At the onset of World War II in 1941, he was evacuated to Siberia, together with his mother and younger brother.

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and, before becoming a writer, worked as a family doctor.

In the 1960s–70s, he collaborated with Grigori Gorin, with whom he wrote several plays for the Moscow Theater of Satire.

[1] He had a son, Vasily Arkadievich Arkanov (born 1967), a Russian-English translator and journalist who has lived in New York since 1993.

[4] He was a holder of the title People's Artist of Russia and awarded the Order of Honour.