Charles Sidney Grodin, a renowned deadpan comedian, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a Russian/Polish ancestry family and raised in a Jewish orthodox home. He attended the University of Miami but dropped out to pursue a career in acting, inspired by the 1951 film A Place in the Sun and Elizabeth Taylor's captivating presence.
Grodin's early years in the entertainment industry were marked by stints with Uta Hagen and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, followed by his Broadway debut in 1962. Despite appearing on screen as early as 1954, he didn't gain significant recognition until his critically acclaimed role as Dr. C.C. Hill in Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Grodin's breakthrough performance came in 1972 with The Heartbreak Kid, a black comedy written by Neil Simon and directed by Elaine May. His portrayal of an egotistical central character was praised by film critic Roger Ebert, who compared him to Dustin Hoffman, and echoed by Vincent Canby of the New York Times.
Ironically, Grodin had turned down the role in The Graduate (1967),which catapulted Hoffman to stardom, and also rejected the role of oceanographer Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975),which instead went to Richard Dreyfuss.
Grodin's ultimate success came on the Broadway stage in "Same Time Next Year" (1975),opposite Ellen Burstyn, a romantic comedy about an extramarital affair spanning 24 years. This led to a string of hit comedies, including Heaven Can Wait (1978),Seems Like Old Times (1980),The Lonely Guy (1984),and Midnight Run (1988).
He also appeared in the underrated farce The Couch Trip (1988),co-starring with Walter Matthau and Dan Aykroyd as the psychiatrist Dr. George Maitlin. Grodin's most popular box office success was in the family-oriented comedy Beethoven (1992),opposite the titular Saint Bernard canine.
In the mid-1990s, Grodin reinvented himself as a television host and political commentator, making frequent guest appearances on talk shows and adopting a belligerent persona to facilitate "comically uncomfortable situations." He was also a prolific author, publishing both fiction and non-fiction works, including his autobiography "It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business" (1989).
Charles Grodin passed away at the age of 86 on May 18, 2021, at his home in Wilton, Connecticut, due to bone marrow cancer.
