Alan Arkin, Oscar-Winning Actor and 'Little Miss Sunshine' Star, Dead at 89
Alan Arkin, the longtime celebrated actor, who won an Oscar for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine and earned two Emmy nominations for The Kominsky Method, has died. He was 89.
Arkin's death was confirmed to ET by his sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, in a statement, saying, "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."
A man who wore many hats, Arkin was an actor, director and screenwriter whose career spanned over six decades.
While primarily known for his screen work, he first broke out on Broadway in New York City. He received a Tony Award for his second performance in 1963's Enter Laughing. A decade later, he was nominated for another Tony Award, this time for directing the 1973 play The Sunshine Boys.
During that time, Arkin also started appearing on TV and in films, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and Golden Globe win for his feature film debut in 1966's The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
Two years later, he earned his second Oscar nomination for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
By the 1970s, Arkin was a firmly established film actor, starring in a number of comedic and dramatic films, including the 1970 adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel Catch-22 and 1979's The In-Laws. He later appeared in other notable hits, like Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), which also earned him critical acclaim.
But it wasn't until the 2000s when he started earning awards attention again, winning an Oscar, BAFTA, SAG and several critics awards for his turn as an aging patriarch who coaches his granddaughter through beauty pageants in Little Miss Sunshine, a Sundance Film Festival darling that went on to become an awards season hit the following year.
"Yeah, I didn't expect it either," a teary-eyed Arkin told ET after winning his Oscar in 2007, later adding, "I was moved."
The Supporting Actor win was followed by another acclaimed performance as a film producer in Ben Affleck's 2012 historical drama Argo, which garnered Arkin several major nominations and a SAG Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture.
In total, Arkin was nominated for four Academy Awards and won one while he also took home one BAFTA, one Golden Globe and two SAG Awards for his film work. But Arkin's screen presence wasn't limited to the big screen.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Arkin appeared in several TV movies and guest starred on various hit series, earning Emmy nominations for his roles in Escape From Sobibor, Chicago Hope and The Pentagon Papers.
In the late 2010s, Arkin made a notable return to TV by voicing J.D. Salinger on Netflix's hit animated series BoJack Horseman and starred opposite Michael Douglas on the Netflix dramedy The Kominsky Method. His role on the latter earned him his fifth and sixth Emmy nominations.
During his life, Arkin married three times, with two of his marriages ending in divorce.
The first was to Jeremy Yaffe, from 1955 to 1961, with the couple giving birth to two sons, Adam Arkin and Matthew Arkin, both of whom are now actors. Arkin's second marriage was to actress Barbara Dana, from 1964 to 1994, with the couple having one son, Tony Arkin.
The actor's final marriage was to psychotherapist Suzanne Newlander, whose surname inspired Arkin's character on The Kominsky Method. The two lived together in California.
Arkin is survived by his wife, Suzanne, sons Matthew, Anthony and Adam, grandchildren Molly, Emmet, Atticus, and Abigail, and great grandson Elliott.
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