CNN

January 25, 1993

Showbiz Today

Alan Arkin Plays Quirky Charchter in'Cooperstown'

BYLINE: BILL TUSH

HIGHLIGHT: Alan Arkin plays the role of a quirky ex-ballplayer who, long after his playing career is 
over, is determined to be inducted into baseballs Hall of Fame. In the film, he consults with a dead 
teammate.
 
LAURIN SYDNEY, Anchor: This month on the TNT cable channel, Alan Arkin stars in Cooperstown. The 
veteran actor plays a retired ball player who wants to become a part of baseball's Hall of Fame. Once again, 
the actor gets a chance to take on a character that is just slightly off base. Senior Entertainment 
Correspondent Bill Tush has more.
 
ALAN ARKIN [as Harry in movie Cooperstown]: For two years you get closer and closer, then you get 
farther and farther away. Yet 15 years of watching your reputation slide-
 
BILL TUSH, Senior Entertainment Correspondent: Alan Arkin's character Harry 'the Wing' Rilette [sp?] 
hung up his glove a long time ago. But the long-time pitcher always kept his hopes alive to be inducted into 
baseball's Hall of Fame in where else - Cooperstown.
 
ARKIN: He decides that he's going to get himself in the Hall of Fame - one way or another. One way or 
another, he's going to get himself in the Hall of Fame, and that's basically what the movie's about.
 
TUSH: Well not quite. Arkin left out the part that he makes the trip with his one-time best friend and 
former team mate. Here's the twist - his friend is dead. So through much of the film, Arkin is supposed to 
be talking to a ghost. Once again, the actor takes on the role of another one of those quirky guys.
 
ARKIN: Well I think the most memorable characters are always a little bit quirky or off center.
 
TUSH: Alan Arkin has carved a niche playing the odd one. He's been playing them since the '60s. For 
example, you may remember him as the head of the strange household who took in the orphaned Edward 
Scissorhand. But what might be overlooked in his long list of credits, and thought out of character for him, 
would be the time he took on a very villainous persona and terrorized the late Audrey Hepburn in the 
thriller Wait Until Dark.
 
ARKIN: The problem I had then was that I liked her so much that I hated doing the things I- that I did to 
her. I just- I just- terribly uncomfortable being cruel to her. It felt wrong. It felt like something one 
shouldn't do, and I never got past that particular- I had an opportunity last year to apologize to her in public 
at Lincoln Center when they threw this gala for her in tribute to her.
 
TUSH: Meanwhile, Alan Arkin is out to find his own place of honor.
 
ARKIN [as Harry in movie Cooperstown]: I'm going to Cooperstown. Yeah. Cooperstown.
 
TUSH: Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.