2005-06 Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations Announced

Nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced today. Among the nominees is television legend Alan Alda, who received his 32nd career Emmy Award nomination in the category of “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series” for his role as “Arnold Vinick” on The West Wing. Alda was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1993.

Alan Alda was interviewed by the Archive of American Television on November 17, 2000 in New York, NY.

Click here to access all Alan Alda interview segments.

Alda spoke about his early years, which included a serious bout with polio as a child. He detailed his training as an actor, which included time at Paul Sills’s Improvisational Workshop at Second City and the Compass School of Improvisation, both in New York. He described his early appearances on television, including as a regular on That Was the Week That Was (1964) and the syndicated What’s My Line?. In great detail, he described his role as actor, director, and writer of the critically-acclaimed and long-running series M*A*S*H (1972-83), in which he played “Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce,” and for which he won multiple Emmy Awards. He talked about his later work as a writer-director of feature films including The Four Seasons, which he also produced as a series in 1984. He also talked about his work as an actor in feature films, notably several directed by Woody Allen. Finally, Alda discussed such recent acting work in television as the telefilms … And the Band Played On and Neil Simon’s Jake’s Women (reprising his Broadway performance), as well as series guest star on ER, for which he received his 29th Emmy nomination.

Tune in to the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, August 27 on NBC.