Actor Charles Grodin, whose comedic work graced TV, movies and Broadway, has died of bone marrow cancer. He was 86.
Grodin’s son, Nicholas, confirmed the news to the New York Times, saying he passed away in his home in Wilton, Connecticut.
A master of deadpan, Pittsburgh native Grodin starred in movies such as “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Midnight Run” and “Beethoven,” as well as in the Broadway show “Same Time, Next Year.” Throughout the ’90s, he was a familiar face on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “Late Show With David Letterman.”
Though he never won an Emmy for those performances, he did nab one for his writing: In 1978, he won the Outstanding Writing award for his work on “The Paul Simon Special,” a comedy event that aired on NBC.
Grodin landed on the acting scene in 1962 with the Broadway comedy “Tchin-Tchin,” followed by a role in “Absence of a Cello” in 1964. Then, it was onto Hollywood: After a small role in 1968’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” he became a household name for his wry comedic work in director Mike Nichols’ “Catch-22” in 1970, followed by Elaine May’s “The Heartbreak Kid” opposite Cybill Shepherd in 1972, 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait” with Warren Beatty and 1980’s “Seems Like Old Times” with Goldie Hawn.
In between film appearances, Grodin returned to Broadway for a breakthrough leading man role in 1975’s “Same Time, Next Year,” opposite Ellen Burstyn.
Throughout the course of his six-decade career, Grodin moved stealthily between the absurd (1976’s “King Kong” remake with Jessica Lange) to the cult-classic sublime (1988’s “Midnight Run,” an anti-buddy-comedy with Robert De Niro)
However, in 1992, he played one of his best-known roles: The patriarch in the family pooch comedy “Beethoven” as well as the sequel a year later.
In 2010, Grodin — who also was a political commentator and had a CNBC talk show in the late ’90s — sent a letter to a federal judge regarding the sentencing of former New York State Senate leader Joseph Bruno, who was convicted on two fraud counts. He pushed for clemency for the politico, who himself reportedly was helpful in getting clemency for four inmates in the mid-1990s.
In 2013, the veteran actor spoke to The Post about one of his last high-profile acting roles, playing the father of the star of “The Michael J. Fox Show” on NBC.
“The most striking part is that I had never met Michael J. Fox until now,” Grodin told The Post. “I was certainly aware of him, and he’s really quite inspiring. These are very long days [shooting the show] — and I’m healthy, it seems to me — and then I look at this guy and it’s amazing.
“The best moment was at the end of our 14-hour day,” he said. “As we said goodbye, I said to Michael, ‘The next time we’re in a scene together, give me a couple of takes without doing the Parkinson’s thing,’ and the fact that he laughed — I took a chance with that — is quite something.”
Stars including comedians Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron and Billy Eichner quickly took to Twitter to pay homage to the performer and writer they considered a legend.
“God I loved him,” Eichner tweeted.
