Arlene Alda: 5 Facts About Alan Alda’s wife

Arlene Alda is an American musician, photographer, and writer. She is also popular as the wife of Alan Alda. Arlene’s husband has a decades-long career in film and television. He is an Emmy-winning TV and film actor whose role as Hawkeye Piere on the 1970s hit show M*A*S*H stole the comedic hearts of many. Who is Alan Alda’s wife? how long have they been married? Find more to find out.

Arlene Alda: Bio Summary

Arlene Alda is a Jew

Arlene Alda was born on March 12, 1933, in The Bronx, New York, United States as Arlene Weiss to her Jewish parents. As of 2023, she is 90 years old. Arlene is a Jew but her husband Alan isn’t Jewish, though he made Moment Magazine’s list of “non-Jews often misidentified as Jews.” Passover is one of Alan’s favorite holidays- “Passover’s like Thanksgiving. People sit around and eat and drink and tell stories, are glad to be alive. I like that,” Alan told Moment Mag in 2017. Alda was honored as The New Jewish Home’s Eight Over Eighty Gala 2015 honoree.

Arlene Weiss and Alan Alda have been married for more than 3 decades

Arlene Weiss and her husband meet at a mutual friend’s dinner party. The two meet in 1956 while Alda was attending Fordham and  Arlene Weiss was also attending Hunter College. They bonded when a rum cake accidentally fell onto the kitchen floor, they were the only two guests who did not hesitate to eat it.

ALSO, READ; Eve Alda: Where is Alan Alda’s daughter now?

A year after Alan’s graduation, on March 15, the two were married and have been together since. After the story of how they met went viral the M*A*S*H actor addressed the incident saying “We did eat the rum cake off the floor and were inseparable after that. But I was captivated by her even earlier in the meal when I heard her at the end of the table laughing at my jokes. She had me at Ha.“

Taking about the long-married-  “My wife says the secret of a long marriage is a short memory,” Alan told Closer Weekly at the New York Film Festival premiere of Marriage Story, adding that it “seems to work!”. Revealing more about his marriage, the actor also said-“I don’t think we spoil each other, we just love each other,” he added. “Without her, I wouldn’t do an awful lot because every time I’m leaving the house to do some work, she says, ‘You’re going to be great.’ And I say the same thing to her. She’s a writer and a photographer, busy all the time, and I’m very proud of her.”

Arlene Alda has three children and 8 Grandchildren

Arlene is another of three daughters: Eve Alda, Elizabeth Alda, and Beatrice Alda. She also has eight grandchildren. Two of Arlene Alda’s children followed in the footsteps of their father. Elizabeth Alda is an actress who is known for Night of the Creeps (1986), The Four Seasons (1981), and The Four Seasons (1984).

ALSO, READ; Beatrice Alda: Facts About Alan Alda’s daughter?

Arlene Alda’s youngest daughter Beatrice Alda is an actress and Filmmaker. Beatrice played Lisa in the 1981 film, The Four Seasons directed by her father. She also co-directed and produced the 2008 documentary film Out Late. Two of her eight grandchildren are also aspiring to follow in the footsteps of their grandfather to become actors and filmmakers.

She is a best-seller Author

Alan Alda’s wife is the author of 15 children’s books. Her books include the best seller, Sheep, Sheep Sheep, Help Me Fall Asleep, Arlene Alda’s 1,2,3, which won an American Library Notable citation, The Book of ZZZs, Did You Say Pears? (Tundra 2006) and Except the Color Grey (Tundra 2011). For much, but not all, Weiss has provided her own photography as illustrations used in her children’s books. Alda also wrote the popular Hurry Granny Annie.

ALSO, READ; Elizabeth Alda: Facts About Alan Alda’s daughter

She began her career playing clarinet professionally

Arlene Alda began her career playing clarinet professionally. She became a member of the National Orchestra, a training orchestra, conducted by Leon Barzin after she graduated. Alan Alda’s wife studied clarinet with Abraham Goldstein and Leon Russianoff and she became a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. She was playing assistant first clarinet and bass clarinet under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. She also played first clarinet in the Ridgefield Orchestra. She also pursued an early interest in photography