Charles Grodin obit

Charles Grodin, ‘Midnight Run,’ ‘Heartbreak Kid,’ star, dies

 

He was not on the list.

Charles Grodin, the droll, offbeat actor and writer who scored as a caddish newlywed in “The Heartbreak Kid” and later had roles ranging from Robert De Niro’s counterpart in the comic thriller “Midnight Run” to the bedeviled father in the “Beethoven” comedies, has died. He was 86.

Grodin died Tuesday in Wilton, Connecticut, from bone marrow cancer, his son, Nicholas Grodin, said.

Known for his dead-pan style and everyday looks, Grodin also appeared with Kevin Kline in “Dave,” “The Woman in Red,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Heaven Can Wait.” On Broadway, he starred with Ellen Burstyn in the long-running 1970s comedy “Same Time, Next Year,” and he found many other outlets for his talents.

With bone-dry understatement, Grodin could steal entire scenes with just a look. His commitment, whether acting across De Niro or Miss Piggy, was unsurpassed. In his many late-night appearances, he once brought a lawyer with him to threaten David Letterman for defamation. (The lawyer instead took a shine to Letterman.) Hosting “Saturday Night Live,” he pretended to not understand live television, ruining all the sketches. Steve Martin, who co-starred with Grodin in 1984′s “The Lonely Guy,” remembered him as “one of the funniest people I ever met.”

In the 1990s, Grodin made his mark as a liberal commentator on radio and TV. He also wrote plays and television scripts, winning an Emmy for his work on a 1997 Paul Simon special, and wrote several books humorously ruminating on his ups and downs in show business.

Actors, he wrote, should “think not so much about getting ahead as becoming as good as you can be, so you’re ready when you do get an opportunity. I did that, so I didn’t suffer from the frustration of all the rejections. They just gave me more time.” He spelled out that advice in his first book, “It Would Be So Nice If You Weren’t Here,” published in 1989.

Grodin became a star in the 1970s, but might have broken through years earlier: He auditioned for the title role in Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic “The Graduate,” but the part went instead to Dustin Hoffman.

Grodin did have a small role in “Rosemary’s Baby” and was part of the large cast of Nichols’ adaptation of “Catch-22″ before he gained wide notice in the 1972 Elaine May comedy “The Heartbreak Kid.”

He starred as a Jewish newlywed who abandons his comically neurotic bride to pursue a beautiful, wealthy blonde played by Cybill Shepherd. The movie was a hit and Grodin received high praise. He commented: “After seeing the movie, a lot of people would approach me with the idea of punching me in the nose.”

“I thought the character in ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ was a despicable guy, but I play it with full sincerity,” Grodin told the A.V. Club in 2009. “My job isn’t to judge it. If it wasn’t for Elaine May, I probably would never have had that movie career.”

In the next few years, Grodin played in a lavish 1976 film remake of “King Kong” as the greedy showman who brings the big ape to New York. He was Warren Beatty’s devious lawyer in “Heaven Can Wait,” and Gene Wilder’s friend in “The Woman in Red” (Less successfully, he appeared in May’s 1987 adventure comedy “Ishtar,” a notorious flop). His turn in 1981’s “The Great Muppet Caper” was typically dedicated as a thief wooing Miss Piggy.

In 1988′s “Midnight Run,” Grodin was a bail-jumping accountant who took millions from a mobster and De Niro was the bounty hunter trying to bring him cross-country to Los Angeles. They’re being chased by police, another bounty hunter and the Mob, and because Grodin is afraid of flying, they are forced to go by car, bus, even boxcar.

Grodin and De Niro improvised in many scenes in the film, revered as among the greatest buddy comedies. Often Grodin was genuinely trying to amuse his more intimidating co-star. One line he threw at De Niro: “You ever had sex with an animal, Jack?”

“I moved a little more toward drama and he moved a little toward comedy,” Grodin said at the time. “And we met on a very good ground.”

“Beethoven” brought him success in the family-animal comedy genre in 1992. Asked why he took up such a role, he told The Associated Press he was happy to get the work.

“I’m not that much in demand,” Grodin replied. “It’s not like I have this stack of wonderful offers. I’m just delighted they wanted me.”

Amid his film gigs, Grodin became a familiar face on late-night TV, perfecting a character who would confront Johnny Carson or others with a fake aggressiveness that made audiences cringe and laugh at the same time.

“It’s all a joke,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1995. “It’s just a thing. It was a choice to do that.”

His biggest stage success, by far, was “Same Time, Next Year,” which opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran nearly 3½ years. He and Burstyn were two people who — though each happily married — meet in the same hotel once a year for an extramarital fling. Beyond the humor, the play won praise for deftly tracing the changes in their lives, and in society, from the 1950s to the ’70s. Critic Clive Barnes called Grodin’s character “a monument to male insecurity, gorgeously inept.”

After 1994′s “My Summer Story,” Grodin largely abandoned acting. From 1995 to 1998, he hosted a talk show on CNBC cable network. He moved to MSNBC and then to CBS’ “60 Minutes II.”

In his 2002 book, “I Like It Better When You’re Funny,” he said too many TV programmers’ believe that viewers are best served “if we hear only from lifelong journalists.” He argued that “people outside of Washington and in professions other than journalism” also deserved a soapbox.

He returned to the big screen in 2006 as Zach Braff’s know-it-all father-in-law in “The Ex.” More recent credits include the films “An Imperfect Murder” and “The Comedian” and the TV series “Louie.”

Grodin was born Charles Grodinsky in Pittsburgh in 1935, son of a wholesale dry goods seller who died when Charles was 18. He played basketball and later described himself as “a rough kid, always getting kicked out of class.”

He studied at the University of Miami and the Pittsburgh Playhouse, worked in summer theater and then struggled in New York, working nights as a cab driver, postal clerk and watchman while studying acting during the day.

In 1962 Grodin made his Broadway debut and received good notices in “Tchin Tchin,” a three-character play starring Anthony Quinn. He followed with “Absence of a Cello” in 1964.

He co-wrote and directed a short-lived 1966 off-Broadway show called “Hooray! It’s a Glorious Day ... and all that.” That same year, he made his movie debut in a low-budget flop called “Sex and the College Girl.”

In 1969, Grodin demonstrated his early interest in politics by helping write and direct “Songs of America,” a TV special starring Simon and Garfunkel that incorporated civil rights and antiwar messages. But the original sponsor pulled out and Simon later called the little-noticed effort “a tragedy.”

Simon returned with a special in 1977 that spoofed show business and featured Grodin as the show’s bumbling producer. Grodin and his co-writers won Emmys.

Grodin and his first wife, Julia Ferguson, had a daughter, comedian Marion Grodin. The marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife, Elissa Durwood, had a son, Nicholas.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       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

Paradise                               Co-director

1976      King Kong            Fred Wilson       

1977      Thieves                 Martin Cramer

1978      Just Me and You               Michael Lindsay                Television movie

Heaven Can Wait              Tony Abbott      

1979      Real Life               Warren Yeager

Sunburn               Jake      

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 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            Mr. Parker (The Old Man)            

2006      The Ex   Bob Kowalski     

2013      Brazzaville Teen-Ager     Father   Short film

2014      The Humbling    Jerry     

While We're Young          Leslie    

2016      The Comedian   Dick D'Angelo   

2017      The Private Life of a Modern Woman      Arthur  

 

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1958      Decision               Young Hoodlum                Episode: "Man Against Crime"

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

The Defenders Thomas Martin Episode: "The Apostle"

1965      The Young Marrieds        Matt Crane Stevens #2   65 episodes

My Mother the Car          Fred       Episode: "Burned at the Steak"

The Trials of O'Brien        Peter Farnum     Episode: "Picture Me a Murder"

1966      Felony Squad     Edgar     Episode: "Penny Game, a Two-Bit Murder"

Shane    Jed         2 episodes

1967      The Iron Horse Alex       Episode: "The Pembrooke Blood"

The F.B.I.             Carl Platt              Episode: "Sky on Fire"

Captain Nice       News Vendor     Episode: "One Rotten Apple"

The Virginian      Arnie Doud         Episode: "The Reckoning"

The Guns of Will Sonnett              Bells Pickering   Episode: "A Bell for Jeff Sonnett"

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"

Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America Himself                 Director, producer

1977      The Paul Simon Special Charles Writer

Saturday Night Live         Himself/Host      Episode: Charles Grodin/Paul Simon

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

1987      American Playhouse       Lord Fancourt Babberly Episode: "Charley's Aunt"

1990      The Magical World of Disney       Quentin Fitzwaller           Episode: "The Muppets at Walt Disney World"

1995-96               The Charles Grodin Show              Host       3 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