# 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

Grodin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 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
### 1950s/1960s: 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/1980s

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.
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/2000s: Family films and talk show host

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.
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.

### 2010s: Career resurgence

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 1983) 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

| Year | Movie | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Drummer Boy | Uncredited |
| 1964 | Sex and the College Girl | Bob | |
| 1968 | 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 | |
| 1979 | Sunburn | Jake Dekker | |
| 1980 | It's My Turn | Homer | |
| 1980 | Seems Like Old Times | Dist. Atty. Ira J. Parks | |
| 1981 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | Vance Kramer | |
| 1981 | The Great Muppet Caper | Nicky Holiday | |
| 1984 | The Lonely Guy | Warren Evans | |
| 1984 | 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 | |
| 1988 | You Can't Hurry Love | Mr. Glerman | |
| 1988 | 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 | |
| 1993 | So I Married an Axe Murderer | Commandeered Driver | |
| 1993 | Heart and Souls | Harrison Winslow | |
| 1993 | Beethoven's 2nd | George Newton | |
| 1994 | Clifford | Martin Daniels | |
| 1994 | 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 | |
| 2014 | 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

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1958 | Decision | Young Hoodlum | Episode: "Man Against Crime" |
| 1958 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | Phelps | Episode: "The Nautilus" |
| 1960 | Have Gun – Will Travel | Proctor's Henchman | Episode: "Fogg Bound" |
| 1961 | The Play of the Week | Performer | Episode: Black Monday |
| 1961 | The Defenders | Thomas Martin | Episode: "The Apostle" |
| 1965 | The Young Marrieds | Matt Crane Stevens #2 | 65 episodes |
| 1965 | My Mother the Car | Fred | Episode: "Burned at the Steak" |
| 1965 | The Trials of O'Brien | Peter Farnum | Episode: "Picture Me a Murder" |
| 1966 | Felony Squad | Edgar | Episode: "Penny Game, a Two-Bit Murder" |
| 1966 | Shane | Jed | 2 episodes |
| 1967 | The Iron Horse | Alex | Episode: "The Pembrooke Blood" |
| 1967 | The F.B.I. | Carl Platt | Episode: "Sky on Fire" |
| 1967 | Captain Nice | News Vendor | Episode: "One Rotten Apple" |
| 1967 | The Virginian | Arnie Doud | Episode: "The Reckoning" |
| 1967 | The Guns of Will Sonnett | Bells Pickering | Episode: "A Bell for Jeff Sonnett" |
| 1967 | N.Y.P.D. | Joey Diamond | Episode: "Money Man" |
| 1968 | The Big Valley | Mark Dunigan | Episode: "The Good Thieves" |
| 1969 | Judd, for the Defense | Dist. Atty. Tom Durant | Episode: "An Elephant in a Cigar Box" |
| 1969 | Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America | Himself | Director, producer |
| 1974 | Paradise | N/A | Co-director, television movie |
| 1977 | The Paul Simon Special | Charles | Writer |
| 1977 | Saturday Night Live | Himself/host | Episode: Charles Grodin/Paul Simon |
| 1978 | Just Me and You | Michael Lindsay | Television movie |
| 1978 | The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank | Jim Benson | Television movie |
| 1981 | Laverne & Shirley | Himself | Episode: "Friendly Persuasion" |
| 1983 | Charley's Aunt | Lord Fancourt Babberly | Television movie |
| 1986 | Fresno | Cane Kensington | Miniseries |
| 1990 | The Magical World of Disney | Quentin Fitzwaller | Episode: "The Muppets at Walt Disney World" |
| 1992 | Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories | Narrator | Episode: "Rotten Island" |
| 1995–98 | The Charles Grodin Show | Host | 26 episodes |
| 2000 | 60 Minutes II | Correspondent | |
| 2012 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Brett Forrester | Episode: "Lessons Learned" |
| 2013 | The Michael J. Fox Show | Steve Henry | Episode: "Thanksgiving" |
| 2014–15 | Louie | Dr. Bigelow | 5 episodes |
| 2015 | Waiting for Ishtar | Himself | Documentary |
| 2016 | Madoff | Carl Shapiro | Miniseries; 4 episodes |
| 2016 | The New Yorker Presents | Psychiatrist | Episode: 1.8; Final television role |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1962 | Tchin-Tchin | Performer – Robert Prickett | Plymouth Theatre, Broadway |
| 1964 | Absence of a Cello | Performer – Perry Littlewood | Ambassador Theatre, Broadway |
| 1968 | Lovers and Other Strangers | Director | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway |
| 1974 | Thieves | Director/producer | Broadhurst Theatre and Longacre Theatre, Broadway |
| 1975 | Same Time, Next Year | Performer – George Peters | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway |
| 1977 | Unexpected Guests | Director | Little Theatre, Broadway |

## Awards and nominations

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