Feb 25, 2007–Alan Arkin's win for Supporting Actor finally gave him an Oscar, exactly 40 years after he was first nominated. Arkin won the Oscar at his third nomination.
The brilliant actor, who broke on to the scene in 1966 with “The Russians are Coming,” received two Oscars nominations in a space of two years in the 1960s. He was nominated for the Best Actor for the comic role of Lt. Rozanov in “The Russians Are Coming,” and then two years later in the same category for playing John Singer in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” (See Below).
Despite a number of acclaimed roles in the subsequent four decades–including turns in “Catch-22,” “The In-Laws” and “Glengarry Glen Ross”–he didn't catch the Academy's attention. It took his role as a raunchy, heroin-sniffing grandfather in the ensemble dramedy “Little Miss Sunshine” to earn him an Oscar; indeed, thesp noted that acting “was a team sport” in accepting the kudo.
The Supporting Oscar came one day after Arkin received the Film Independent Spirit award in the same category, after which he joked that had his mother been alive she sill would be urging him to get a teacher's license as “something to fall back on.”
Arkin's Oscar Nominations
1966: “The Russians Are Coming”; the winner was
Paul Scofield for “Man for All Seasons”
1968: “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter”; the winner was Cliff Robertson for “Charly”
