🎬 Movies Mates PEOPLE
Charles Grodin
Acting
Biography
Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and supporting roles in Mike Nichols's Catch-22 (1970), the 1976 remake of King Kong, and Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978).
Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies of the era, including Real Life (1979), Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Great Muppet Caper (198…
Read full biography
Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and supporting roles in Mike Nichols's Catch-22 (1970), the 1976 remake of King Kong, and Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978). Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies of the era, including Real Life (1979), Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Ishtar (1987), Dave (1993), and Clifford (1994). Grodin co-starred in the action comedy Midnight Run (1988) and in the family film Beethoven (1992). He made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. In the mid-1990s, Grodin retired from acting and wrote autobiographies; he became a talk show host on CNBC and in 2000 a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. He returned to acting with a handful of roles in the mid-2010s, including in Louis C.K.'s FX show Louie and Noah Baumbach's film While We're Young (2014). Grodin won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special in 1978 for the Paul Simon Special alongside Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, and Lily Tomlin. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for The Heartbreak Kid in 1972. He won Best Actor at the 1988 Valladolid International Film Festival for Midnight Run, and the American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his performance in Dave in 1993.
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Charles Grodin's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Marty, Life Is Short
as Self (archive footage)
Charles Grodin: Rebel With a Cause
Waiting for Ishtar
as Self
An Imperfect Murder
as Arthur
The Comedian
as Dick D'Angelo
While We're Young
as Leslie Breitbart
The Humbling
as Jerry
Brazzaville Teen-Ager
as Father
Char·ac·ter
as Self
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
as (archive footage)
The Harmony Game
as Self
Paul Simon and Friends | The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song
as Self
The Ex
as Bob Kowalski
The Ultimate Collection starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 70s and 80s
as Self (archive footage)
The World of Jim Henson
as Nicky Holiday (archive footage)
It Runs in the Family
as Mr. Parker (The Old Man)
Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!
as Chaz
Clifford
as Martin Daniels
Beethoven's 2nd
as George Newton
Heart and Souls
as Harrison Winslow
So I Married an Axe Murderer
as Commandeered Car Driver
Dave
as Murray Blum
Beethoven
as George Newton
Taking Care of Business
as Spencer Barnes
The Muppets at Walt Disney World
as Quentin Fitzwaller
Cranium Command
as Left Brain (voice)
Midnight Run
as Jonathan Mardukas aka “The Duke”
You Can't Hurry Love
as Mr. Glerman
The Couch Trip
as George Matlin
Ishtar
as Jim Harrison
No Poster
King Kong! The Living Legend
as Self
Last Resort
as George Lollar
Movers & Shakers
as Herb Derman
The Woman in Red
as Buddy
The Lonely Guy
as Warren
Charley's Aunt
as Lord Fancourt Babberly
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
The Great Muppet Caper
as Nicky Holiday
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
as Vance Kramer
Seems Like Old Times
as Ira Parks
It's My Turn
as Homer
Sunburn
as Jake
Real Life
as Warren Yeager
The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank
as Jim Benson
Heaven Can Wait
as Tony Abbott
Just Me and You
as Michael Lindsay
The Meanest Men in the West
as Arnie Doud, Harge Gang
It Happened One Christmas
as Joseph
The Paul Simon Special
as Self
Thieves
as Martin Cramer
King Kong
as Fred S. Wilson
11 Harrowhouse
as Howard R. Chesser
The Heartbreak Kid
as Lenny Cantrow
Catch-22
as Captain Aarfy Aardvark
Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America
as Self
Rosemary's Baby
as Dr. Hill
Sex and the College Girl
as Bob
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
as Drummer Boy (uncredited)