Charles Grodin Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Charles Grodin
OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Radio Talk Show Host, Talk Show Host
BIRTH DATE: April 21, 1935 (Age: 78)
EDUCATION: University of Miami
PLACE OF BIRTH: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Maiden Name: Charles Grodinsky
ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus

Best Known For

Charles Grodin is an actor, comedian and talk show host known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid and Beethoven.

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Charles Grodin

APA Style

Charles Grodin. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:43, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598.

Harvard Style

Charles Grodin. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Charles Grodin." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 09:43 http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598.

MHRA Style

"Charles Grodin," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598 [accessed May 23, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Charles Grodin," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598 (accessed May 23, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Charles Grodin [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598.

Bluebook Style

Charles Grodin, http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598 (last visited May 23, 2013).

AMA Style

Charles Grodin. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/charles-grodin-9542598. Accessed May 23, 2013.

Synopsis

Charles Grodin was born on April 21, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After studying acting with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, he made his film debut in Sex and the College Girl (1964). Grodin starred in 1972's The Heartbreak Kid and played the villain in 1978's blockbuster Heaven Can Wait. During the 1980s, he gave memorable performances in Ishtar and Midnight Run. Grodin published his autobiography, It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here,

in 1988.

Profile

Actor. Born Charles Grodinsky on April 21, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After attending the University of Miami, Grodin studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen. The low-key comic actor made his Broadway debut in 1962 in Tchin Tchin. Two years later, with deadpan wit and a wry sense of humor, Grodin appeared for the first time on the big screen in Sex and the College Girl.

He played small but memorable roles throughout the late 1960s, receiving his big break in 1972 when he landed the lead in The Heartbreak Kid as a sporting goods salesman who leaves his wife on their honeymoon. Subsequent roles included headlining 1974's Thieves on Broadway (he also directed the Broadway version) and the villain in 1978's blockbuster Heaven Can Wait. Throughout the 1980s, Grodin turned in a number of acclaimed supporting roles in such films as The Woman in Red (1984), The Couch Trip (1987) and the Steve Martin vehicle The Lonely Guy (1984). Two of his most memorable films of the era were Ishtar (1987) and Midnight Run (1988), where he plays an uninspired embezzler opposite Robert De Niro.

Grodin published his autobiography, It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, in 1988.