Alan Alda an achievement of a lifetime
Guild to honor award-winning career
NEW YORK — When Alan Alda receives his life achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild on Sunday, it will celebrate a career that includes multiple Emmy awards, an Oscar nomination and social activism over nearly seven decades.
And one that continues to thrive, despite a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
At 82, Alda is still practicing his craft, describing the idea of retirement as “a living hell.”
“Thank goodness I’m still working and having fun. I’m doing ‘Ray Donovan’ and ‘The Good Fight,’ and anything else that comes up that looks like fun to do,” the actor told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
“And I’ve been training and doing about a dozen things to hold back the progress of Parkinson’s, which is pretty, you know, pretty successful. I’m still able to work and I do everything else that I do with a full heart,” he added. “It’s not at a point where it upsets me at all. I just cope with it, so I’m doing fine.”
Alda is best known for his yearslong stint as Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce on the iconic television sitcom, “M.AS.H.” He also co-wrote and directed the series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen,” which was the most watched series broadcast in American television history, drawing 105 million viewers.
His resume also includes feature films, including “Same Time, Next Year” and “The Aviator,” for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and TV shows including appearances on “30 Rock.”
He will receive his SAG honor during Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, joining a group that includes Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood, Rita Moreno, Dick Van Dyke and Lily Tomlin.
Alda has also been involved in numerous charities and organizations that have supported children’s causes and women’s issues, including his support for the Equal Rights Amendment nearly 40 years ago.
He hopes the legacy that endures, even more so than his acting, is his social activism, particularly when it comes to his work with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York. The center works to bridge the gap between scientists and the public, and uses acting techniques, such as improvisational theater exercises to help make their message more relatable.
“I’m still able to work and I do everything else that I do with a full heart.” – ALAN ALDA