Abigail Breslin remembers Little Miss Sunshine costar Alan Arkin: 'He will always be Grandpa in my heart'

Abigail Breslin is remembering her onscreen grandpa Alan Arkin, who died June 30 at age 89.

Breslin, 27, and Arkin starred in the 2006 dark comedy Little Miss Sunshine as part of a dysfunctional family on an even more dysfunctional road trip to take their youngest child, Olive (Breslin), to a child beauty pageant.

Both Arkin and Breslin received supporting acting Oscar nominations for the film, with Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor for his role as Edwin Hoover, after decades in the business.

Everett Collection Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin in 'Little Miss Sunshine'

"Alan Arkin was one of the most kindest, gentlest and hilarious actors I ever worked with," Breslin said in a statement to PEOPLE. "We may not have been related in real life but he will always be Grandpa in my heart, I send my deepest sympathies this his wife Suzanne and his family."

Before winning his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, Arkin was an esteemed stage actor, earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Joseph Stein's Enter Laughing in 1963.

He also received two Best Actor Oscar nominations — one for the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and another for 1968's markedly different crime drama, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Arkin was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ben Affleck's Argo in 2013.

"Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man," Arkin's family said in a statement. "A loving husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed."

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