| Charles Grodin | |
|---|---|
Grodin at the Book Expo 2007 at the Javits Center |
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| Born | April 21, 1935 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, author, comedian |
| Years active | 1958–present |
Charles Grodin (born April 21, 1935) is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968. In the 1970s he moved into film acting, including playing the lead in The Heartbreak Kid and a supporting role in Catch-22. He became a familiar face as a supporting actor in many 1980s Hollywood comedies, including Midnight Run, Taking Care of Business, Seems Like Old Times, The Great Muppet Caper, The Woman in Red, The Lonely Guy, Ishtar and The Couch Trip. He is probably best known for his role as George Newton in the 1990s John Hughes comedy franchise Beethoven.
Grodin has won several acting awards, including American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for 1993's Dave, Best Actor at the 1988 Valladolid International Film Festival (for Midnight Run). He was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for The Heartbreak Kid in 1972. He also shared a 1978 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for his work on The Paul Simon Special.
In the mid 1990s, Grodin became a talk show host on CNBC and in 2000 a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. He has written several autobiographical and acting related works, including 1990's It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business and 1994's We're Ready for You, Mr. Grodin.
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Grodin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Orthodox Jewish parents[1][2] Lena, who worked as an assistant in the family's store and was a volunteer for disabled veterans, and Theodore Grodin, who sold wholesale supplies.[3] His maternal grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant who came from a long line of Rabbis and moved to Pittsburgh at the turn of the 20th century. Grodin has an older brother, Jack.
Grodin attended the University of Miami from September, 1953 to April, 1954 but left without graduating to pursue acting.
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. [4] In 1965, he began working as an assistant to director Gene Saks.began appearing on several television series during the 1960s including The Virginian.
Grodin had a small part playing an obstetrician in the 1968 horror film, Rosemary's Baby. In 1964 he played Matt Stevens on the ABC soap opera the Young Marrieds.[5] During the late 1960s, he also co-wrote and directed Hooray! It's a Glorious Day...and All That, a Broadway play, and directed Lovers and Other Strangers and Thieves, also on Broadway.
After a supporting role in the 1970 comedy film Catch-22, Grodin gained recognition as a comedy actor when he played the lead role in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid. Grodin subsequently appeared in several notable 1970s films, including 11 Harrowhouse in 1974, the 1976 version of King Kong and the hit 1978 comedy Heaven Can Wait. During this period, he also frequently appeared on Broadway and was involved in producing several plays. One of these, Thieves, he also directed.
In 1981, he landed in a role in The Great Muppet Caper playing Nicky Holiday, a jewel thief who falls in love with Miss Piggy. 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 198 6 CBS mini-series sendup Fresno, playing the evil son of a raisin matriarch (Carol Burnett).
His Hollywood film roles of the 80s usually saw him cast as an 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."[6] 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."[4]
Aside from his film work, In 1977, Grodin hosted an episode of the NBC sketch show, Saturday Night Live.
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 surprise box-office hit, and he reprised the role in the 1993 sequel. His next film role was in 1994's It Runs in the Family (a.k.a. My Summer Story), which received only a limited release and was a sequel to the film A Christmas Story. Grodin portrayed the frustrated uncle, alongside Martin Short in the 1994 comedy Clifford. After a 13-year long hiatus from film, Grodin returned to acting in the Zach Braff comedy The Ex (2007).
From 1995 to 1998, Grodin hosted his own issues-oriented talk show, The Charles Grodin Show, on CNBC and, starting in 2000, became 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 continue to be 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 He is also a best-selling author; his works include It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, Spilled Milk and Other Clichés and How I Get Through Life. His book, If I Only Knew Then...Learning from Our Mistakes was released in November 2007 by Springboard Press. It is a collection of essays from his famous friends (and friends of friends), with all author proceeds going to the Help USA charity. His book How I Got To Be Whoever It Is I Am came out in April 2009.
For a while in the 2000s, Grodin gave up show business to be a stay-at-home dad to his children.[7]
| Year | Award | Film / Program | Role / credit | Won / nominated (W/N) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | The Heartbreak Kid | Lenny Cantrow | N |
| 1978 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program | The Paul Simon Special | writing credit | W |
| 1988 | Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor | Midnight Run | Jonathan Mardukas | W |
| 1993 | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor | Heart and Souls | Harrison Winslow | N |
| 1993 | American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Dave | Murray Blum | W |
In 2006, Grodin received the William Kunstler Award for Racial Justice.[8]