Oscar and Tony Award-winning actor Alan Arkin died on Friday at the age of 89, News.ro reports with reference to international press agencies.

His death was confirmed to people.com by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who released a statement on behalf of the family:

• “Our father was a force of nature with a unique talent both as an artist and as a person. A loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be greatly missed.”

Alan Arkin recently starred in The Kominsky Method opposite Michael Douglas, earning him Emmy nominations in 2019 and 2020, as well as Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations in 2020 and 2021.

The role that brought him an Oscar

In Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Arkin played Edwin Hoover, the grandfather of a dysfunctional family. His role, which lasted only 14 minutes of screen time, won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Arkin’s memorable appearance in Ben Affleck’s 2012 political drama Argo earned him his fourth Oscar nomination. He played veteran producer Lester Siegel, whose sharp sense of humor and wit won the audience over.

His son Adam Arkin, 66, is also a well-known actor and director who starred in hit series including Chicago Hope, 8 Simple Rules and Sons of Anarchy.

A short career in music

Alan Arkin was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 26, 1934. His family moved to Los Angeles during Alan’s childhood. “That’s why I don’t live there now,” Arkin told PEOPLE in 1979 from his home in Chappaqua, New York.

After high school, Arkin attended several different colleges and turned down at least three, including Bennington College in Vermont, where he is listed as a 1955 graduate.

“Maybe they kicked me out,” Arkin told PEOPLE of his college experience in a 1979 article about him and his second wife, actress Barbara Dana. “I do not remember”.

After dropping out of college, Arkin began a brief musical career with a folk group called the Tarriers. In 1957, the group released a top 5 single: “The Banana Boat Song”.

Broadway debut

But Arkin, who had been taking acting lessons since childhood, left the group and tried to establish himself as an actor. By 1960, Arkin had arrived in Chicago and became the first member of the comedy improv troupe Second City.

“The second city saved my life. It literally saved my life,” Arkin said. “I feel like that’s true for a lot of other people as well.”

After a stint on the Second City Chicago stage, Arkin made his Broadway debut in 1961 in From the Second City and followed it up with the Tony Award-winning Enter Laughing in 1963.

Starred in more than 100 films

Several television and film roles followed in the years after Arkin rose to fame on Broadway; received the first of four Oscar nominations in 1967 for his role in the comedy “The Russians Are Going, The Russians Are Going”.

Over the next 50-odd years, Arkin starred in more than 100 films, including The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), which earned him his second Academy Award nomination; Catch-22 (1970); Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).

In addition to his film and stage work, Arkin has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, most recently for The Kominsky Method. He left the show before its third season in 2021.

Arkin has been married to Suzanne Newlander since 1996 and has three children: sons Adam Arkin and Matthew Arkin with his first wife and Anthony Dana Arkin with his second wife Dana.