Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo was born in 1936 in the Bronx, New York City. Alda spent his childhood with his parents travelling around the United States in support of his father’s job as a performer in burlesque theatres. His Italian father Robert Alda (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D’Abruzzo) was an actor and singer. His adopted surname, “Alda”, is a portmanteau of ALfonso and D’Abruzzo.
When Alda was seven years old, he contracted polio. To combat the disease, his parents administered a painful treatment regimen developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny, consisting of applying hot woolen blankets to his limbs and stretching his muscles. In 1956, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Fordham University in the Bronx, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV.
During Alda’s junior year, he studied in Paris, acted in a play in Rome, and performed with his father on television in Amsterdam. In college, he was a member of the ROTC, and after graduation, he served for a year at Fort Benning, and then six months in the United States Army Reserve on a tour of duty in Korea.
In 1966, he starred in the musical The Apple Tree on Broadway, also starring Barbara Harris; he was nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical for that role. In early 1972, Alda auditioned for and was selected to play the role of Hawkeye Pierce in the TV adaptation of the 1970 film MASH. He was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, and won five. He took part in writing 19 episodes, including the 1983 2 1⁄2-hour series finale “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”, which was also the 32nd episode he directed. It remains the single most-watched episode of any American broadcast network television series. Alda was the only series regular to appear in all 256 episodes.
Alda commuted from Los Angeles to his home in New Jersey every weekend for 11 years while starring in M*A*S*H. His wife and daughters lived in New Jersey and he did not want to move his family to Los Angeles, especially because he did not know how long the show would last. Alda’s father, Robert Alda, and half-brother Antony Alda appeared together in an episode of M*A*S*H, “Lend a Hand”, during season eight. In 1996, Alda was ranked 41st on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
During M*A*S*H’s run and continuing through the 1980s, Alda embarked on a successful career as a writer and director, with the ensemble dramedy, The Four Seasons being perhaps his most notable hit. Betsy’s Wedding is his last directing credit to date. After M*A*S*H, Alda took on a series of roles that either parodied or directly contradicted his “nice guy” image.
Beginning in 2004, Alda was a regular cast member on the NBC program The West Wing, portraying California U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Arnold Vinick, until the show’s conclusion in May 2006. In August 2006, Alda won an Emmy for his portrayal of Vinick in the final season of The West Wing. Alda appeared in a total of 28 episodes during the show’s sixth and seventh seasons.
In 2004, Alda portrayed Maine Senator Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning film The Aviator, in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio. Alda received his first Academy Award nomination for this role in 2005.
In 2018, Alda began portraying psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Amiot in Season 6 of Showtime’s Ray Donovan.
Alda has three daughters: Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice. Two of his eight grandchildren are aspiring actors. In an intimate interview, Alda revealed that his wife sometimes will call him “Fonzi” in reference to his birth name “Alphonso”. The Aldas have been long-time residents of Leonia, New Jersey. On July 31, 2018, he appeared on CBS This Morning and announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years prior.
Source: Wiki