Charles Grodin

Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Theodore, owned a wholesale supplies store, and his mother, Lena, worked in the family business and volunteered for disabled veterans. The family surname had been changed from Grodinsky to Grodin by his paternal grandfather. His maternal grandfather, an immigrant from Belarus, came from a rabbinical lineage and settled in Baltimore around the turn of the twentieth century. Grodin had an older brother named Jack. He graduated as valedictorian from Peabody High School, where he served as class president for all four years, before attending the University of Miami, which he left without a degree to pursue acting. He subsequently trained at HB Studio in New York City under Uta Hagen and also studied with Lee Strasberg.

Grodin's earliest screen appearance was an uncredited bit part in the 1954 Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and he made his television debut in 1958 on the NBC anthology series Decision. His Broadway career spanned 1962 to 1975, beginning with a role in Tchin-Tchin opposite Anthony Quinn. He went on to appear in Absence of a Cello and, in 1975, starred in Same Time, Next Year, a performance that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play. In 1964, he played Matt Stevens on the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds, and the following year he became an assistant to director Gene Saks while also appearing on television series including The Virginian. In 1966, Grodin co-wrote and directed the Broadway play Hooray! It's a Glorious Day...and All That. He directed the Broadway play Lovers and Other Strangers in 1968, the same year he appeared in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in a small but pivotal role as an obstetrician. In 1969, he directed the television special Songs of America with Simon and Garfunkel.

Grodin's film career gained significant momentum in the 1970s. After a supporting role in the 1970 film Catch-22, he took the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972), which brought him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1974, he starred in 11 Harrowhouse and also wrote the screenplay adaptation. Following that film's reception, he returned to New York to take over directing duties on Herb Gardner's Thieves, which ran on Broadway from 1974 to 1975. He continued appearing in films throughout the decade, including the 1976 version of King Kong, the 1978 comedy Heaven Can Wait, and Albert Brooks's 1979 comedy Real Life.

Grodin won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for the Paul Simon Special (1978), sharing the honor with Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, and Lily Tomlin. His television presence extended to frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman, where his segments often featured confrontational and mock-combative exchanges. In 1977, he hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live built around the premise that he had forgotten the show was broadcast live. Johnny Carson at one point banned Grodin from Tonight Show appearances following remarks Grodin had made, and NBC received viewer complaints from audiences who did not recognize that Grodin was performing a deliberate persona.

Throughout the 1980s, Grodin was regularly cast as uptight or world-weary professionals. He appeared opposite Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and played jewel thief Nicky Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper the same year. His 1980s credits included The Lonely Guy (1984), the CBS prime-time soap parody Fresno (1986), and the buddy comedy Midnight Run (1988) alongside Robert De Niro. He was cast against type as a CIA agent in Ishtar. His 1990s work included the family comedy Beethoven (1992), in which he played George Newton opposite Bonnie Hunt, and its 1993 sequel, Beethoven's 2nd. From 1995 to 1999, he hosted The Charles Grodin Show on CNBC and later MSNBC, and from 2000 to 2003 he served as a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. He portrayed Carl Shapiro in the 2016 miniseries Madoff and returned to acting in Louis C.K.'s FX series Louie and Noah Baumbach's film While We're Young (2014). Over the course of his career, Grodin also authored eight books and three plays.