LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Alan Arkin: Los Angeles
built 230 days ago
Arkin was born in the United States[1]. In 1945, Arkin moved his family to Los Angeles, California to take a teaching job. Arkin attempted to obtain work in the entertainment industry, but was unsuccessful. An eight-month Hollywood strike cost Arkin a set designer job, but the greater blow was as a result of the McCarthy "witch hunt". Arkin, a leftist, was accused of being a communist but Arkin refused to answer questions regarding his political affiliation. As a result, he was fired from his teaching job and was unable to gain work in Hollywood. Arkin challenged his dismissal, but did not achieve exoneration until after his death.
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During this tumultuous time for the family, the young Alan was cultivating an interest in acting while attending Franklin High School in L.A. before going on to Los Angeles City College and Bennington College in Vermont. He dropped out of the latter school and with two friends formed a folk band, The Tarriers, which reworked a well-known Jamaican calypso song to craft the hit track “The Banana Boat Song” in 1956. Arkin has performed with various other musical acts over the years, including ten years with children’s group The Baby Sitters. He has ... written several children’s books and has published numerous science fiction stories.
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The public's decision to snub these two pictures may have foreshadowed Arkin's work in the '90s, when he appeared in several fine, but equally overlooked, efforts. These included: Havana (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Indian Summer (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), the aforementioned Mother Night (1996), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). He delivered a searing performance as the "loser" salesman who robs his company of much-sought-after leads, in James Foley's David Mamet cinematization Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and offered the only memorable contribution to Andrew Davis' fable Steal Big, Steal Little (1995), as "an opportunist who weighs in with the underdogs and learns the true meaning of decency and friendship...[striking] the perfect blend of cynicism, sincerity, and simpatico."
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