976, The In-Laws in 1979, Edward Scissorhands in 1990, Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997, Get Smart in 2008 and Going in Style in 2017.
Alan Wolf Arkin was born on March 26, 1934 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn but his family later moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His father, a painter and writer, lost his job as a teacher after he was accused of being a communist during the “Red Scare” of the 1950s.
In addition to his prolific acting career, Arkin also took turns off-stage as a movie and theatre director, as well as putting pen to paper and authoring several books.
— With files from The Associated Press and Reuters