Alan Arkin’s Best Roles

Close your eyes, and you can hear Alan Arkin’s unforgettable voice in your ears, grumbling through the great dialogue he got to say over his decades on screen. What’s remarkable is how the career of the actor and director, who passed away on June 29th, 2023, could encompass so much — great comedy, great drama, and some iconic villain roles mixed in with his semi-frequent appearances with the Muppets.

Arkin worked consistently over the years, almost like clockwork: Since his breakout role in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming in 1966, it was very rare for a year to pass without a new appearance from him on film or television. The times it did happen? It was usually because the following year, he’d have three or four roles stacked up. His career highlights include three Oscar nominations and one win, six Emmy nominations, and a Tony; more importantly, that voice, gravelly and wise and wry, will stick with us forever.

— Liz Shannon Miller

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Roat, Wait Until Dark (1967)

While the early years of Arkin’s career included numerous well-regarded films, it was his villainous turn as a criminal intent on stealing back his drugs from a blind and unaware Audrey Hepburn that made him a name to remember. What’s essential to his performance is Roat’s capacity for charm; something that makes him all the more dangerous in the moment. — L.S. Miller

Capt. John Yossarian, Catch-22 (1970)

Mike Nichols’ Catch 22 features a large ensemble cast, but Arkin is its lynchpin as Yossarian, a burned-out World War II bombardier who just wants to rotate out of his extremely dangerous assignment — only to find that thanks to the particulars of army bureaucracy, there is no escape. Playing with the line between sanity and madness is a common theme in Arkin’s work, and it all began here. — L.S. Miller

Lt. Miles Practice, Little Murders (1971)

Arkin only plays a small role in this adaptation of Jules Feiffer’s acclaimed play, because he also directed the haunting black comedy about a world descending into chaos. There’s almost something apocalyptic about the way Arkin depicts the film’s New York City, consumed with rampant violence that only escalates as the film progresses — something also embodied in his time on screen, as an unhinged detective who can’t stop the flood of unsolved murders that represent the crumbling of society. — L.S. Miller

Sheldon Kornpett, The In-Laws (1979)

Arkin teamed up with another lovable curmudgeon, Peter Falk, for this classic spy comedy about a dentist (Arkin) who gets caught up in an international caper thanks to his son’s future father-in-law, a CIA agent (Falk). It’s a film that holds up remarkably well thanks to its core cast, the sharp dialogue, and occasionally goofy moments of comedy — to which Arkin commits fully. “Serpentine!” — L.S. Miller

A. “Peevy” Peabody, The Rocketeer (1991)

“Lovable curmudgeon” was a persona that Arkin knew how to play like a fiddle, and Joe Johnston’s beloved cult favorite The Rocketeer showcased that talent to perfection. As the brilliant mechanic who figures out how to use the jetpack his young protege Cliff (Billy Campbell) discovers, Arkin’s dry delivery adds essential humor to Cliff’s early experiments in Rocketeer-ing, and the film gives the character a final beat that makes you yearn for a sequel. — L.S. Miller