R.I.P. Alan Arkin, Oscar winner for Little Miss Sunshine

Alan Arkin, the Oscar- and Tony-award winning actor who starred in projects like Little Miss Sunshine, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, and The Kominsky Method, has died, according to People. He was 89 years old.

Gold Standard: Oscars edition – Best Actor

Arkin’s sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed his death with a statement to People, 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.”

Before he made it as an actor, Arkin played guitar in “in a couple of folk groups that managed to keep me in underwear and burritos,” he told The A.V. Club in 2006. He eventually moved from New York to Chicago and became an early member of the Second City improv troupe. Arkin thought doing so would ruin his career, but “instead of it being the end of everything, it was the beginning of everything.”

He debuted on Broadway with From Second City in 1961 (per Variety), and in 1963 won a Tony Award for the Joseph Stein comedy Enter Laughing. In 1967, he earned an Emmy nomination for his appearance in an episode of ABC Stage 67 as well as an Oscar nomination for The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He was also Oscar nominated for the 1968 Carson McCullers adaptation The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter.

“I don’t think it did me a lot of good for a long time,” Arkin explained The A.V. Club of receiving Academy Award attention so early in his career. “It intimidated me. It made me feel like I had something to live up to. It put me under a lot of pressure.”

Nevertheless, Arkin continued to turn in great performances and worked as a director as well, earning a Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Play for The Sunshine Boys in 1973 and directing ’70s films Little Murders and Fire Sale. As an actor, his film career is littered with classics, both dramatic and comedic, such as Catch-22, Glengarry Glen Ross, Edward Scissorhands, and Grosse Pointe Blank. He finally won the Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2007, and received a final nomination for his role in 2012’s Argo. He later received back-to-back Emmy nominations for The Kominksy Method.

“I try not to make any kind of definitions that you’re looking for, because they keep changing all the time,” he told The A.V. Club when asked his proudest career accomplishment. “I don’t know what I’m proudest of. The fact that my kids still talk to me.” R.I.P.