This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Charles Grodin, the droll, offbeat actor and writer who scored as a caddish newlywed in “The Heartbreak Kid” and later had roles ranging from Robert De Niro’s counterpart in the comic thriller “Midnight Run” to the bedevilled father in the “Beethoven” comedies, has died. He was 86.
He starred as a Jewish newlywed who abandons his comically neurotic bride to pursue a beautiful, wealthy blonde played by Cybill Shepherd. The movie was a hit and Grodin received high praise. He commented: “After seeing the movie, a lot of people would approach me with the idea of punching me in the nose.”
“I moved a little more toward drama and he moved a little toward comedy,” Grodin said at the time. “And we met on a very good ground.” His biggest stage success, by far, was “Same Time, Next Year,” which opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran nearly 3½ years. He and Burstyn were two people who – though each happily married – meet in the same hotel once a year for an extramarital fling. Beyond the humour, the play won praise for deftly tracing the changes in their lives, and in society, from the 1950s to the ’70s. Critic Clive Barnes called Grodin’s character “a monument to male insecurity, gorgeously inept.
Likeable guy EnjoyedHisWork RIP