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 of the era. After a small part in '' Rosemary's Baby'' in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's '' The Heartbreak Kid'' (1972) where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. As well, he 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'' (1981), '' The Lonely Guy'' (1984), ''Midnight Run'' (1988), '' Taking Care of Business'' (1990), and ''Beethoven'' (1992).

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. He 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. He portrayed Carl Shapiro in the miniseries '' Madoff'' (2016).

Grodin wrote eight books and three plays. He also hosted a talk show on CNBC and, in 2000, was a political commentator for ''60 Minutes II''. He 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, Pennsylvania, 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. His paternal grandfather changed the family name from Grodinsky to Grodin. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Russia 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. He 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, he played Matt Stevens on the ABC soap opera ''The Young Marrieds''. The next year, he became an assistant to director Gene Saks and appeared on several television series including '' The Virginian''.

In 1966, he co-wrote and directed the Broadway play ''Hooray! It's a Glorious Day...and All That''. Around this time, he turned down the part of Benjamin Braddock in ''The Graduate'' because of the low salary offered by producer Lawrence Turman, although Turman assured him that the part would make him a star, as it ultimately did for Dustin Hoffman. In 1968, Grodin had a small but pivotal part playing an obstetrician in the horror film '' Rosemary's Baby'' and directed the Broadway play '' Lovers and Other Strangers''. 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, he 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, he remained active on Broadway, frequently appearing in and producing several plays.

1980s

In 1981, he 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''. His 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).

His 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 his 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."

Aside from his film work, he was a frequent presence on television. In 1977, Grodin hosted an episode of the NBC sketch show ''Saturday Night Live'', where the entire episode revolved around his forgetting that the show was live, and he proceeded to wreck sketches because of his failure to prepare accordingly. 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" him from ''The Tonight Show'' appearances after taking offense at things Grodin had said. The NBC network would receive angry letters from viewers who didn't understand the joke that he was playing a persona, trying to be as different from typical talk show guests as possible. His 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 kids' comedy ''Beethoven'', opposite Bonnie Hunt. The film was a box-office hit, and he 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. From 2000 to 2003, he was a political commentator for ''60 Minutes II''.

2000s

In 2004, Grodin 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, in 2006 Grodin returned to acting in the comedy '' The Ex'' starring Zach Braff.

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''. Grodin had several supporting roles in films, including Barry Levinson's '' The Humbling'' (2014) and Taylor Hackford's '' The Comedian'' (2016). He 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'', 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."

He 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 Julie Ferguson, and son, Nicholas, from his marriage to Elissa Durwood. For a period in the 2000s, Grodin gave up show business to be a stay-at-home dad to his children.

Death

Grodin died from multiple myeloma at his home in Wilton, Connecticut, on May 18, 2021. He was 86.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

Plays
* Grodin, Charles.
Price of Fame: A Play
'. New York: Samuel French, 1991. .
* Grodin, Charles.
One of the All-Time Greats: A Comedy
'. New York: S. French, 1992. .
* Grodin, Charles.
The Right Kind of People
'. New York: Samuel French, 2008. .

Books
* Grodin, Charles.
It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business
'. New York: Morrow, 1989. .
* Grodin, Charles.
How I Get Through Life: A Wise and Witty Guide
'. New York: Morrow, 1992. .
* Grodin, Charles.
Freddie the Fly
'. New York : Random House, 1993. .
* Grodin, Charles.
We're Ready for You, Mr. Grodin: Behind the Scenes at Talk Shows, Movies, and Elsewhere
'. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994. .
* Grodin, Charles.
I Like It Better When You're Funny: Working in Television and Other Precarious Adventures
'. New York: Random House, 2002. .
* Grodin, Charles.
If I Only Knew Then... Learning from Our Mistakes
'. New York: Springboard Press, 2007. .
* Grodin, Charles.
How I Got to Be Whoever It Is I Am
'. New York: Springboard Press, 2009. .
* Grodin, Charles.
Just When I Thought I'd Heard Everything: Humorous Observations on Life in America
'. Santa Monica, Calif: Homina Publishing, 2013. .

In popular culture

Grodin is mentioned as a hero of characters Mac and Dennis in the season six episode of ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' entitled "Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down".

He was referenced in three different episodes of ''The Simpsons'' ("I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", " Little Big Girl" and " Mathlete's Feat").

In the ''Seinfeld'' episode " The Doll" Jerry Seinfeld buys a bottle of sauce because the brand's mascot bears a resemblance to Grodin.

References

External links

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*
*
*
*

Charles Grodin profile in ''The New York Observer''

Charles Grodin's radio commentaries
at WCBS880.com


''Jewish News Weekly'', November 26, 2004.

Charles Grodin Urges New Yorkers To Mentor Kids

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1935 births
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University of Miami alumni
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