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Alan Alda Biography

Alan Alda (/ˈældə/; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A seven-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is widely known for his roles as Captain Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H (1972–1983), the host of Scientific American Frontiers, and as Arnold Vinick in The West Wing (2004–2006). He has also appeared in many feature films, most notably as pretentious television producer Lester in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and U.S. Senator Owen Brewster in The Aviator (2004), the latter of which saw Alda nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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Alan Alda Quotes

Awards can give you a tremendous amount of encouragement to keep getting better, no matter how young or old you are.

Awards, Encouragement, Giving, Keep, Young

I don't really worry about the size of the part much any more. It's nice to have more time to work on the character, and to have big scenes to play. But if there's something playable there, and if it's interesting to do, then that's nice.

Character, Nice, Part, Play, Time, Work

Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

Aim, Doubt, Laughter, Motivational, Smile, Unexplored

For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff. One day, though, I realized I was no longer a believer, and realizing that, I couldn't go back.

Forever, Heaven, Longer, Mere, Order, Though

It's better to be wise than to be smart.

Being Wise, Smart, Wise

Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself.

Aim, Doubt, Laugh, Laughing, Laughter

Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe - you can't take a taxi.

Genius, Inspirational, Originality, Taxi, Territory

Some of the greatest things, as I understand, they have come about by serendipity, the greatest discoveries

Come, Discoveries, Discovery, Greatest, Serendipity

During the first day, curious at having outsiders among them, a long stream of inmates came over and talked with me. Remarkably, according to what they told me, nearly every inmate in the prison didn't do it. Several thousand people had been locked up unjustly and, by an incredible coincidence, all in the same prison. On the other hand, they knew an awful lot about how to knife somebody.

Came, Hands, Knives, Long, Several, Talked

I've been nominated twice before as actor in a leading part. Now I'm nominated as actor in a supporting part. If I don't win, I'll just wait until I'm nominated for being in the theater during the show. Do they have one like that?

Actors, Show, Twice, Waiting, Win, Winning

War is war and Hell is hell, and if you ask me, War is a lot worse.

Ask Me, Hell, War, Worse

Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.

Remember, Smart, Wisdom, Wise

Musicals are hard for me because I got thrown out of the glee club in high school, because I couldn't sing in tune at the time. I can sing in tune now, but I have to work really hard on it to make sure that I don't exercise one of my great talents, which is the ability to sing in three keys at the same time.

Ability, Exercise, Glee, Keys, Make, School

It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that.

Bad, Genius, Like, People, Use, World

My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that.

Father, Mother, Shown, Signs, Stab, Trying

You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.

Being Yourself, Bus, Knowing, Quite, Risk, Work

What I can't completely understand is most other people's fascination with what the famous among us do with their lips and the rest of their bodies. Why do ordinary people become the target of this curiosity simply by virtue of the fact that other people recognize their names and faces but know nothing else about them? Why do we care what they think, what they wear, what they eat?

Become, Lips, Names, Nothing, People, Thinking

Insanity is just a state of mind.

Insanity, Mind, State, States

It makes it fun. When an actor plays a character, you want what that character wants. Otherwise it doesn't look authentic. So I really want to defeat Jimmy - I mean Jimmy as the character.

Actor, Character, Fun, Jimmy, Look, Mean

I was brought up as a Catholic, and I'm no longer a Catholic. I don't talk about my beliefs too much in public probably because I feel very strongly that it's something personal - more than personal, it's private.

Belief, Catholic, Personal, Private, Probably, Too Much

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