Charles Grodin

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 21, 1935, into a family of Orthodox Jews, Charles Grodinsky – real name of  Charles Grodin – studied acting at the University of Miami, and later moved to New York, where he had acting gurus Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen as teachers. “One day I dared to ask Uta why she made her students carry imaginary suitcases all day. She growled at me, and her anger at the interrogation never went away. I thought she was going to kick me out, but in the end she left me, although he reminded me from time to time and threatened me for three years,” he explained. He debuted as an extra, playing a musician, in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, of 1954, followed by numerous series. He played Dr. Hill, a gynecologist, in Rosemary’s Baby , the renowned horror film directed by Roman Polanski .

Charles Grodin  made the mistake of refusing to study thirty pages of the script, as requested, for the casting of Mike Nichols’ The Graduate , so Mike Nichols chose Dustin Hoffman , who became a huge star. But the filmmaker noticed his talent, so he cast him in a supporting role, Captain Aarfy Aardwark in his anti-war satire Trap 22 . Shortly after, the actor achieved fame, especially in the United States, with Elaine May ‘s Heartbreaker , where he played a sporting goods salesman recently married to Lila ( Jeannie Berlin, daughter of the filmmaker), who during his honeymoon in Miami begins to question his marriage, and feels attracted to a stunning and intelligent student ( Cybill Shepherd ). “I always thought that the character was a despicable guy, but I played him trying to defend his position. My job is not to judge him, and also, if it weren’t for Elaine May , I would never have had a successful career in the cinema,” he recalled in one interview. The film garnered two Oscar nominations, in the categories of Supporting Actress (Berlin) and Supporting Actor ( Eddie Albert ). 

Divorced in 1968 from Julia Ferguson, with whom he had a daughter, Marion, he joined Elissa Durwood, mother of his other son, Nick. Both sons have also devoted themselves to acting, without much success. On Broadway , Charles Grodin stood out with various performances, and directed titles such as “Lovers and Other Strangers” and “Thieves.” In addition, he wrote several plays, such as “One of the All Time Greats,” about an ambitious theatrical production that fails. In the cinema, his unpleasant characters stand out, such as Fred Wilson, a businessman bent on making a fortune by exhibiting the giant gorilla from King Kong , in the 1976 version. His work in Heaven Can Wait is especially remembered, where Tony Abbott, the unscrupulous secretary of a lawyer, was murdered along with his lover, his wife, but to the dismay of both, he reappears alive and in perfect condition, because the protagonist has been reincarnated in his body, Joe ( Warren Beatty ), a footballer who has died by mistake, so he has been sent back to Earth from the Afterlife. 

Charles Grodin is also remembered as the high-strung friends of the protagonists of The Woman in Red , and Dave, President for a Day , and as the accountant who has robbed the mob to donate the money to charity, captured by a bounty hunter. ( Robert De Niro ) in the excellent action comedy Getaway at Midnight . He was very funny as a pet-reluctant father in Beethoven, One of the Family , a role he reprized in the first of the film’s sequels, Beethoven 2, the Family Grows , although he declined to take part in the next six parts that were shot.

A versatile man, Charles Grodin hosted a talk show between 1995 and 1998, and worked as a political commentator on the popular “60 Minutes” program. For almost 10 years he wrote a column for the New York Daily News, and he also authored several books. He retired from cinema in 2017, after The Private Life of a Modern Woman .