Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936 in the Bronx, New York City) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and podcaster.
A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he's enjoyed a long and highly accomplished career with a litany of roles under his belt. However, he's likely best known for his iconic performance as Capt. "Hawkeye" Pierce in the long-running TV show M*A*S*H. In contrast to the fun-loving and rebellious Hawkeye, Alda has mostly played staunch authority figures and/or villains in the later part of his career (something which can partly be accounted for by an offscreen mishap involving an overzealous dentist when Alda was in his 50s; the man accidentally cut through the frenum of his upper lip, removing part of its support and movement structure and making it all but impossible for Alda to smile correctly).
He is also a major supporter of the sciences and hosted Scientific American Frontiers on PBS from 1993 to 2005. In 2009, he founded the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, which teaches scientists how to present their work in a way the general public can more easily understand.
Alda is also known for his simultaneously thick and nasally voice, and for his outspoken left-leaning political views. Most definitely a Cool Old Guy.
The son of actor Robert Alda, Alan has been married to photographer Arlene Weiss since 1957 and they have three children.
Filmography on this wiki:
- Purlie Victorious aka Gone Are the Days (1963) as Charley Cotchipee
- The Mephisto Waltz (1971) as Myles Clarkson
- California Suite (1978) as Bill
- The Four Seasons (1981) as Jack Burroughs (also wrote and directed)
- Sweet Liberty (1986) as Michael Burgess (also wrote and directed)
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) as Lester
- Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) as Ted
- Canadian Bacon (1995) as the President of the United States
- Flirting with Disaster (1996) as Richard Schlichting
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996) as Bob
- Murder at 1600 (1997) as Jordan
- Mad City (1997) as Kevin Hollander
- The Object of My Affection (1998) as Sidney Miller
- What Women Want (2000) as Dan Wanamaker
- The Aviator (2004) as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster
- Flash of Genius (2008) as Gregory Lawson
- Tower Heist (2011) as Arthur Shaw
- Bridge of Spies (2015) as Thomas Watters
- Marriage Story (2019) as Bert Spitz
- The Phil Silvers Show (1 episode, 1958) as Carlyle Thompson III
- Route 66 (1 episode, 1966) as Dr. Glazer
- M*A*S*H (251 episodes, 1972–83) as Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (also directed 32 episodes and wrote 19 episodes)
- Isn't It Shocking? (TV movie, 1973) as Dan Barnes
- The Carol Burnett Show (1 episode, 1974) as Himself/Various Characters
- And the Band Played On (TV movie, 1993) as Dr. Robert Gallo
- ER (5 episodes, 1999) as Dr. Gabriel Lawrence
- The West Wing (28 episodes, 2004–06) as Senator Arnold Vinick (R-California)
- 30 Rock (3 episodes, 2009–10) as Milton Greene
- The Big C (6 episodes, 2011–13) as Dr. Atticus Sherman
- The Blacklist (5 episodes, 2013–14) as Alan Fitch
- Broad City (1 episode, 2016) as Dr. Jay Heller
- The Good Fight (3 episodes, 2018–19) as Solomon Waltzer
- Ray Donovan (2018–20) as Dr. Arthur Amiot
- World War Z audiobook (2006) as Arthur Sinclair Jr.
Tropes associated With Alan Alda's roles:
- Alliterative Name: Alan Alda, although it's his stage name rather than his real name.
- Cool Old Guy: Many of his later roles.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most famously as Hawkeye but many of his other roles are this as well.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Tends to keep his famous New York accent, no matter the role he's playing.
- Playing Against Type: His bad-guy roles were initially playing against type, but over time they've become his type.
- Stage Names: His father was already acting under the name Robert Alda, so Alan changed to "Alan" and followed suit.
- Typecasting: Tends to play a lot of politicians and government workers or upper-class corporate types. In something of an ironic play against his outspoken liberal-left views and reputation as something of a Cool Old Guy, many of these characters tend to be somewhat right-leaning and sinister.