Charles Grodin

Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Grodin also starred in 11 Harrowhouse (1974), for which he also wrote the adaptation.

Grodin achieved fame through roles in Catch-22 (1970), The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and King Kong (1976). Other notable film roles include Heaven Can Wait (1978), The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Great Muppet Caper (both 1981), The Lonely Guy (1984), Midnight Run (1988), Taking Care of Business (1990), Beethoven (1992), and its sequel, Beethoven’s 2nd (1993).

Grodin made his acting debut in 1958 appearing in the NBC anthology series Decision. He then appeared in numerous TV serials throughout the next decade. Grodin made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for the Paul Simon Special (1978) alongside Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, and Lily Tomlin. Grodin portrayed Carl Shapiro in the miniseries Madoff (2016).

Grodin wrote eight books and three plays. He also hosted a talk show on CNBC and was a political commentator for 60 Minutes II in 2000. Grodin returned to acting in Louis C.K.'s FX show Louie and Noah Baumbach's film While We're Young (2014).

Early life and education Grodin was born in Pittsburgh on April 21, 1935, to Orthodox Jewish parents. His father, Theodore (1900–1953), owned a wholesale supplies store, while his mother, Lena (1907–1996; née Singer), worked in her husband's business and volunteered for disabled veterans. Grodin's paternal grandfather changed the family name from Grodinsky to Grodin. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Belarus who "came from a long line of rabbis" and moved to Baltimore at the turn of the 20th century. Grodin had an older brother named Jack.

Grodin graduated as valedictorian from Peabody High School, where he was elected class president all four years. Grodin attended the University of Miami but left without graduating to pursue acting. He studied acting at HB Studio in New York City under Uta Hagen.

Career Early career Grodin's film debut was an uncredited bit part in Disney's 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A student of Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, he made his Broadway debut in a production of Tchin-Tchin, opposite Anthony Quinn. In 1964, Grodin played Matt Stevens on the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds. The following year, he became an assistant to director Gene Saks and appeared on several television series including The Virginian. He then directed his first television special, Songs of America, with Simon and Garfunkel in 1969.

1970s After a supporting role in the 1970 film Catch-22, Grodin gained recognition as a comedy actor with the lead role in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid. In 1974, he both starred in and contributed to the screenplay for 11 Harrowhouse. After that film's rocky reception, Grodin returned to New York and took over directing duties of Herb Gardner's Thieves, which ran on Broadway from 1974 to 1975.

Grodin subsequently appeared in several films during the decade, including the 1976 version of King Kong, the hit 1978 comedy Heaven Can Wait, and Albert Brooks's 1979 comedy Real Life. Alongside his work on screen, Grodin remained active on Broadway, frequently appearing in and producing several plays.

1980s In 1981, Grodin landed a role in The Great Muppet Caper playing Nicky Holiday, a jewel thief who falls in love with Miss Piggy. He also appeared that same year opposite Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Grodin's 1980s roles included Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times (opposite Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn) and 1988's well-reviewed comedy Midnight Run, a buddy movie co-starring Robert De Niro. Grodin also appeared in the 1986 CBS prime-time-soap sendup Fresno, playing the evil son of a raisin matriarch (Carol Burnett).

Grodin's Hollywood film roles of the 1980s usually saw him cast as uptight, bland, and world-weary white collar professionals, such as a psychiatrist having a nervous breakdown (The Couch Trip), a health-conscious accountant (Midnight Run), an ineffectual advertising executive (Taking Care of Business), and a lonely, socially awkward nerd (The Lonely Guy). He was cast against this type as a scheming CIA agent in Ishtar.

Commenting on Grodin's work with regard to Ishtar, Hal Hinson in The Washington Post observed: "Grodin has a one-of-a-kind quality on the screen, a sort of inspired spinelessness. And with his cat-burglar rhythms – he seems to play all his scenes as if someone were asleep in the next room – he's become a very sly scene-stealer." Sandra Brennan at Rovi noted that: "Whereas many funnymen have been popular for their ability to overreact and mug their way around everyday obstacles, Grodin belonged, from the beginning, to the Bob Newhart school of wry comedy that values understatement and subtlety." His many talk show appearances from the 1970s to the early 2020s often included confrontational and mock angry segments. At one time, Johnny Carson "banned" Grodin from The Tonight Show appearances after taking offense at things Grodin had said. The NBC network would receive angry letters from viewers who did not understand the joke that he was playing a persona, trying to be as different from typical talk show guests as possible. Grodin's appearances on Late Night With David Letterman would sometimes erupt into shouting and name-calling, but Letterman always enjoyed Grodin's segments.

1990s

Grodin's career took a turn in 1992, when he played the nervous family man George Newton in the family comedy Beethoven, opposite Bonnie Hunt. The film was a box-office hit, and Grodin reprised the role in the 1993 sequel, Beethoven's 2nd. Also in 1993, Grodin played the role of Harrison Winslow in the film Heart and Souls. After a supporting role in the acclaimed Ivan Reitman comedy Dave, Grodin signed on to play The Old Man in the 1994 limited release sequel to A Christmas Story, It Runs in the Family (a.k.a. My Summer Story). That same year also saw the much-delayed release of Clifford, in which Grodin portrayed the frustrated uncle opposite Martin Short's title role.

From 1995 to 1999, Grodin hosted his own issues-orientated cable news talk show, The Charles Grodin Show. It originated as a nightly show on CNBC, replacing Tom Snyder after he left to start The Late Late Show on CBS. The show was dropped by CNBC in 1998, but aired for a final year as a weekly show on MSNBC before ending its run in late 1999.

2000s From 2000 to 2003, Grodin was a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. In 2004, he wrote The Right Kind of People, an off-Broadway play about co-op boards in certain buildings in Manhattan. Grodin's commentaries were heard on New York City radio station WCBS and other affiliates of the CBS Radio Network, as well as on the CBS Radio Network's Weekend Roundup.

After a 12-year-long hiatus from film, Grodin returned to acting in 2006 in the comedy The Ex starring Zach Braff.

2010s In the 2010s, Grodin made more frequent acting appearances, guest starring on television shows such as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and The Michael J. Fox Show. He had several supporting roles in films, including Barry Levinson's The Humbling (2014) and Taylor Hackford's The Comedian (2016). Grodin also had a prominent supporting role in Noah Baumbach's While We're Young (2015), playing a celebrated documentary filmmaker and the father of one of the lead characters.

In 2015, Grodin was cast in a recurring role in Louis C.K.'s FX show Louie as Dr. Bigelow, C.K.'s philosophical doctor and mentor in Season 4 and 5. In an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Grodin talked about his relationship with C.K. stating, "I find him to be the single most talented person ... I've ever worked with, he's a wonderful director, writer, and actor." Grodin also portrayed the philanthropist and defrauded investor Carl J. Shapiro in the 2016 miniseries Madoff on ABC based on the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme debacle. His final movie was An Imperfect Murder: The Private Life of a Modern Woman, released in 2017.

Grodin was also a prolific author and published his final book in 2013.

Personal life Grodin was married twice, to Julie Ferguson (divorced) and Elissa Durwood (married 1983). He had two children: daughter Marion (a comedienne), from his marriage to Ferguson, and son, Nicholas, from his marriage to Durwood. For a period in the 2000s, Grodin gave up show business to be a stay-at-home dad to his children.

Death On May 18, 2021, Grodin died from multiple myeloma at his home in Wilton, Connecticut, at age 86.

Filmography Film Year Movie RoleNotes 1954 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Drummer Boy Uncredited 1964 Sex and the College Girl Bob1968 Rosemary's Baby Dr. C.C. Hill 1970 Catch-22 Capt. Aarfy Aardvark 1972 The Heartbreak Kid Lenny Cantrow 1974 11 Harrowhouse Howard R. Chesser Writer 1976 King Kong Fred Wilson 1977 Thieves Martin Cramer 1978 Heaven Can Wait Tony Abbott 1979 Real Life Warren Yeager Sunburn Jake Dekker 1980 It's My Turn Homer Seems Like Old Times Dist. Atty. Ira J. Parks 1981 The Incredible Shrinking Woman Vance Kramer The Great Muppet Caper Nicky Holiday 1984 The Lonely Guy Warren Evans The Woman in Red Buddy 1985 Movers & Shakers Herb Derman Writer, producer 1986 Last Resort George Lollar 1987 Ishtar Jim Harrison 1988 The Couch Trip George Maitlin You Can't Hurry Love Mr. Glerman Midnight Run Jonathan "the Duke" Mardukas 1989 Cranium Command Left Brain Short 1990 Taking Care of Business Spencer Barnes 1992 Beethoven George Newton 1993 Dave Murray Blum So I Married an Axe Murderer Commandeered Driver Heart and Souls Harrison Winslow Beethoven's 2nd George Newton 1994 Clifford Martin Daniels My Summer Story Bob Parker (The Old Man) 2006 The Ex Bob Kowalski 2011 The Harmony Game Self Documentary 2013 Brazzaville Teen-Ager Father Short film 2014 The Humbling Jerry While We're Young Leslie Breitbart 2016 The Comedian Dick D'Angelo 2017 An Imperfect Murder Arthur Final film role, also known as The Private Life of a Modern Woman

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 1972 Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy The Heartbreak Kid 1978 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special The Paul Simon Special 1980 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Supporting Actor Seems Like Old Times 1988 Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor Midnight Run 1993 Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actor Heart and Souls 1994 American Comedy Awards Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Dave 2006 William Kunstler Awards Racial Justice