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Alan King

Alan King built his career on the sense that comedy did not need to sound like a routine. It could sound like a conversation—particularly one about family, work, irritation and the absurd pressures of everyday life. Born in Brooklyn on December 26, 1927, King grew up in New York City as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He performed impersonations on street corners for pennies and appeared on Major Bowes Amateur Hour at 14 before leaving high school the following year to pursue comedy in the Catskill Mountains. His early path included work in burlesque, a spell as a professional boxer and the Borscht Belt circuit. After watching Danny Thomas speak to an audience rather than at it, King moved away from one-liners and developed a conversational style rooted in suburban life. That approach connected with audiences and helped carry him from nightclub stages to appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Perry Como Show and The Garry Moore Show. He also became a regular guest host for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. King’s film career gave him room to turn that direct, lived-in manner toward characters who could be funny, forceful or dangerous. He worked repeatedly with Sidney Lumet, beginning with Bye Bye Braverman and The Anderson Tapes, then taking a starring role as a ruthless business mogul in Just Tell Me What You Want. He later appeared as gangsters in I, the Jury and Cat’s Eye, and played Billy Crystal’s terminally ill father in Memories of Me. By the 1990s, King could bring decades of authority to darker parts. He appeared alongside Robert De Niro in Night and the City and played corrupt union official Andy Stone in Martin Scorsese’s Casino. Across comedy and drama, his screen work drew on the same quality that reshaped his stand-up: the feeling that he was talking plainly, observing closely and never wasting the audience’s time.