LOS ANGELES -- Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama, who received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89.
His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father's death through the actor's publicist Friday. "Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man," they said.
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.
"When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one," Michael McKean tweeted Friday. 'I'd answer, 'Which kind is Alan Arkin?' and that shut them up."
Arkin once joked that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role. He wasn't a sex symbol or superstar but was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films. His trademarks were likability, relatability and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual, whether playing a Russian submarine officer who struggles to communicate with equally jittery Americans, or standing out as the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather in "Little Miss Sunshine."
"Alan's never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters," director Norman Jewison once observed. "His accents are impeccable, and he's even able to change his looks. ... He's always been underestimated, partly because he's never been in service of his own success."
While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play "Enter Laughing," based on Reiner's semiautobiographical novel.
He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub that creates a panic when it ventures too close to a small New England town. In Arkin's next major film, "Wait Until Dark," he proved he could also play a villain.
Arkin's rise continued in 1968 with "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," in which he played a sensitive man who could not hear or speak. He starred as the bumbling French detective in "Inspector Clouseau" that same year, but the film would become overlooked in favor of Peter Sellers' Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" movies.
"I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realized that for the first 20 years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another," he said in 2007.
"As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift. I got one of the nicest compliments I've ever gotten from someone a few days ago. They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral center of a film. I didn't particularly understand it, but I liked it; it made me happy."
FILE - Alan Arkin poses with the Oscar he won for best supporting actor for his work in "Little Miss Sunshine" at the 79th Academy Awards Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007, in Los Angeles. Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)
FILE - Alan Arkin appears in New York on Aug. 28, 1975 just prior to starting work on '"he Soft Touch." Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey, File)
FILE - Alan Arkin, left, and Suzanne Newlander Arkin arrive at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 6, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)Gallery: Alan Arkin, 1934-2023
