Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an Emmy award-winning American actor, director and screenwriter. He is well known for his role as "Hawkeye Pierce" in the television series M*A*S*H. During the 1970s and '80s, he was viewed as the archetypal sympathetic male, though in recent years, he has appeared in roles that counter that image.
Alda contracted polio at the age of seven, during an epidemic. His parents administered a painful treatment, developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny, in which hot woolen blankets are applied to the limbs, followed by stretching the muscles by massage. This treatment allowed Alda to recover much movement.
He attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York and later received his bachelor's degree from Fordham College of Fordham University in the Bronx in 1956, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV. During his junior year, he studied in Europe, where he acted in a play in Rome and performed with his father on television in Amsterdam. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve and served a six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer in Korea following the Korean War. A year after graduation, he married Arlene Weiss, with whom he has three daughters, Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice; and seven grandchildren, two of whom attended the 2005 Academy Awards (Emilia Alda and Scott Coffey). Arlene Alda is an accomplished photographer, author, and musician.
Alda was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s, and has been an activist for feminism for many years.
Alda has been a longtime resident of Leonia, New Jersey.
On the October 5, 2007 episode of the British talk show Loose Women, Alan said he would still be working at a theater in St. Louis if he had not landed the role on M*A*S*H.Early acting
Alda began his career in the 1950s as a member of the Compass Players comedy revue. In 1966, he starred in the musical The Apple Tree on Broadway; he was nominated for the Tony award as Best Actor in a Musical for that role.
Alda made his Hollywood acting debut as a supporting player in Gone are the Days!—a 1963 film version of the highly successful Broadway play Purlie Victorious, which co-starred veteran actors Ruby Dee and her husband, the late Ossie Davis. Other film roles would follow, such as his portrayal of author, humorist, and actor George Plimpton in the film Paper Lion (1968) as well as The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) and The Mephisto Waltz (1971).M*A*S*H Series (1972-1983)
In early 1972 Alda auditioned for and was selected to play the role of "Hawkeye Pierce" in the TV adaptation of the 1970 film M*A*S*H. He was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, and won five. He took part in writing 13 episodes, and directed 32. When he won his first Emmy Award for writing, he was so happy that he performed a cartwheel before running up to the stage to accept the award. He was also the first person to win Emmy Awards for acting, writing and directing for the same series. Richard Hooker, who wrote the novel on which M*A*S*H was based, did not like Alan Alda's portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce (Hooker, a Republican, had based Hawkeye on himself, whereas Alda took the character in a more left-wing direction). Alda also directed the show's 1983 2½ hour series finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" which remains the single most-watched episode of a TV series. Alda is the only series regular to appear in all 251 episodes.
As more and more of the original series writers left the series, Alda gained more control and by the final seasons he had become project and creative consultant. Under his watch, M*A*S*H more openly addressed political issues. As a result, the 11 years of M*A*S*H are generally split into two eras: The Larry Gelbart/Gene Reynolds "comedy" years (1972-1977), and the Alan Alda "dramatic" years (1977-1983). During this time, Alda frequently appeared as a panelist on the 1968 revival of What's My Line?. He also appeared as a panelist on I've Got a Secret during its 1972 syndication revival.After M*A*S*H
Alda's prominence in the enormously successful M*A*S*H gave him a platform to speak out on political topics, and he has been a strong and vocal supporter of women's rights. In 1976, the Boston Globe dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon" for his activism on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment. As a liberal activist he has been a target for some political and social conservatives.
Alan Alda has also played Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED, which has only one other character. Although Peter Parnell wrote the play, Alda both produced and inspired it. Alda has also appeared frequently in the films of Woody Allen, and he has been a guest star five times on ER, playing Dr. Kerry Weaver's mentor, Gabriel Lawrence. During the later episodes, it was revealed that Dr. Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Alda also had a co-starring role as Dr. Robert Gallo in the 1993 TV movie And the Band Played On.
During M*A*S*H's run and continuing through the 1980s, Alda embarked on a successful career as a writer and director, with the ensemble dramedy The Four Seasons being perhaps his most notable hit. Betsy's Wedding (1990) is his last directing credit to date. After M*A*S*H Alda took on a series of roles that either parodied or directly contradicted his "nice guy" image. His role as a pompous celebrity comedian in Crimes and Misdemeanors was widely seen as a self-parody, although Alda denied this.Later roles
In 1995 he starred as the President in Michael Moore's political satire/comedy film Canadian Bacon. Around this time, rumours circulated that Alda was considering running for the United States Senate in New Jersey, but he himself has denied this. In 1996, Alda played Henry Ford in Camping With Henry and Tom, based on the book by Mark St. Germain. Beginning in 2004, Alda was a regular cast member on the NBC program The West Wing, portraying Republican U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Arnold Vinick, until the show's conclusion in May 2006. He made his premiere in the sixth season's eighth episode, "In The Room," and was added to the opening credits with the thirteenth episode, "King Corn." In August 2006, Alda won an Emmy for his portrayal of Arnold Vinick in the final season of The West Wing.
In 2004, Alda portrayed the late conservative Maine Senator Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's Academy-Award winning film The Aviator in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Throughout his career, Alda has received 31 Emmy Award nominations and two Tony Award nominations, and has won seven People's Choice Awards, six Golden Globe awards, and three Directors Guild of America awards. However, it was not until 2004, after a long distinguished acting career, that Alda received his first Academy Award nomination for his role in The Aviator.
Alda also wrote several of the stories and poems that appeared in Marlo Thomas's Free to Be... You and Me television show.
Alda starred in the original Broadway production of the play 'Art', which opened on March 1, 1998 at the Royale Theatre. The play won the Tony Award for best original play.
In the spring of 2005, Alda starred as Shelly Levene in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
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Who is Alan Alda?
Alda was born in New York City. His father, Robert Alda, born as Alphonso Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo, was an actor and singer, and his mother, Joan Brown, was crowned Miss New York in a beauty pageant. Alda is of Italian and Irish descent. His adopted surname, "Alda," is a combination of ALphonso and D'Abruzzo.Alda contracted polio at the age of seven, during an epidemic. His parents administered a painful treatment, developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny, in which hot woolen blankets are applied to the limbs, followed by stretching the muscles by massage. This treatment allowed Alda to recover much movement.
He attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York and later received his bachelor's degree from Fordham College of Fordham University in the Bronx in 1956, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV. During his junior year, he studied in Europe, where he acted in a play in Rome and performed with his father on television in Amsterdam. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve and served a six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer in Korea following the Korean War. A year after graduation, he married Arlene Weiss, with whom he has three daughters, Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice; and seven grandchildren, two of whom attended the 2005 Academy Awards (Emilia Alda and Scott Coffey). Arlene Alda is an accomplished photographer, author, and musician.
Alda was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s, and has been an activist for feminism for many years.
Alda has been a longtime resident of Leonia, New Jersey.
On the October 5, 2007 episode of the British talk show Loose Women, Alan said he would still be working at a theater in St. Louis if he had not landed the role on M*A*S*H.
Early acting
Alda began his career in the 1950s as a member of the Compass Players comedy revue. In 1966, he starred in the musical The Apple Tree on Broadway; he was nominated for the Tony award as Best Actor in a Musical for that role.Alda made his Hollywood acting debut as a supporting player in Gone are the Days!—a 1963 film version of the highly successful Broadway play Purlie Victorious, which co-starred veteran actors Ruby Dee and her husband, the late Ossie Davis. Other film roles would follow, such as his portrayal of author, humorist, and actor George Plimpton in the film Paper Lion (1968) as well as The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) and The Mephisto Waltz (1971).
M*A*S*H Series (1972-1983)
In early 1972 Alda auditioned for and was selected to play the role of "Hawkeye Pierce" in the TV adaptation of the 1970 film M*A*S*H. He was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, and won five. He took part in writing 13 episodes, and directed 32. When he won his first Emmy Award for writing, he was so happy that he performed a cartwheel before running up to the stage to accept the award. He was also the first person to win Emmy Awards for acting, writing and directing for the same series. Richard Hooker, who wrote the novel on which M*A*S*H was based, did not like Alan Alda's portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce (Hooker, a Republican, had based Hawkeye on himself, whereas Alda took the character in a more left-wing direction). Alda also directed the show's 1983 2½ hour series finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" which remains the single most-watched episode of a TV series. Alda is the only series regular to appear in all 251 episodes.As more and more of the original series writers left the series, Alda gained more control and by the final seasons he had become project and creative consultant. Under his watch, M*A*S*H more openly addressed political issues. As a result, the 11 years of M*A*S*H are generally split into two eras: The Larry Gelbart/Gene Reynolds "comedy" years (1972-1977), and the Alan Alda "dramatic" years (1977-1983). During this time, Alda frequently appeared as a panelist on the 1968 revival of What's My Line?. He also appeared as a panelist on I've Got a Secret during its 1972 syndication revival.
After M*A*S*H
Alda's prominence in the enormously successful M*A*S*H gave him a platform to speak out on political topics, and he has been a strong and vocal supporter of women's rights. In 1976, the Boston Globe dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon" for his activism on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment. As a liberal activist he has been a target for some political and social conservatives.Alan Alda has also played Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED, which has only one other character. Although Peter Parnell wrote the play, Alda both produced and inspired it. Alda has also appeared frequently in the films of Woody Allen, and he has been a guest star five times on ER, playing Dr. Kerry Weaver's mentor, Gabriel Lawrence. During the later episodes, it was revealed that Dr. Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Alda also had a co-starring role as Dr. Robert Gallo in the 1993 TV movie And the Band Played On.
During M*A*S*H's run and continuing through the 1980s, Alda embarked on a successful career as a writer and director, with the ensemble dramedy The Four Seasons being perhaps his most notable hit. Betsy's Wedding (1990) is his last directing credit to date. After M*A*S*H Alda took on a series of roles that either parodied or directly contradicted his "nice guy" image. His role as a pompous celebrity comedian in Crimes and Misdemeanors was widely seen as a self-parody, although Alda denied this.
Later roles
In 1995 he starred as the President in Michael Moore's political satire/comedy film Canadian Bacon. Around this time, rumours circulated that Alda was considering running for the United States Senate in New Jersey, but he himself has denied this. In 1996, Alda played Henry Ford in Camping With Henry and Tom, based on the book by Mark St. Germain. Beginning in 2004, Alda was a regular cast member on the NBC program The West Wing, portraying Republican U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Arnold Vinick, until the show's conclusion in May 2006. He made his premiere in the sixth season's eighth episode, "In The Room," and was added to the opening credits with the thirteenth episode, "King Corn." In August 2006, Alda won an Emmy for his portrayal of Arnold Vinick in the final season of The West Wing.In 2004, Alda portrayed the late conservative Maine Senator Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's Academy-Award winning film The Aviator in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Throughout his career, Alda has received 31 Emmy Award nominations and two Tony Award nominations, and has won seven People's Choice Awards, six Golden Globe awards, and three Directors Guild of America awards. However, it was not until 2004, after a long distinguished acting career, that Alda received his first Academy Award nomination for his role in The Aviator.
Alda also wrote several of the stories and poems that appeared in Marlo Thomas's Free to Be... You and Me television show.
Alda starred in the original Broadway production of the play 'Art', which opened on March 1, 1998 at the Royale Theatre. The play won the Tony Award for best original play.
In the spring of 2005, Alda starred as Shelly Levene in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
In 2011, Alda was scheduled to guest star on Law & Order: LA, portraying former police and naval officer John Winters, the father of the former main character Rex Winters. It is unknown whether he filmed his role before the series was redesigned and Rex Winters written off.
After the release of the movie Tower Heist, Alda was devastated when on December 7, 2011, he lost his idol and decades-long friend Harry Morgan from M*A*S*H. Upon Morgan's death, Alda released a statement referring to a M*A*S*H reunion event two years before: "We had just a wonderful time reminiscing. That was the last time I saw Harry."
Alda returned to Broadway in November 2014, playing the role of Andrew Makepeace in the revival of Love Letters at the Brooks Atkinson Theater alongside with Candice Bergen.
After the release of the movie Tower Heist, Alda was devastated when on December 7, 2011, he lost his idol and decades-long friend Harry Morgan from M*A*S*H. Upon Morgan's death, Alda released a statement referring to a M*A*S*H reunion event two years before: "We had just a wonderful time reminiscing. That was the last time I saw Harry."
Alda returned to Broadway in November 2014, playing the role of Andrew Makepeace in the revival of Love Letters at the Brooks Atkinson Theater alongside with Candice Bergen.
Alan Alda quotes
"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."
"Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition."
"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in."
"It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am because the world could use a few people like that."
"Listening is being able to be changed by the other person."
"The good thing about being a hypocrite is that you get to keep your values."
Source and additional information: Alan Alda