Charles Grodin, the Pittsburgh-born actor and writer whose offbeat style scored as a newlywed cad in “The Heartbreak Kid” and the father in the “Beethoven” comedies, has died. He was 86.
Grodin’s son Nicholas said his father died Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Conn., from bone marrow cancer.
Grodin appeared in a string of notable films from the 1970s onward, including “Midnight Run,” “The Woman in Red” and “Heaven Can Wait.” On Broadway, he starred with Ellen Burstyn in the long-running 1970s comedy “Same Time, Next Year.”
Born on April 21, 1935 in Highland Park, Grodin graduated as valedictorian of his Peabody High School class.
“I was born and raised in Pittsburgh,” Grodin told The Wall Street Journal in a 2019 interview. “My family wasn’t particularly well off. We lived along a streetcar line. You could hear them clatter past the house. They were part of the noise of everyday life.”
Even at a young age, Grodin was smitten with the acting bug.
“My first play was in the eighth grade,” Grodin told the Journal. “I was Don the Janitor Boy in “Getting Gracie Graduated.” I think the play’s title and my role sum up the plot.”
After studying acting at University of Miami, he began, via a scholarship, a stint at the Pittsburgh Playhouse School of Theatre, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In more recent years, he made his mark in another sphere, as a commentator on radio and TV and author of several books, including the FX series “Louie.”
He first gained wide notice in the 1972 Elaine May comedy “The Heartbreak Kid,” as a newlywed who abandons his bride on their honeymoon for beautiful Cybill Shepherd.
