Oscar award winning Alan Arkin died on Friday at the age of 89.
His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father's death through the actor's publicist.
“Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man," they said in a statement quoted by The Associated Press.
While no cause of death was provided, Arkin had heart ailments.
Arkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 26, 1934 and was raised in a Jewish family. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, and Germany
A member of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit "Little Miss Sunshine.”
More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for "The Russians are Coming," from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning “Argo.”
In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series “The Kominsky Method,” a role that earned him two Emmy nominations.
Arkin studied acting at Los Angeles City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Bennington College in Vermont, where he earned a scholarship to the formerly all-girls school.
He married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe, and they had two sons, Adam and Matthew.
After he and Yaffe divorced in 1961, Arkin married actress-writer Barbara Dana, and they had a son, Anthony. All three sons became actors.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)