Alan Arkin was born in Brooklyn on March 26, 1934, the son of an artist and a teacher who were Jewish emigrants, according to IMDb. Telling the Independent in May 2021 that he grew up “dirt poor” but with a love of acting, Arkin went on to become a star, working with Second City before appearing in films like “Wait Until Dark,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Argo,” as well as the Netflix series “The Kominsky Method,” while taking home an Oscar for “Little Miss Sunshine.” Beyond that, he was a respected director, producer, singer, composer, and writer.
When Arkin was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2019, Variety noted that he had “often just seen where life [took] him.” He explained of his go-with-the-flow tendencies, “It’s kind of been the cornerstone of my work and my life, as well.”
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Arkin’s life also involved a love of beauty. He told The Guardian in October 2020 that although in the past he “could not conceive of going through a day without reading great literature or listening to great music,” in his later years that had changed. “Living in silence. Looking at the garden. Having a relationship with trees and flowers and the sky. That’s what’s profound to me now.” When told “that it sound[ed] as though [he was] preparing for the end,” he explained, “There was no beginning and there is no end. We are all a part of that endless flow.”
