Alan Arkin Fans

Alan Arkin was born on March 26, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York to Beatrice and David I. Arkin, who were both teachers. When he was 11, Alan's family moved to the

West Coast on the promise of a job, which never materialized due to a set designer's strike. Later, during the Red Scare, his father lost his job as a teacher for refusing

to answer accusations of being Communist. Coincidentally, this was also the downfall of his character in The Return of Captain Invincible. Whether or not this played

a role in his acceptance of the part, he has never said.

Alan Arkin attended Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles State College, and Bennington College, enrolled in drama, but left in 1955 without a degree. After moving

to New York City, he joined The Tarriers, a folk group which had some level of success with "The Banana Boat Song." After a couple of years of touring, he quit the

band to focus on his acting career in 1959. His marriage fell apart while he was struggling as an actor in St. Louis (with the Compass players) and New York City.

Eventually, he became involved with the original troupe at Second City in Chicago, which he regards as a job which saved his career and life. Finally, after far too

much personal and professional angst, Second City launched his acting career. From Chicago, he headed back to New York, first with a Broadway production of

From the Second City and later, he won praise (and a Tony) for Enter Laughing and, later, Luv. It was from this acclaim that he won the attention of Norman

Jewison, and captured his first motion picture role (as an actor - he'd previously appeared in Calypso Heat Wave as a singer) in The Russians are Coming,

The Russians are Coming...

From that first movie role, Alan Arkin had a string of strong roles, with Wait Until Dark, Popi, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. However, ironically, the

role that most people assosciate Alan Arkin's early career with, Catch 22, partially stalled his career, as the movie flopped. It came out the same year

as M.A.S.H., and apparently, the movie going public felt that one war satire was enough. Alan Arkin continued working steadily, but the quality of the pictures

he appeared in suffered. While his performances were good, there's a reason that movies like Deadhead Miles were never released on DVD. Still, even in

those lean years of the seventies and eighties, there are a few gems. Released in 1976, The Seven-Percent Solution is an interesting take on Sherlock Holmes'

addiction to morphine. In the movie, Arkin is Sigmund Freud, who Dr. Watson has called upon to help the great detective. The Other Side of Hell was a

made-for-tv true story (though the credits say otherwise) of a mentally ill man who sought help in an institution for the criminally insane, but received none.

By the time the nineties arrived, and he gave up the hairpiece for good, Arkin became a sought after character actor. Sure, he was the potpourri in a few stinkers,

but in the more enjoyable (if not always successful) films, Alan was able to shine. Of these, Little Miss Sunshine and Glengarry Glen Ross are probably the

most famous, but Four Days in September and Doomsday Gun were also quite good. His most recent project (as of this writing) is Marley & Me.

For a more detailed biography, please go to the articles page or the wikipedia link.

Alan Arkin Biography