Charles Grodin Dies: ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Actor, Unrivaled Talk Show Curmudgeon Was 86
By Greg Evans - Deadline
Charles Grodin, the comic, scene-stealing actor of such films as The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run and Beethoven and who later established himself as a curmudgeonly talk show guest without rival, died today at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86.
His son, Nicholas, told The New York Times that the cause of death was bone marrow cancer.
Making his big-screen debut in the small role as the duped obstetrician who turns Mia Farrow’s Rosemary over to a coven of witches in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Grodin graduated to leading man by 1972’s The Heartbreak Kid, the Elaine May film that established his career and set the hapless, dry-wit style that would become his signature.
At the time Heartbreak Kid was released, Grodin had appeared in a supporting role in Mike Nichols’ 1970 feature Catch-22, and the actor’s association with Nichols-May brand of sophisticated comedy was set. By the end of the decade, he’d costar in Warren Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait (1978) and, a year later, the Albert Brooks An American Family satire Real Life.
Other credits include 1980’s Seems Like Old Times and the infamous flop Ishtar (1987), a low from which he’d quickly rebound: In 1988, he costarred with Robert De Niro in the hit action comedy Midnight Run.
Grodin took one of his career’s various abrupt turns when he starred in the popular family film Beethoven in 1992. Whatever crotchety inclinations he had to repress for the big-dog franchise was given unexpurgated release on what would become his trademark talk show experiences, at first playing the prickly, grumpy foil for Johnny Carson and, later, David Letterman.
Despite drifting away from acting roles, Grodin maintained his irascible public persona via book writing, guesting and, briefly, as host of his own CNBC talk show and in 2000 as a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. So popular and recognizable was his prickly persona that it could be used as a comic plot point in an episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia in which the actor didn’t even appear. Legend has it he was banned from hosting Saturday Night Live by his old pal Lorne Michaels after ad-libbing on an infamous 1977 episode.
Grodin won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special in 1978 for the Paul Simon Special, and an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his performance alongside Kevin Kline in ’93’s Dave.
More recently, Grodin had a recurring role as Louis C.K.’s doctor on FX’s Louie, and appeared in Noah Baumbach’s 2015 film While We’re Young. He played a cheated Ponzi scheme investor in ABC’s 2016 miniseries Madoff.
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