Arkin, Alan (b. 1934), actor and director. He was born in Brooklyn and educated at Los Angeles City College and Bennington College before working as a stand‐up comic in clubs and with improv groups. As a member of the touring Second City troupe from Chicago, Arkin caught the eye of producers who put him in Off‐Broadway comedy revues, some of which he scripted. He made a striking Broadway debut as the hapless would‐be actor David Kolowitz in Enter Laughing (1963) and the next year was again praised for his portrayal of the unfortunate would‐be suicide victim Harry Berlin in Luv. The odd, low‐key comic actor turned to directing in the 1960s, staging Eh? (1966), Little Murders (1969), The Sunshine Boys (1972), and others. After a span of thirty‐four years, he performed again as two zany characters in the Off‐Broadway comedy Power Plays (1998). Autobiography: Halfway Through the Door, 1979.

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.