Why do people dislike Alan Alda? Tell me about him.

Alan Alda always plays pretentious and prickly men from New York/New England. Therefore, I love him.

I always thought he was cute in that Andre Gregory way. Alas, I also suspect he is bonkers in that Alan Gregory way.

He's was a good actor, but no sex appeal or attraction for me. He was okay, average, but a good actor.

He reminds me of Sheldon Cooper.

Never liked him BUT he was quite funny on Dame Edna

He’s hugely rich. In the 1970s he bought shit tons of land in the Hamptons. There are now condos and giant mansions on land he sold. Four mansions were built in a field adjoining my block in about 2010. The builder told us the field was owned by Alan Alda and that his son-in-law was in charge of the building of each mansion. I don’t think anyone lives year round in any of the 4 houses. I think they’re all rented out in summer. Probably were sold to LLCs. That’s what everyone does nowadays. Sells land to LLCs that tear down middle class houses and fill the entire property with house, pool, three car garage, pebbled driveway.

He also wanted to build on some protected wetland adjacent to his “compound.” The town was reluctant until he gave the town some land in return for letting him have the wetland. The town probably then sold the land he gave them to builders.

To me, it seemed as though he was essentially playing himself in “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and I’ve always wondered if that was why Woody Allen cast him. It’s easy to see AA as lacking self-awareness and obliviously going for the role.

I remember him being interviewed by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio and he was quite full of himself.

I liked him well enough in the later seasons of The West Wing.

Joe Flaherty used to do a hilarious imitation of him on SCTV that perfectly captures his cheerful smarm. See at 14:15 and following in "Neil Simon's 'The Nutcracker Suite'" (also featuring Eugene Levy as Judd Hirsch, Andrea Martin as Marsha Mason, John Candy as James Coco, Dave Thomas as Michael Caine, and Catherine O'Hara as Maggie Smith).

^^And Rick Moranis as Richard Dreyfus!

He's beloved. The only people who hate him hate him because he's liberal. In other words, only assholes hate him,

R9 Eugene Levy looks more like Judd Hirsch than Judd Hirsch

I have no idea why I think he's pretentious and insincere. It could be the phony smile and laugh, as though someone told him that he had a great smile and he played that card to death.

Surprisingly Catherine was dreadful as Maggie. You can't do Maggie without a dollop of Paul Lynde in there

He's one of my favorites. I especially remember watching him on his Scientific American Frontiers tv show. He showed such joy in learning new things and was very self-deprecating when he didn't know things. That's not the sign of someone who is arrogant or full of himself. The poster who said it's just conservatives hating on an outspoken liberal is probably right. I don't know anyone who thinks badly of him.

I liked his autobiography

Catherine O’Hara was in Betsy’s Wedding. She and Andrea did a commentary for the SCTV episode above and Catherine just went - UGH - when Andrea asked what Alda was really like.

The MASH set was not a terribly happy one for many of the actors. Even Loretta Swit, who speaks glowingly of Alda and her time on the show, tried to split at do Cagney and Lacey as a series. Jackie Cooper wrote about how cold Alda could be, and how he seemed to have flawed logic when it came to Hawkeye’s peace-loving but women-chasing personality.

The real tip off about Alda -at least MASH era Alda - is that final episode. Total ego stroke. The other actors were regulated to idiotic C plots.

I’m not hating on him because he’s a liberal (sheesh!), I’m stating an opinion based on my observations.

When I saw him on Inside the Actors’ Studio, he was presenting as a bit full of himself and boastfully claiming he invented a certain phrasing in something entertainment related, or something like that, and during the Q&A portion someone in the audience called him on it by citing an earlier usage.

I'm unwilling to let my dislike of Alan Alda as a performer somehow be used to determine my political affiliations when I have never voted for anyone other than a Democrat in my entire life (and I started voting in 1984)..

This is yet another completely shallow and meaningless political litmus test devised by Dataloungers.

Like Travolta and De Niro, a perfect hybrid of Irish and Italian

There is a list of actors including Ben Kingsley, Mandy Patinkin, the late Rex Harrison, and Alan Alda. Actors who were so brilliant that you simply had to overlook how insufferable they were to work with.

You can't even bother to fucking explain WHY you R19 "don't like him". Is it a VIBE? Do you have a FEELING? Did you throw the chicken bones into the circle to see when the harvest is due and to cure your rickets?

We "had to overlook" that? No, we did not "have to."

So... once again...no actual facts...no breakdown of his performances, shows, or films. Just wafer thin vague speculation. You sound like a tire with a hole, and a slow steady empty fart sound coming from it.

I like him. If he’s in a movie I watch it. I loved him in Manhattan Murder Mystery..

He is a distance relative, according to my mother

R26, how far do you keep him from family reunions?

It's not my personal opinion, but he had a reputation as kind of a wimpy, male feminist, Mr. Sensitive type - I guess what alt-righters would now call a "soyboy."

I had no idea anyone disliked him. I can’t imagine why. He’s brilliant.

Who hates Alan Alda? He’s as nice a guy as they come.

But then that means the DL free floating angry trolls will kick in as they always do with people of extraordinary success.

Who even THINKS about Alan Alda this much?

I don’t remember the details but in his memoir he talked about how seriously mentally ill his mother was - making much of his childhood a nightmare. I do remember he said one of his fondest/proudest memories as a teen was frequently standing in the wings and watching his handsome leading man dad Robert Alda play Sky Masterson in the original Broadway production of “Guys and Dolls.”

I read something on reddit that made him look bad. Alan Alda was seen in a fancy wine and cheese store in LA. He had his arms crossed and he was barking orders at the employee while referring to himself in the third person. "Mr Alda would like some blue cheese olives, Mr Alda would like that bottle of wine" etc. If this story is true then he's a disgusting piece of shit.

I don't understand why being kind of rude to people at a wine store makes someone a "disgusting piece of shit."

charlie, I thought we had seen the last of you forever.

Shame.

I liked him in Same Time, Next Year

Destroying wetlands and barking for pretentious olives 🫒 in the third person disappoints me, and I only liked him from his guest star appearances on the Carol Burnett Show. I always liked his Dad.

He was good in M*A*S*H* as part of the ensemble cast, but things changed when he started having power over the show. He directed or produced it or something--I can't recall exactly what--and his character started turning into enlightened, sanctimonious Hawkeye, which ruined the show for me.

He reminds me of this guy I know who's insufferable. His name is Victor.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Fonda, Alan Alda. Who's the Old Liberal Actor Troll? What a strange fixation. Or fetish. Eww.

[quote]I liked him in Same Time, Next Year

I didn't he was annoying and smarmy as hell - he was cast to appeal to middle America.

He was in another "sexy" movie with Meryl - that one was a big bore too, guess why?

Middle America loves Alda and Hollywood and Broadway love Alda. That's everyone.

I've usually enjoyed him on screen, but I've never seen him interviewed much at all, so I've never really experienced anything negative about him.

Guess why OP is a cunt.

R18 if you want to be taken seriously you need to let go of “hate on”.

Loved Alda in MASH, and also in this bit of 80s fluff:

Alda had a post-M*A*S*H nadir for several reasons. I don't think it was just conservatives disliking him because of his liberalism, because he wouldn't have stood out from a very large pack that way.

He was one of those actors closely associated with an era that had passed. He was often discussed during the '70s and later as emblematic of a new "sensitive '70s male," and that type was out of fashion in the '80s.

Then, there were also complaints from M*A*S*H fans about changes to the tone of the series in the later seasons when Alda had greater control over it; it allegedly became preachier and more didactic. I never was a viewer, but I understand Hawkeye was always giving speeches about "this damn war."

However, I think Alda has outlasted his backlash. He got great notices for Crimes and Misdemeanors and for good work in later projects like The West Wing and Marriage Story. I'd say he made the transition from long-ago household name to respected veteran actor.

I like THE FOUR SEASONS which he also directed, I believe. It has a great cast: Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston, and Bess Armstrong (WHET her?).

I know people who've known Alda and his wife for decades. They've never had anything bad to say about him.

He was great in The West Wing as Arnie Vinnick, the Republican presidential candidate.

I agree with R48 and their analysis.

[quote] I'd say he made the transition from long-ago household name to respected veteran actor.

R48 really good analysis. I didn’t grow up with MASH and I never watched the reruns - the first movies I saw him first run were the Woody Allen movies, and he was SO good in both - and if he was anything like his reputation then he was self aware enough to send it up.

I feel like I’ve also read in a few places things to the effect of : at the height of his fame and power was a bit of an egotistical asshole, but has long since learned and mellowed out. I feel like almost every famous entertainer has that period at their very height where it goes to your head a bit - it’s whether you learn from that and (for lack of a better word) evolve which is key.

Anyway, count me as a pretty big fan. I’m sad he has Parkinson’s.

He was great in the very creepy movie “The Mephisto Waltz”.

He's sort pf the left wing version of Pat Boone as far as persona goes.

He didn’t look like his father at all.

everything about him was boring

A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE!!!

I loved when Futurama had a MASH spoof wherein the Hawkeye robot (iHawk) had a switch that changed his behavior from "irreverent" to "maudlin."

That pretty much sums up MASH as a tv show for me.

And don't get me started on Klinger.

.....

He playfully accused Meryl Streep's character of breaking his penis in The Seduction of Joe Tynan.

I agree R33

[quote] read something on reddit that made him look bad. Alan Alda was seen in a fancy wine and cheese store in LA. He had his arms crossed and he was barking orders at the employee while referring to himself in the third person. "Mr Alda would like some blue cheese olives, Mr Alda would like that bottle of wine" etc. If this story is true then he's a disgusting piece of shit.

Sounds like a total fake story/defamation of character. Sort of rubbish 11 year olds say.

And I'm NOT one of his fans.

Boy some people are really touchy about Alan Alda!

No one gets this up in arms to defend Loretta Swit.

But the real talent on that show was Larry Linville and David Ogden Stiers. They were amazing.

R9, thank you for leading me on an Internet journey through old episodes of SCTV. (I still remember my shocked delight when I first came across the show late one night on our little B&W tv w/UHF as a bored suburban teenager.) I found the episodes with Guy Caballero playing The Godfather. Eugene Levy playing a vengeful, haunted Floyd the Barber was fantastic. I needed that at the end of a crappy Sunday.

I went to a live Conversations With... sponsored by the SAG Foundation and he was charming and very funny. His Parkinson's was pretty bad then, and this was a few years ago, so he must be in seclusion in Leonia now. He gave a wonderful demonstration of his method for learning his lines, which involved recording all the characters by himself, but using cartoon voices for the other characters. I tried it. It works!

From “The Golden Girls” in 1990:

Dorothy: “You know, I never thought Ma would lose her memory. Of course, I never thought Alan Alda would get on my nerves.”

Until that very moment, I felt so terribly alone…

I like him in The Object of My Affection. He is hilarious as a wealthy publisher married to Allison Janney.

Also stars Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Tim Daly, John Pankow, and the late great Sir Nigel Hawthorne

I’m struggling through The Four Seasons, with all the false joviality and “actorly” dialogue. The weaker performers make the others look better by contrast. Alda had a real actor’s presence in this era, and Burnett really good in the first acts. The physical comedy (jumping in water and cackling is a big device in the first part of the film). I feel bad for the actors cramped into cars and boats. All the phone joviality is really cheesy, and the maudlin “serious” scenes somber and flat.

It’s a handsome film, with Victor Keeper’s photography. And the exterior footages of cars feels like a time machine, so cool to see.

Sandy Dennis had a hard part to play, but she was so good.

^^”phone” is meant to spell “phony”, distracted watching the film.

No one ever talks about his role in the Mephisto Waltz, a creepy movie I saw as a kid. He was very young.

That film is revealing in what makes a movie star. Alda looks wan in comparison to Jacqueline Bisset who is gorgeous but not much of an actress.

The camera likes what the camera likes.

[Quote]Destroying wetlands

This is how silly rumors get started. There's no way that Alda's wetland property was developed. That land is protected.

Hawkeye was the only reason I watched MASH.

He always struck me as insufferable and smug. What is this based on? Very little...because I never could stand MASH either--a sanctimonious bore.

I just LOVE having opinions!!!!

My ex-husband was in a (terrible) movie with him and, unlike some of the other on-set divas, Alda was extremely polite and kind. No drama.