Disclaimer: This site is not endorsed by Alan Arkin or any movie studio.
Along with the music and the movies, Alan Arkin is also an accomplished writer. In the 50's, he had a handful (by my count, three) of short stories
published in science fiction magazines, and later, he wrote several children's books (The Lemming Condition, Cassie Loves Beethoven, etc.). His
only real foray into non-fiction was with Halfway Through the Door: An Actor's Journey toward the Self.
An Example of Alan Arkin's work:
Years after the movie came out, Alan Arkin read the audiobook for Catch-22. It's now out-of-print, at least partially because it was only ever
released on cassette. I have to record it in real-time to my computer and I'm unhappy with the quality, so I don't know if I'll put the rest up.
Catch 22 Part 1 (30.7MB) - Right Click, Save as
Rare Inteview with Alan Arkin (1977)
This interview, only available here (and a handful of libraries around the country), is especially interesting to those who are studying the acting craft.
Mostly, it's about how he decided on acting as a profession, how he chooses parts (when he can), and a bit of insight into a handful of past characters.
The quality of the interview recording is about a C+ for the first chunk and a B+/A- for the rest. The cassette player I had was very poor. The tape itself
is pretty good for having been in a library (granted, non-circulating) for 26-plus years. Oh, and the interview is interesting, as well.
Another Interview with Alan Arkin (1968)
This interview, available elsewhere if you are REALLY good at searching for obscure items online, is with a French reporter (Clarie Clouzot), and was
broadcast in October 1968. The quality of the audio is excellent, but the interview is a bit disappointing. To me, it sounded like someone was having a
bad day/week/etc., but it could have simply been frustration at the language/culture gap/something else. Or, I could just be imagining it.
I have no clue what's going here!
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