The "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Argo" actor Alan Arkin has died aged 89, according to his sons. Adam, Matthew, and Anthony, in a statement, said he was "a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man", reports AFP.
"A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed," they said in a statement on Friday.
Born in Brooklyn on March 26, 1934 to Russian-German Jewish immigrant parents, Arkin began taking acting classes from a young age. He was a member of Chicago's storied Second City improvisational troupe, and appeared on the big screen for the first time with The Tarriers in 1957's "Calypso Heat Wave."
He made his Broadway debut in "From the Second City," which led to a role in acclaimed comedy "Enter Laughing," for which he won a Tony Award.
Arkin earned a best actor Oscar nomination for his first feature acting role, playing the Soviet sailor Rozanov, who is mistaken for a spy, in the 1966 comedy "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming."
That was followed by appearances in 1967's "Wait Until Dark" opposite Audrey Hepburn, and 1968's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," for which he received a second Oscar nomination, for playing a deaf-mute.
Many critics believe Arkin's best performance came in 1970's "Catch 22," the film adaptation of Joseph Heller's best-selling tragicomic war novel.
Arkin appeared regularly on stage, television and the big screen from the 1970s to the 1990s, with notable roles in "Edward Scissorhands," "Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997) and "Jakob the Liar" (1999). He earned another Oscar nomination for 2013's best picture winner "Argo," in which he played a curmudgeonly Hollywood producer who brought comic relief to the tense Iran hostage thriller.
