Entertainer of the Month: Alan Arkin

We here at Entertainment News would like to wish a happy 75th birthday to the great Alan Arkin. To celebrate we are naming him March's Entertainer of the Month. You probably know him best from... well, that depends on how old you are. He got in to the entertainment industry back in the 1950's as part of the musical group The Tarriers. With them he co-wrote a Jamaican calypso folk song called "The Banana Boat Song" which later became better known as Harry Belefonte's hit "Day-O." In the 1960's Arkin turned to acting. He starred in the 1967 thriller Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn. Later he played Captain Yossarian in the movie adaptation of Catch-22. In more recent years he has shown up mostly in comedies like Grosse Pointe Blank, Little Miss Sunshine (which won him an Oscar) and most recently Get Smart. One of my favorite roles of his is as the police chief in So I Married an Axe Murderer. His scenes opposite Anthony LaPaglia (below, 3:29) are my favorites in that movie.