Alan Alda

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Alan Alda (2008)

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

Awards

American Movie Award

  • 1980: Best Actor (The Seduction of Joe Tynan)
  • 1982: Favorite male star

Bodil

  • 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)

Emmy Award

  • 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

Golden Apple Award

  • 1974: Male Star of the Year
  • 1979: Male Star of the Year

Golden Globe Award

  • 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)

Hasty pudding

  • 1980: Hasty Pudding Man of the Year

Humanitas Prize

  • 1980: 30-minute category (M * A * S * H)

National Board of Review

  • 1989: Best Supporting Actor (Crime and Other Trifles)

New York Film Critics Circle Award

  • 1989: Best Supporting Actor (Crime and Other Trifles)

People's Choice Award

  • 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

Writers Guild of America Award

  • 1977: Comedy actor
  • 2000: Valentine Davies Award

Others

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

Commons : Alan Alda  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Alan Alda  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-marriage-story-alan-alda-lets-his-parkinsons-show-11572974317
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