Oscar®-Winning Actor Alan Arkin to Sit Down with Robert Osborne

For Extended Interview at the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival

Interview to Premiere on TCM in Spring 2015 as TCM Original Special

Alan Arkin: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival

Academy Award®-winning actor Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) is set to be a very special guest during the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival, taking place in Hollywood April 10-13. He will sit down with TCM host Robert Osborne for an extended interview about his life and extraordinary career. The interview will be taped Sunday, April 13, in front of a live audience of festival passholders at the The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre. The interview will then air on TCM in spring 2015 as the original special Alan Arkin: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival. In addition to his interview, Arkin will be on-hand to introduce a screening of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968), which earned him an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor.

"Whatever kind of role he plays - whether as a confused Russian in a cold-war comedy or stalking Audrey Hepburn in a thriller, Alan Arkin is always a joy to watch," said Osborne. "His career has spanned more than four decades, and he still continues to be one of the most interesting and creative actors working today. I very much look forward to sitting down with him and hearing about his life and his work on such classics as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Wait Until Dark, Catch-22 and The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, as well as more recent successes like his Academy Award-winning performance in Little Miss Sunshine and his Oscar nominated performance in Argo. We'll also be talking about his award-winning theater career as both an actor and director and his equally successful career as an author. He is a remarkable, multi-faceted man, one who has always let his work speak for him. I'm particularly eager for this chance for all of us to better get to know Alan Arkin, the person and the artist."

Each year, the TCM Classic Film Festival features an extended interview taped in front of a live audience for telecast on TCM under the Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival banner. In 2010, the first TCM Classic Film Festival welcomed two-time Oscar winner Luise Rainer, who was 100 at the time. In 2011, Peter O'Toole was the featured guest, followed in 2012 by Osborne's interview with actress Kim Novak. Last year, Osborne sat down with Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, whose special premieres Monday, March 31, at 8 p.m. (ET).

About Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin has long been one of the most respected artists of the stage and screen, he won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine. For his role, Arkin also won an Independent Spirit Award and a BAFTA Award, and shared in a Screen Actors Guild Award® for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast, in addition to receiving an individual SAG Award® nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Arkin most recently earned Oscar®, BAFTA and Golden Globe® nominations for his supporting performance in director Ben Affleck's Best Picture Oscar and BAFTA Award winner Argo (2012).  He also garnered nominations from The Broadcast Film Critics Association, The London Critics Circle and the Screen Actors Guild for his performance.

Arkin's recent credits include director Peter Segal's comedy Grudge Match (2013) with Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone; The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), with Steve Carell and Jim Carrey; the crime comedy Stand Up Guys (2012), starring Al Pacino and Christopher Walken and directed by Fisher Stevens; the family hit The Muppets (2011); the comedy The Change-Up (2011); the heartwarming Marley & Me (2008); and the action comedy Get Smart (2008).

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Arkin launched his career with Chicago's improvisational revue Second City.  This led to his 1963 Broadway bow in the play Enter Laughing, based on Carl Reiner's book, for which Arkin won a Tony Award. The following year, he starred on Broadway in Murray Schisgal's hit LUV.

In 1966, Arkin made his major feature-film debut when he starred in Norman Jewison's comedy smash The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. For his performance in the comedy, Arkin earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award.

Arkin garnered a second Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1968 drama The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, for which he also won a New York Film Critics Circle Award and received a Golden Globe nomination. He garnered another Golden Globe nomination for the title role in Popi (1969).

With more than 70 films spanning over 45 years, Arkin's long list of credits also includes Wait Until Dark (1967); Catch-22 (1970); Little Murders (1971), which marked his feature film directorial debut; Hearts of the West (1975), for which he won an NYFCC Award; The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976); The In-Laws (1979); Edward Scissorhands (1990); Havana (1990); Glengarry Glen Ross (1992); Mother Night (1996); So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993); Grosse Pointe Blank (1997); Gattaca (1997); Slums of Beverly Hills (1998); Jakob the Liar (1999); America's Sweethearts (2001); Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), for which he  received another Spirit Award nomination; The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006); Rendition (2007); Thin Ice (2011); City Island (2009); and Sunshine Cleaning (2008). He has also directed several short films, including People Soup (1969), which was Oscar-nominated for Best Live Action Short.

Arkin has also been recognized for his work on television, earning four Emmy® nominations, the most recent for his performance in the telefilm The Pentagon Papers (2003). He also earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his work in the true-life Holocaust drama Escape from Sobibor (1987). His other Emmy nods came for his guest role on Chicago Hope and the drama ABC Stage 67. Among his many other television credits, Arkin starred in the acclaimed A&E series 100 Centre Street, created, written and directed by Sidney Lumet, and also appeared in the Showtime movie Varian's War (2001). In addition, Arkin directed the television adaptation of the Broadway play Twigs (1975), starring Carol Burnett, and two episodes of the PBS series Trying Times.

Arkin began directing for the stage in 1966 with the much-acclaimed Eh?, starring Dustin Hoffman at the Circle in the Square. He then won an Obie for directing Jules Feiffer's Little Murders, followed by Feiffer's The White House Murder Case. He won Drama Desk Awards for his direction of both plays, also presented at Circle in the Square. On Broadway, Arkin directed the Neil Simon hit The Sunshine Boys, for which he was nominated for a Tony for Best Direction of a Play. In 1998, he directed, starred in and co-wrote, with Elaine May, the hit production of Power Plays at the Promenade Theatre. His directing work also includes the Broadway musical Molly, Rubbers and Yanks Three at The American Place Theater; Joan of Lorraine at the Hartman in Stamford; The Sorrows of Stephen at the Burt Reynolds Theatre and starring his son Adam; and Room Service at the Roundabout in New York.

Arkin has also written several books, including eight children's books, including Tony's Hard Work Day. His 1976 book The Lemming Condition was honored by The Book Sellers of America by being placed in the White House Library. In 2011, Arkin released a memoir entitled An Improvised Life.

About The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

Carson McCullers' Depression-era novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter serves as the basis for Robert Ellis Miller's powerful 1968 update. Alan Arkin earned an Oscar® nomination for his performance as a deaf mute who moves to a small Southern town in order to be close to a friend who has been committed to a nearby mental institution. He soon strikes up a friendship with his landlord's daughter, played by an Oscar-nominated Sondra Locke in her screen debut. The film also marks the screen debut of Stacy Keach and features Cicely Tyson, Laurinda Barrett, Biff McGuire and, in a change-of-pace performance, comic actor Chuck McCann. Arkin won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance. He and Locke also earned Golden Globe® nominations, and the film itself earned a nomination for Best Motion Picture - Drama.

About the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival

For the fifth consecutive year, thousands of movie lovers from around the globe will descend upon Hollywood for the TCM Classic Film Festival. The 2014 festival is set to take place Thursday, April 10 - Sunday, April 13, coinciding with TCM's 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film. Over four packed days and nights, attendees will be treated to an extensive lineup of great movies, appearances by legendary stars and filmmakers, fascinating presentations and panel discussions, special events and more.

The theme for the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival will be Family in the Movies: The Ties that Bind. Throughout the four-day lineup, the festival will showcase on-screen clans of all types - big and small, happy and imperfect, musical and dramatic. In addition, the festival will spotlight the first families of Hollywood and the filmmaking dynasties that have entertained generations. And it will explore the kinship that connects close-knit groups of professionals behind the camera, such as the stock companies of classic Hollywood.

The 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival will open with a gala screening of Oklahoma! (1955), with an appearance by special guest Shirley Jones. Among the many other events to be featured are world premiere restorations of Gone with the Wind (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Double Indemnity (1944), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), to name a few.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which has a longstanding role in movie history and was the site of the first Academy Awards® ceremony, is set to serve as the official hotel and central gathering point for the TCM Classic Film Festival for the fifth consecutive year. The Hollywood Roosevelt also offers special rates for festival attendees. Festival screenings and events will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre, El Capitan, The Hollywood Museum and The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.

The TCM Classic Film Festival is presented with the support of several high-profile sponsors, the newest of which to join the roster is Heineken who will serve as the Official Beer of the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival. Heineken products will be served at the official Festival welcome reception, the exclusive opening Night Vanity Fair party, the official closing night party and inside Club TCM, the passholder-exclusive event space located the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. 

Other festival sponsors include exclusive founding partner Delta, which returns for its fifth year as official airline of the festival; lead partner Citi, which returns for its second year as a the official card and presenting sponsor of several films; official program partner Bonhams, which returns for its third year with items on display in Club TCM, a valuation session for festival attendees and sponsorship of several films; and program partner Vanity Fair, returning for its fifth consecutive year as host of the opening-night after-party and presenting sponsor of several films. Genworth has joined the festival this year as official insurance partner. The roster of sponsors also includes Icelandic Glacial, the bottled water partner for the festival, as well as Barco, doremi, FotoKem and TCL Chinese Theatres.

Passes for the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival can be purchased through the festival website. Pass availability is limited, so those wishing to attend the festival are encouraged to buy their passes quickly.