Alan Alda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alan Alda | |
|---|---|
Alda in December 2008
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| Born | Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo January 28, 1936 New York City, New York, United States |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Alma mater | Fordham University |
| Occupation | Actor, author, activist, director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Home town | Chicago, Illinois |
| Television | M*A*S*H The West Wing |
| Religion | Agnostic |
| Spouse(s) | Arlene Alda (1957–present) |
| Children | Beatrice Alda Eve Alda Elizabeth Alda[1] |
| Parents | Robert Alda Joan Browne |
| Awards | Six Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Award |
Contents
Family and early life
Alda was born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo in New York City and had a peripatetic childhood as his parents traveled around the United States in support of his father's job as a performer in burlesque theatres.[3] His father, Robert Alda (born Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo), was an actor and singer, and his mother, Joan Browne, a former showgirl. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry.[4] His adopted surname, "Alda," is a portmanteau of ALphonso and D'Abruzzo. When Alda was seven years old, he contracted poliomyelitis. To combat the disease, his parents administered a painful treatment regimen developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny that consisted of applying hot woollen blankets to his limbs and stretching his muscles.[5] Alda attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York.[6] In 1956, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Fordham College of Fordham University in the Bronx, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV. Alda's half-brother, Antony Alda, was born that same year and would also become an actor.During Alda's young junior year, he studied in Paris, acted in a play in Rome, and performed with his father on television in Amsterdam. In college, he was a member of the ROTC, and after graduation, he served for a year at Fort Benning, and then six months in the U.S. Army Reserve.[7][8] A year after graduation, he married Arlene Weiss, with whom he has three daughters: Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice. Two of his 7 grandchildren are aspiring actors. The Aldas have been longtime residents of Leonia, New Jersey.[9] Alda frequented Sol & Sol Deli on Palisade Avenue in the nearby town of Englewood, New Jersey—a fact mirrored in his character's daydream about eating whitefish from the establishment, in an episode of M*A*S*H in which Hawkeye sustains a head injury.[10]
Career
Early acting
Alda made his Hollywood acting debut as a supporting player in Gone are the Days! – a film version of the highly successful Broadway play Purlie Victorious, which co-starred veteran actors Ruby Dee and her husband, Ossie Davis. Other film roles would follow, such as his portrayal of author, humorist, and actor George Plimpton in the film Paper Lion (1968),[6] as well as The Extraordinary Seaman (1969), and the occult-murder-suspense thriller The Mephisto Waltz, with actress Jacqueline Bisset. During this time, Alda frequently appeared as a panelist on the 1968 revival of What's My Line?. He also appeared as a panelist on I've Got a Secret during its 1972 syndication revival.
M*A*S*H series (1972–83)
Alan Alda, father Robert Alda, and half-brother Antony Alda appeared together in an episode of M*A*S*H, "Lend a Hand", during Season 8. Robert had previously appeared in "The Consultant" in Season 3.
For the first three seasons, Alda and his co-stars Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson worked well together, but later, tensions increased, particularly as Alda's role grew in popularity. They both left the show at the end of the third season.[13] At the beginning of the fourth season, Alda and the producers decided to find a replacement actor to play the surrogate parent role formerly taken by Colonel Blake. They eventually found veteran actor and fan of the series, Harry Morgan, who would star as Colonel Sherman T. Potter, who became a protagonist of the show, behind him.[14] Mike Farrell was also introduced as Alda's co-star BJ Hunnicutt.
In his 1981 autobiography, Jackie Cooper (who directed several early episodes) wrote that Alda concealed a lot of hostility beneath the surface, and that the two of them barely spoke to each other by the time Cooper’s directing of M*A*S*H ended.[15]
During his M*A*S*H years, Alda made several game-show appearances, most notably in The $10,000 Pyramid and as a frequent panelist on What's My Line? and To Tell the Truth.
His favorite episodes of M*A*S*H are "Dear Sigmund" and "In Love and War".[16]
In 1996, Alda was ranked #41 on TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time".[17]
Writing and Directing Credits
The following is a list of M*A*S*H episodes written and/or directed by Alda.- Season One
- Episode 19: "The Long John Flap" (Written)
- Season Two
- Episode 5: "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde" (Written with Robert Klane)
- Episode 23: "Mail Call" (Directed)
- Season Three
- Episode 16: "Bulletin Board" (Directed)
- Season Four
- Episode 4: "The Late Captain Pierce" (Directed)
- Episode 7: "Dear Mildred" (Directed)
- Episode 8: "The Kids" (Directed)
- Episode 16: "Dear Ma" (Directed)
- Season Five
- Episode 2: "Margaret's Engagement" (Directed)
- Episode 7: "Dear Sigmund (Written and Directed)
- Episode 12: "Exorcism" (Directed)
- Episode 19: "Hepatitis" (Written and Directed)
- Season Six
- Episode 2: "Fallen Idol" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 4: "War of Nerves" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 7: "In Love and War" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 12: "Comrades in Arms, Part 1" (Written; Directed with Burt Metcalfe)
- Episode 13: "Comrades in Arms, Part 2" (Written; Directed with Burt Metcalfe)
- Season Seven
- Episode 5: "The Billfold Syndrome" (Directed)
- Episode 8: "Major Ego" (Directed)
- Episode 14: "Dear Sis" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 16: "Inga" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 25: "The Party" (Written with Burt Metcalfe)
- Season Eight
- Episode 3: "Guerilla My Dreams" (Directed)
- Episode 11: "Life Time" (Written with Walter D. Dishell, M.D.; Directed)
- Episode 15: "Yessir, That's Our Baby" (Directed)
- Episode 20: "Lend a Hand" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 22: "Dreams" (Teleplay; Story with James Jay Rubinfier; Directed)
- Season Nine
- Episode 4: "Father's Day" (Directed)
- Episode 12: "Depressing News" (Directed)
- Episode 15: "Bottoms Up" (Directed)
- Episode 20: "The Life You Save" (Written with John Rappaport; Directed)
- Season Ten
- Episode 6: "Communication Breakdown" (Directed)
- Episode 10: "Follies of the Living—Concerns of the Dead" (Written and Directed)
- Episode 16: "Where There's a Will, There's a War" (Directed)
- Season Eleven
- Episode 1: "Hey, Look Me Over" (Written with Karen Hall)
- Episode 16: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (Written with Burt Metcalfe, John Rappaport, Dan Wilcox, Thad Mumford, Elias Davis, David Pollock and Karen Hall; Directed)
Post-M*A*S*H
Alda's prominence in the enormously successful M*A*S*H gave him a platform to speak out on political topics, and he has been a strong and vocal supporter of women's rights and the feminist movement.[6] He co-chaired, with former First Lady Betty Ford, the Equal Rights Amendment Countdown campaign. In 1976, The Boston Globe dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon" for his activism on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment.[18] As a liberal and often progressive activist, he has been a target for some political and social conservatives.Alda played Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED, which had only one other character. Although Peter Parnell wrote the play, Alda both produced and inspired it. Alda has also appeared frequently in the films of Woody Allen, and was a guest star five times on ER, playing Dr. Kerry Weaver's mentor, Gabriel Lawrence. During the later episodes, it was revealed that Dr. Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Alda also had a co-starring role as Dr. Robert Gallo in the 1993 TV movie And the Band Played On.
During M*A*S*H's run and continuing through the 1980s, Alda embarked on a successful career as a writer and director, with the ensemble dramedy The Four Seasons being perhaps his most notable hit. Betsy's Wedding is his last directing credit to date. After M*A*S*H, Alda took on a series of roles that either parodied or directly contradicted his "nice guy" image.[6] His role as a pompous celebrity television producer in Crimes and Misdemeanors was widely seen as a self-parody, although Alda has denied this.
Later work
From the fall season of 1993 until the show ended in 2005, Alda was the host for Scientific American Frontiers, which began on PBS in 1990.
In 1995, he starred as the President of the United States in Michael Moore's political satire/comedy film Canadian Bacon. Around this time, rumors circulated that Alda was considering running for the United States Senate in New Jersey, but he denied this. In 1996, Alda played Henry Ford in Camping With Henry and Tom, based on the book by Mark St. Germain and appeared in the comedy film Flirting with Disaster.
Beginning in 2004, Alda was a regular cast member on the NBC program The West Wing, portraying Republican U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Arnold Vinick, until the show's conclusion in May 2006. He made his premiere in the sixth season's eighth episode, "In The Room," and was added to the opening credits with the thirteenth episode, "King Corn." In August 2006, Alda won an Emmy for his portrayal of Arnold Vinick in the final season of The West Wing. Alda had been a serious candidate, along with Sidney Poitier, for the role of President Josiah Bartlet before Martin Sheen was ultimately cast in the role.[citation needed]
In 2004, Alda portrayed conservative Maine Senator Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's Academy-Award winning film The Aviator, in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Throughout his career, Alda has received 31 Emmy Award nominations and two Tony Award nominations, and has won seven People's Choice Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and three Directors Guild of America awards. However, it was not until 2005, after a long acting career, that Alda received his first Academy Award nomination, for his role in The Aviator.
Alda also wrote several of the stories and poems that appeared in Marlo Thomas's television show Free to Be... You and Me.
Alda starred in the original Broadway production of the play 'Art', which opened on March 1, 1998, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The play won the Tony Award for best original play.
Alda also had a part in the 2000 romantic comedy What Women Want, as the CEO of the advertising firm where the main characters worked.
In the spring of 2005, Alda starred as Shelly Levene in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Throughout 2009 and 2010, he appeared in three episodes of 30 Rock as Milton Greene, the biological father of Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). In January 2010, Alda hosted "The Human Spark," a three-part series originally broadcast on PBS discussing the nature of human uniqueness and recent studies on the human brain.
In 2011, Alda was scheduled to guest star on Law & Order: LA, portraying former police and naval officer John Winters, the father of the former main character Rex Winters. It is unknown whether he filmed his role before the series was redesigned and Rex Winters written off.
After the release of the movie Tower Heist, Alda was devastated when on December 7, 2011, he lost his idol and decades-long friend Harry Morgan on M*A*S*H. Upon Morgan's death, Alda released a statement: "We had just a wonderful time reminiscing. That was the last time I saw Harry."[19]
Charitable work and other interests
Alda has done extensive charity work. He helped narrate a 2005 St. Jude's Children's Hospital produced one-hour special TV show Fighting for Life.[20] He and his wife, Arlene, are also close friends of Marlo Thomas, who is very active in fund-raising for the hospital her father founded. The special featured Ben Bowen as one of six patients being treated for childhood cancer at Saint Jude. Alda and Marlo Thomas had also worked together in the early 70s on a critically acclaimed children's album entitled Free to Be You and Me, which featured Alda, Thomas and a number of other well-known character actors. This project remains one of the earliest public signs of his support of women's rights.In 2005, Alda published his first round of memoirs, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned.[12] Among other stories, he recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while on location in La Serena, Chile for his PBS show Scientific American Frontiers, during which he mildly surprised a young doctor with his understanding of medical procedures, which he had learned from M*A*S*H. He also talks about his mother's battle with schizophrenia. The title comes from an incident in his childhood, when Alda was distraught about his dog dying and his well-meaning father had the animal stuffed. Alda was horrified by the results, and took from this that sometimes we have to accept things as they are, rather than desperately and fruitlessly trying to change them.
In 2006, Alda contributed his voice to a part in the audio book of Max Brooks' World War Z. In this book, he voiced Arthur Sinclair Jr., the director of the United States Government's fictional "Department of Strategic Resources (DeStRes)".
His second memoir, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, weaves together advice from public speeches he has given with personal recollections about his life and beliefs.
Alda also has an avid interest in cosmology, and participated in BBC coverage of the opening of the Large Hadron Collider, at CERN, Geneva, in September 2008.[21]
After years of interviews, Alda helped inspire the creation of the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in 2009. He remains on the advisory board as of 2013.[22]
Alda has been a feminist activist for many years.[18] He co-chaired, with former First Lady Betty Ford, the Equal Rights Amendment Countdown campaign. In 1976, The Boston Globe dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon" for his activism on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment.[18]
Religious views
In Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, Alda describes how as a teen he was raised as a Roman Catholic and eventually he realized he had begun thinking like an agnostic or atheist:For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff. One day, though, I realized I was no longer a believer, and realizing that, I couldn’t go back. Not that I lost the urge to pray. Occasionally, even after I stopped believing, I might send off a quick memo to the Master of the Universe, usually on a matter needing urgent attention, like Oh, God, don’t let us crash. These were automatic expulsions of words, brief SOS messages from the base of my brain. They were similar to the short prayers that were admired by the church in my Catholic boyhood, which they called “ejaculations.” I always liked the idea that you could shorten your time in purgatory with each ejaculation; what boy wouldn’t find that a comforting idea? But my effort to keep the plane in the air by talking to God didn’t mean I suddenly was overcome with belief, only that I was scared. Whether I’d wake up in heaven someday or not, whatever meaning I found would have to occur first on this end of eternity.Speaking further on agnosticism, Alda goes on to say:
I still don't like the word agnostic. It's too fancy. I'm simply not a believer. But, as simple as this notion is, it confuses some people. Someone wrote a Wikipedia entry about me, identifying me as an atheist because I'd said in a book I wrote that I wasn't a believer. I guess in a world uncomfortable with uncertainty, an unbeliever must be an atheist, and possibly an infidel. This gets us back to that most pressing of human questions: why do people worry so much about other people's holding beliefs other than their own?Alda made these comments in an interview for the 2008 question section of the Edge Foundation website.[23]
Awards and nominations
- Awards
- Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" in 2006, for his portrayal of Senator & Presidential candidate Arnold Vinick in The West Wing
- Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" in 1980
- Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Comedy-Variety or Music Series" in 1979
- Emmy Award for "Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series" in 1977
- Emmy Award for "Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" in 1972
- Emmy Award for "Actor of the Year – Series" in 1972
- Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy" in 1983
- Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy" in 1982
- Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy" in 1981
- Golden Globe for "Best TV Actor – Musical/Comedy" in 1980
- Golden Globe for "Best TV Actor – Musical/Comedy" in 1976
- Golden Globe for "Best TV Actor – Musical/Comedy" in 1975
- DGA Award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" in 1983
- DGA Award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" in 1982
- DGA Award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" in 1977
- Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Ensemble Performance" in 2005 for Glengarry Glen Ross.
- Became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006[24]
- The audiobook version of Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.
- Alda received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator.
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Only in America | Telephone Man | |
| 1961–1962 | Purlie Victorious | Charlie Cotchpiee | |
| 1964 | Fair Game for Lovers | Benny | |
| 1964 | Cafe Crown | Dr. Irving Gilbert | |
| 1964–1965 | The Owl and the Pussycat | F. Sherman | |
| 1966–1967 | The Apple Tree | Various | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical |
| 1992 | Jake's Women | Jake | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play |
| 1998–1999 | Art | Marc | |
| 2001–2002 | QED | Richard Feynman | |
| 2003 | The Play What I Wrote | Replacement | |
| 2005 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Shelly Levene | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play |
Bibliography
- Alda, Alan (2006). Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-179652-5. OCLC 64931144.
- — (2007). Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6617-9. OCLC 122309367.
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