Seriously Funny

THE VERSATILE LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE STAR COULD FIND COMEDY IN TRAGEDY-AND VICE VERSA

- TOM GLIATTO

1934-2023 ALAN ARKIN

Alan Arkin enjoyed playing up to his image, cemented with his Oscar-winning performance as Abigail Breslin's grandfather in 2006's Little Miss Sunshine: a bluntly funny, dour old man who spoke in a honk. Asked about how he was handling life in his 80s, he: said the first thing he did when handed a script was to make sure the role was short: "I like it when I'm on a gurney." 

But Arkin's sense of humor danced over odd, unexpected depths. He was a serious student of Eastern philosophy ("If the universe is finite, it will change the way I rehearse," he said, not altogether jokingly). He spent time with the reclusive J.D. Salinger, and he himself wrote not one but two allegorical novels about a lemming named Bubber ("I'm fascinated by lemmings"). He also believed that, in a previous life, he was executed during the French Revolution. Most important, he was immune to Hollywood hype. When he met Steve Carell, his costar in Miss Sunshine and Get Smart (2008), he handed him a business card: "Alan Arkin: Actor, Director, Musician. Can drive stick shift. Owns own tux."