Alan Alda
Alan Alda (* 28. January 1936 as Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo in New York ) is an American actor , screenwriter and director .
biography
The son of actor Robert Alda ( Rhapsody in Blue , As Long as There Are People ) and his wife Joan suffered from polio between the ages of seven and nine , the consequences of which were alleviated by Elizabeth Kenny's procedure .
Alan Alda made his stage debut at the age of 16 at the Summer Theater in Barnesville , Pennsylvania . He then studied English at Fordham University in New York. During this time he spent an academic year in Paris, performed on stage in Rome and watched television with his father in Amsterdam. He was also a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps for a short time . During his training to become a reserve officer, Alda's pacifist attitudes grew stronger, and he finally stopped training for health reasons.
In his last year at Fordham he met his future wife Arlene Weiss, a talented musician with a Fulbright scholarship , whom he married in 1957 and with whom he has three daughters. After college , he received an engagement at the Playhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, and a Fordham scholarship. In New York he made a name for himself with off-Broadway - as well as with Broadway productions. TV and film offers followed.
While Alda was making the television film The Glass House in 1972 based on a screenplay by Truman Capote , he got the screenplay for a new television series, M * A * S * H , based on the Robert Altman film MASH . Although he liked the book, he only signed the contract after talking to director Gene Reynolds and producer Larry Gelbart a few hours before shooting began. Alda wanted to make sure that M * A * S * H would become more than just another military outfit. Therefore, he had a contract stipulated that at least one scene would play in the operating room per episode, in order to emphasize the war background of the series, which was implemented with a few exceptions. In the television series M * A * S * H , Alda played the doctor Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce from 1972 to 1983 and won several awards for it. He received Emmys in the categories of screenwriting, directing and performing. Alda is thus the only artist who has so far been honored for a series in all of these categories. As a pacifist , the role of 'Hawkeye Pierce' was made for him, as he had made no secret of his attitude towards this before he was a student.
Despite his work on the series, Alda wrote screenplays for films as well as the screenplay for his first own film, in which he directed and took on the lead role. This was also the case in 1977 with the film The Man on Death Row, about the case of Caryl Chessman , who waited twelve years for his execution on San Quentin's death row . Alda also developed a short-lived family series called We'll get by , borrowing from his own family life. Based on the film comedy Vier Jahreszeiten (1981), in which he again combined all three functions, a series was also developed, but it was just as unsuccessful. In addition, Alda worked on numerous other projects.
After the end of M * A * S * H , Alda could be seen in other films, wrote scripts and directed. He has worked with Woody Allen three times as an actor, and has received a New York Film Critics Award and a DW Griffith Award for his role in Crime and Other Minutes . In 1992 he returned to the theater with the Neil Simon play Jake’s Women . Since then he has been seen regularly in theater guest performances. In 1994 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame .
In 1999, Alda played in five episodes of Emergency Room again a doctor role as the Alzheimer's disease 'Dr. Gabriel Lawrence '. In 2000 he starred alongside Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in the hit comedy What Women Want to see. From 2004 to 2006 Alda was part of the main cast of the hugely successful series The West Wing - At the Center of Power in the role of Republican presidential candidate 'Arnold Vinick'; Alda received an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for the role in 2006 and his 33rd Emmy nomination for his guest appearance as Milton Greene in the episode Mamma Mia of the series 30 Rock in 2009 . In 2004 he was nominated for an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor) for his role as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in the film Aviator .
In 2018 he announced his Parkinson's disease.
Filmography
- 1958: The Phil Silvers Show (TV series, episode 3x23 Bilko the Art Lover )
- 1962: Merciless City (Naked City , TV series, episode 4x01 Hold for Gloria Christmas)
- 1963: The Nurses (TV series, 2 episodes)
- 1963: Route 66 (TV series, episode 3x31 Soda Pop and Paper Flags )
- 1963: Gone Are the Days!
- 1963: East Side / West Side (TV series, episode 1x01 The Sinner )
- 1965: The Trials of O'Brien (TV series, episode 1x11 Picture Me a Murder )
- 1966: Where's Everett (short film)
- 1967: The Secret of the Blue Crown (Coronet Blue , TV series, episode 1x10 Six Months to Mars)
- 1968: Premiere (TV series, episode Higher and Higher )
- 1968: Paper Lion (Paper Lion)
- 1969: The Extraordinary Seaman
- 1970: Jenny
- 1970: Whiskey brutal (The Moonshine War)
- 1971: Story Theater (TV series)
- 1971: Mephisto Waltz (The Mephisto Waltz)
- 1972: Class of '55 (short film)
- 1972: The Glass House (TV movie)
- 1972: Doberkiller (To Kill a Clown)
- 1972: Playmates (TV movie)
- 1972–1983: M * A * S * H (TV series, 256 episodes)
- 1973: Isn't It Shocking? (TV movie)
- 1974: 6 Rms Riv Vu (TV movie)
- 1977: The Man on Death Row ( Kill Me If You Can , Movie made for TV)
- 1978: Same Time, Next Year (Same Time, Next Year)
- 1978: The Crazy California Hotel (California Suite)
- 1979: The Seduction of Joe Tynan (The Seduction of Joe Tynan)
- 1981: The Four Seasons
- 1984: Four Seasons (TV series, episode 1x01 Pilot Part 1 )
- 1986: Sweet Liberty
- 1988: A New Life
- 1989: Crimes and Misdemeanors (Crimes and Misdemeanors)
- 1990: Family honor (Betsy's Wedding)
- 1992: Voices in the Dark (Whispers in the Dark)
- 1993: ... and life goes on (And the Band Played On)
- 1993: Manhattan Murder Mystery
- 1993–2005: Scientific American Frontiers (documentary series, 81 episodes)
- 1994: Raging Current - Rafting Trips into Ververben ( White Mile , TV movie)
- 1995: Our Enemy Neighbors (Canadian Bacon)
- 1996: Jake's Women ( Jake's Women , TV movie)
- 1996: Everyone Says I Love You (Everyone Says I Love You)
- 1996: Flirting with Disaster
- 1997: Murder in the White House (Murder at 1600)
- 1997: Mad City
- 1998: Love in Every Relationship (The Object of My Affection)
- 1999: Emergency Room - Die Notaufnahme ( ER , TV series, 5 episodes)
- 2000: What women want (What Women Want)
- 2001: Clubland - Stars and Secrets ( Club Land , TV movie)
- 2001: Killing Yard ( The Killing Yard , TV movie)
- 2004: Aviator (The Aviator)
- 2004–2006: The West Wing - In the Center of Power ( The West Wing , TV series, 27 episodes)
- 2007: The Champ (Resurrecting the Champ)
- 2008: Memories to Go - Forgive ... and forget! (Diminished Capacity)
- 2008: Flash of Genius
- 2008: Nothing but the Truth (Nothing But the Truth)
- 2009–2010: 30 Rock (TV series, 3 episodes)
- 2011: Temporary gangster (Tower Heist)
- 2011, 2013: The Big C (TV series, 6 episodes)
- 2012: Wanderlust - The Trip of a Lifetime (Wanderlust)
- 2013–2014: The Blacklist (TV series, 5 episodes)
- 2015: No Place Without You (The Longest Ride)
- 2015: Bridge of Spies - The Negotiator (Bridge of Spies)
- 2016: Horace and Pete (web series, 5 episodes)
- 2018-2019: The Good Fight (TV series, 3 episodes)
- 2018–2020: Ray Donovan (TV series, 8 episodes)
- 2019: Marriage Story
Awards
- 1980: Best Actor (The Seduction of Joe Tynan)
- 1982: Favorite male star
- 1982: Best Non-European Film (The Four Seasons)
Directors Guild of America Award
- 1977: Outstanding performance as a director in comedy series ( M * A * S * H , together with Ted Butcher, David Hawks and Lisa Hallas)
- 1982: Outstanding performance as a director in comedy series ( M * A * S * H , together with David Hawks and Cathy Kinsock)
- 1983: Outstanding performance as a director in comedy series ( M * A * S * H , together with David Hawks and Cathy Kinsock)
- 1974: Actor of the Year Series (M * A * S * H)
- 1974: Best Actor in a Comedy Series (M * A * S * H)
- 1977: Outstanding director in a comedy series (M * A * S * H)
- 1979: Outstanding script in a comedy, comedy variety or music series (M * A * S * H)
- 1982: Outstanding leading actor in a comedy series (M * A * S * H)
- 2006: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
- 2012: for his life's work
- 1974: Male Star of the Year
- 1979: Male Star of the Year
- 1975: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1976: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1980: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1981: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1982: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1983: Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical (M * A * S * H)
- 1980: Hasty Pudding Man of the Year
- 1980: 30-minute category (M * A * S * H)
- 1989: Best Supporting Actor (Crime and Other Trifles)
New York Film Critics Circle Award
- 1989: Best Supporting Actor (Crime and Other Trifles)
- 1975: Favorite television actor (with Telly Savalas )
- 1979: Favorite television actor
- 1980: Most popular entertainer
- 1980: Favorite television actor
- 1981: Favorite entertainer
- 1981: Favorite television actor
- 1982: Favorite television actor
TV Land Award
- 2003: Classic TV Doctor of the Year (M * A * S * H)
- 2009: Impact Award ( M * A * S * H , together with Alan Arbus , William Christopher , Larry Gelbart , Mike Farrell , James Maxwell , Burt Metcalfe , Gene Reynolds , David Ogden Stiers , Loretta Swit and Kellye Nakahara )
Writers Guild of America Award
- 1977: Comedy actor
- 2000: Valentine Davies Award
Others
- 2006: Admission to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2016: Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences
Books
- Alan Alda: Never have your dog stuffed . Autobiography. Arrow Books / Random House, 2006, ISBN 978-0-09-949376-1 .
- Alan Alda: Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself . Biography & Autobiography. Random House, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4000-6617-9 .
Web links
- Alan Alda in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Alan Alda in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Website of Alan Alda (English)
- Pictures by Alan Alda In: Virtual History (English)
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Alda, Alan |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | D'Abruzzo, Alphonso Joseph (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor, screenwriter, director |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1936 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , New York |