Alan Alda Biography

He grew up in a show business environment. His father, Robert, was an actor, and brought Alan up around the culture of vaudeville comedy. He became a member of the acting company at the Cleveland Playhouse, on a grant from the Ford Foundation.

He was a great success with his improvisatory performances in Chicago’s Second City Company, and, from 1964, on the satirical TV weekly 'That Was the Week That Was'.

His first film role was in 'Gone Are The Days' in 1963, adapted from the Broadway play in which Alda had starred. His other film roles of the time, almost all critically more successful than popular, included 'Paper Lion' and 'To Kill a Clown'.

Filming 'The Glass House', a Truman Capote prison drama in Utah State Prison, Alda was impressed by a television pilot script based on Robert Altman's hit feature film, 'M*A*S*H'.

The show, which ran for 11 years, was a pacifistic satire of the horrors of war, and allowed Alda to employ his acting, writing and directing talents. By the time it ended in 1983, he had been honoured with Emmys for all three skills - he remains the only person to have been honoured in all three categories.

In addition to a separate sitcom, 'We’ll Get By', Alda managed to find time to make films during 'M*A*S*H', with 'California Suite', 'Same Time', and, in his 1981 directorial debut, 'The Four Seasons'.

Beginning a collaboration with Woody Allen, and deliberately playing against type, Alda starred in Allen’s 1989 film 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'. He reunited with the director for 'Manhattan Murder Mystery 'in 1993 and 'Everybody Says I Love You' in 1996.

A prolific activist and off-screen commentator, Alda continues to juggle his film career with involvement in major political and social causes.