Together with his wife of 65 years, Arlene Alda, veteran actor Alan Alda is commemorating the occasion of his 87th birthday today. Alan’s birthday is January 28th, and he was born in New York on that day in 1936.
He met the woman who would become his wife of sixty years in the most untraditional way. When Alan and Arlene were guests on the “TODAY” program in April of 2015, they confessed that it took just one catastrophic dessert for them to fall in love with one other.
The scriptwriter paid a visit to the residence of the musician, who was serving dessert to her friends at the time. “The rum cake that the evening’s hostess had baked was placed in the refrigerator to chill after it had been served. The cake flew over the top of the refrigerator and landed on the floor as the refrigerator began to shake “Alan thought back on it.
At that same time, he and Arlene withdrew themselves from the other guests and proceeded to dive into the aforementioned dessert. At that point, sparks began to fly:
“Only Arlene and I walked in there with spoons and ate it off the floor, so we were the only ones that did that. This is how you come to know it. It’s game over for everyone involved when two individuals consume a cake that fell to the ground.”
After that meeting, Alan stated that he had fallen deeply in love with the woman who would become his wife, but he was unable to bring himself to get in touch with her after that:
“I was really reserved and had very little life experience at the time. I was under the impression that I needed to ask her out on the ideal date.”
Alan and Arlene were married in 1957 at a small church in Houston, and after the ceremony, they went on their honeymoon to Mexico. The actor from “Tower Heist” said that they did not have enough money for their vacation break and that they had to pool their resources in order to save up:
“We were on the verge of being unable to afford a wedding vacation. When we calculated how much money we had to start our lives out with, we totaled up both of our savings and found that we had a total of $600 between the two of us.”
The newlyweds struggled to make ends meet as they settled into their new life together in a cramped apartment in Manhattan that they had leased. Later on, Arlene and Alan became parents to three girls named Elizabeth, Eve, and Beatrice, whom they brought up despite having financial difficulties and doing the best they could for them. They each took it in “turns” to be the parent at home with the children.
After that, in 1972, Alan was cast as Captain Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce in the American comedy “M*A*S*H,” which is widely considered to be his most famous performance. His children were in the stage between childhood and adolescence at that time.
Due to the fact that he lived on the West Coast and worked in New Jersey, he was required to have a job that required him to be away from home. When asked if he drove himself to and from work on a daily basis for eleven years, Alan said that he traveled “four months out of the year for around six years” during the course of an interview that took place in April 2013. 1983 was the last year of the television program.
The man who has three children said that his eldest two are still young and live with him and his wife Arlene does not have any plans to move and “want to uproot them completely. I never managed to shake the effects of my jet lag. On the other hand, I was able to avoid the daily commute for a number of years in the end. My wife was required to accompany me, and the children would pay us a visit whenever they could “Alan thought back on it.
The winner of six Emmy Awards has inspired his children to continue his work in the acting and directing industries. Both Beatrice and Elizabeth, her elder sister, started off their careers as actors, but eventually, they made a career change.
Elizabeth, the eldest of the three children, quit her career in the entertainment industry to pursue a career as “a teacher of the deaf and a special education teacher in general,” as their doting father explained.
In the meanwhile, her younger sister Beatrice has established herself as “a writer/director” and is the creator of the documentary “Out Late,” which has won several accolades. Alan remarked on his children’s achievements by saying, “They all have advanced degrees, and I am quite proud of them.”
After 65 years of marriage, Alan and Arlene, the mother of his children, are still together; nevertheless, throughout the years, they have struggled with a health condition. In July 2018, the filmmaker made the news public on Facebook that he had been given a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
On the other hand, Alan highlighted the optimistic response he had to the diagnosis and said that he wanted to share his experience with others “to inspire” them “to take action.” The well-known actor said that he continued to stay physically active, despite the fact that it had been years since his diagnosis.
“My life is really eventful. I also do public presentations. “I enjoy doing my podcast, and I also volunteer with the Alda Center for Communicating Science,” he said in an interview for the show “Ray Donovan.” “alum. He counseled others who followed him, advising them to “keep moving!” in the event that any of them were ever diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Alan takes his counsel to heart, as shown by the fact that he engages in sporting activities on a regular basis. He says “Taking moderate medicine, taking boxing classes three times each week, and playing singles tennis twice per week are all things that were prescribed by the doctor. I even juggle a little, “he said in his post on the social networking platform.
Alan enjoys himself so much that he even dances with his granddaughter. In the month of August 2019, he shared a video on Twitter showing the two of them tap dancing in the garage “This video is fantastic. When my granddaughter was about 9 years old, we tried to do a tap performance that was grossly unrehearsed. The garage will only host a single concert.”
In the meanwhile, in December of that year, the six-time winner of the Golden Globe Award delighted at a “menorah with candles and potatoes” that Arlene had prepared for the pair. She uploaded a picture of the menorah on her Instagram account. In addition to that, he shared a picture of his adored partner smiling for the camera while holding a bowl of food in their shared kitchen.
In addition to that, it is clear that the television star enjoys the game of wheel spins since he uploaded a video of himself playing the game on a beach in February of 2017.
Alan also hooks up with his old “M*A*S*H” co-stars, such as actor Mike Farrell, who he worked with in the past. In September of 2022, the two Hollywood heavyweights got back together to commemorate the “50th anniversary” of the television series. Alan shared a photo on Instagram that showed both himself and Farrell smiling broadly while holding wine glasses and captioned the image as follows:
“Today, Mike Farrell and I are raising a glass to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the program that had a profound impact on both of our lives, as well as our wonderful friends who helped make it what it was. MASH was a wonderful present for all of us.”
Alan described what a normal Sunday for him entails at this point in his life, including getting together with old acquaintances and talking about life in general. He quipped that he went through the motions every day, which includes the following:
“Because I tend to forget what day it is, I am unable to differentiate between Sunday and any other day. I entertain myself, keep busy, make my wife laugh six times a day, and write constantly.”
Since Alan began his career as a full-time podcaster, the show “Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda” has accumulated a total of 200 episodes. When the famous actor isn’t recording podcasts, he and his wife Arlene enjoy a variety of pastimes together at their home on Long Island, such as playing chess, playing ladder ball, and binge-watching television series. Alan said, “Surprisingly well,” when he was questioned about how he was doing in June 2022, after the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
On the 15th of March in 2022, he and Arlene celebrated the anniversary of their wedding, and Eve, the couple’s youngest daughter, paid homage to them on social media.
“Today marks the 65th wedding anniversary for these two wacky youngsters who were married back in the day. I hope you have a wonderful anniversary, Mom and Dad! I adore both of you! “wrote Eve.
