THE KING OF DEADPAN (REMEMBERING CHARLES GRODIN)

 

Charles Grodin was the king of deadpan.

If you want proof, just look at his performance in 'Midnight Run' which is still the best comedy Robert de Niro has ever starred in.

In particular take a look at the sequence where de Niro's bounty hunter Jack Walsh frantically tries to purchase bus tickets for him and his prisoner, only to realise a rival has had his credit cards cancelled.

Grodin doesn't say a word as a flustered de Niro demands that the cards be checked again by a woman staffing the ticket counter.

However it is the way his disgraced accountant Jonathan Mardukas' knowingly looks at the woman that is a masterclass in deadpan acting.

The same applies to another sequence where Mardukas pretends to be an FBI agent in a bar sifting out dodgy dollar notes, so he and Walsh can buy food and medicine in a nearby store.

Grodin was born in Pittsburgh in 1935 into an Orthodox Jewish family.

His father sold wholesale supplies while his mother was also employed in the family store and was a volunteer for Army veterans.

Descended from "a long line of rabbis" in Russia, he had an older brother called Jack and was popular in high school where he was the class president four years on the trot and a valedictorian.

Grodin went to the University of Miami but dropped out to pursue an interest in acting.

That vocation took him to the HB Acting Studio in New York whose alumni include Faye Dunaway, Robert de Niro, Anne Bancroft, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Al Pacino, Debbie Allen, Harvey Keitel, F Murray Abraham, Liza Minnelli, Jessica Lange, Peter Boyle, Lily Tomlin, Jack Lemmon, Maureen Stapleton, Judd Hirsch and Matthew Broderick.

Taught by the legendary Uta Hagen, he cut his teeth in minor film and television roles and Broadway productions.

Grodin's first screen appearance was as a drummer boy in Richard Fleischer's 1954 Disney adventure, '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' with Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Peter Lorre.

He was cast as a young hoodlum in NBC's anthology series 'Decision' in 1954 and four years later as a crew member on a nuclear submarine exploring the Arctic in James Coppersmith's drama 'Nautilus' with James Mitchell which was screened as part of CBS's anthology series 'Armstrong Circle Theater'.

In 1960, he appeared in an episode of CBS's Western series 'Have Gun, Will Travel' with Richard Boone.

Over the decade, he would pick up more TV experience in episodes of shows like the syndicated Broadway television show 'The Play of the Week,' CBS's courtroom dramas 'The Defenders' and 'The Trials of O'Brien,' NBC's sitcoms 'My Mother the Car' and 'Captain Nice,' its cowboy series 'The Virginian,' ABC's crime dramas 'Felony Squad,' 'The FBI,' 'NYPD,' its Western series 'Shane,' 'Iron Horse,' 'The Guns of Will Sonnett' and 'The Big Valley' and the channel's legal drama 'Judd, for the Defense'.

He landed a debut Broadway role in 1962 in Francois Billetdoux's romantic comedy 'Tchin-Tchin' with Anthony Quinn and Margaret Leighton.

Directed by Peter Glenville, the production earned rave reviews and landed several Tony nominations.

In Ira Wallach's Broadway play 'Absence of a Cello,' Grodin acted alongside Murray Hamilton during a four month run in 1964.

Joseph Adler gave him first substantial movie role in the 1964 comedy 'Sex and the Single College Girl' with John Gabriel and Luana Anders which was set in a Puerto Rican luxury hotel.

There was also a regular gig over two years as one of the husbands in ABC's soap opera 'The Young Marrieds' from 1965 with Floy Dean, Susan Brown and Ted Knight.

Around this time, he also became an assistant director to the respected stage and screen director Gene Saks.

In 1966, he also co-wrote and directed his own off-Broadway play 'Hooray! It's A Glorious Day.. And All That' with Raymond Allen but its run lasted only 15 performances.

This setback did not put him off directing and he was back in the hot seat for a 1968 Broadway production of Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor's 'Lovers and Other Strangers' - a hit play featuring five romantic comedy tales which would be turned two years later by Cy Howard into a popular, Oscar nominated movie with Richard S Castellani, Cloris Leachman, Gig Young, Bea Arthur, Michael Brandon and in her debut role, Diane Keaton.

Grodin was to grab the attention of Hollywood, however, with his pivotal appearance in Roman Polanski's horror film 'Rosemary's Baby' with Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes in which he memorably played an obstetrician.

Now firmly on Hollywood's radar, he was famously offered the part of Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols' 'The Graduate' but turned it down because the salary was too low, only to see it catapult Dustin Hoffman's career.

He did, however, work with Nichols on his star studded movie adaptation of Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' in 1970 with Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Anthony Perkins, Bob Newhart, Bob Balaban, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Art Garfunkel and Orson Welles.

The film flopped with critics and audiences, although Grodin gave a good account of himself as the navigator Captain Aarfy Aardvark.

A year before that, Grodin directed Simon and Garfunkel in the TV special 'Simon and Garfunkel: Songs from America' and eight years later would work with Paul Simon on TV again as a writer and performer on 'The Paul Simon Special'.

In 1972, he would land one of his best loved roles as the self-absorbed sports good salesman Lenny Cantrow in Elaine May's critically acclaimed comedy 'The Heartbreak Kid'.

In the Neil Simon scripted comedy, Grodin's character spends his honeymoon with Jeannie Berlin's unsophisticated, needy wife pursuing Cybill Shepherd's shallow Midwestern college girl instead.

A favourite of 'Fr Ted' writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, the film landed Oscar nominations for Jeannie Berlin for Best Supporting Actress and Eddie Albert for Best Supporting Actor.

Grodin also earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.

The film was remade in 2007 by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, with Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan, Eva Longoria and Danny McBride and while commercially successful, it failed to convince the critics or recreate the original's magic.

In 1974, Grodin was back directing an acclaimed Broadway production of Herb Gardner's relationship drama 'Thieves' after the original director bailed out.

Grodin would later enthuse that his involvement in the production with Richard Mulligan and Marlo Thomas was "the most gratifying experience I have ever had in theater" and it ran for 14 months.

He would be cast as Martin, the stuffy headmaster in John Berry's 1977 movie of the play with Marlo Thomas, Mercedes McCambridge, Bob Fosse and Hector Elizondo but the transfer to the screen went awry and was poorly received by critics.

In 1975, he and Ellen Burstyn earned rave reviews for their performances in Gene Saks' Broadway production of Bernard Slade's comedy 'Same Time, Next Year' about a man and a woman married to other people who meet for a romantic tryst once a year for 24 years.

Burstyn would win a Tony award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance, while Grodin picked up a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play. 

But while Burstyn reprised her role and earned an Oscar nomination in Robert Mulligan's critically lauded 1978 movie, Alan Alda was cast instead in the role that Grodin played onstage.

In Aram Avakian's 1974 British comedy thriller '11 Harrowhouse,' Grodin joined Candice Bergen, James Mason, John Geilgud and Trevor Howard in a tale about a diamond merchant suckered into being involved in an elaborate heist.

A critical dud, Grodin was miscast and his character's retrospective narration also came in for particular criticism.

Grodin joined Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange in the Dino de Laurentis produced and John Guillermin directed 1976 remake of 'King Kong,' playing an oil company executive.

A box office success, it got decent reviews from critics who were impressed by its special effects.

Grodin also directed in 1977 Robert Costanzo, Constance Forslund and Jerry Stiller in a shortlived Broadway production of Jordan Crittenden's 'Unexpected Guests' which shut after five days.

John Erman directed Grodin and Louise Lasser in the well received 1978 NBC comedy TV movie 'Just Me and You' about two strangers who undertake a cross country journey. 

He also joined Carol Burnett and Linda Gray in the 1978 comic TV movie 'The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Sceptic Tank'.

Warren Beatty and Buck Henry directed Grodin in a supporting role in the 1978 fantasy comedy 'Heaven Can Wait,' in which he played the lover of a millionaire's wife, played by Dyan Cannon, who joins her in a scheme to bump off her industrialist husband.

The scheming lovers are shocked when her husband survives a drowning in a bathtub and becomes the owner of the Los Angeles Rams after his dead body is given a new lease of life with the spirit of Beatty's American Football star who should not have died in a road accident.

With Beatty, Henry, Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden and Vincent Gardenia in the cast, the film was not only a hit but earned nine Oscar nominations including nods for Beatty, Warden and Cannon's performances.

Despite being overlooked by the Academy, Grodin's work with Cannon came in for particular praise from the critics.

In his debut as a director, Albert Brooks cast him as the father of a supposedly regular American family featuring in a documentary in the mostly well received 1979 comedy 'Real Life' but it struggled to find an audience.

Grodin joined Farrah Fawcett, Joan Collins and Art Carney in Richard C Sarafian's detective comedy 'Sunburn' that year.

With the broadcasting rights sold to NBC on the back of it being Fawcett's first movie, the film made a profit despite indifferent reviews - although Grodin again came in for praise for his comic sensibilities in the role of a private investigator sent by an insurance company to Acapulco to look into the death of a wealthy industrialist.

Grodin played a man involved in a passionless relationship with Jill Clayburgh's maths professor who falls for Michael Douglas' married former baseball pro in Claudia Weill's 1980 romcom 'It's My Turn' which did okay at the box office despite underwhelming critics.

He was back in a Neil Simon scripted role as a Los Angeles district attorney whose wife helps her down on his luck, fugitive, bank robbing ex-husband in Jay Sandrich's mostly well received 1980 screwball caper 'Seems Like Old Times' with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn.

Many critics felt the three leads' performances elevated one of Simon's weaker scripts and Grodin even managed to have the rather dubious distinction of landing a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.

However the film fared decently at the box office.

He played Lily Tomlin's husband in Joel Schumacher's 1981 fantasy comedy 'The Incredible Shrinking Woman' with Ned Beatty, which again performed reasonably well at the box office despite mostly negative reviews.

In Jim Henson's 'The Great Muppet Caper,' he played Diana Rigg's jewel thieving brother who falls for Miss Piggy.

A hit with audiences despite mixed reviews, the star studded movie featured appearances from John Cleese, Robert Morley, Jack Warden, Peter Falk and Peter Ustinov.

In 1981, he turned up in an episode of ABC's popular sitcom 'Laverne and Shirley' with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams.

Grodin played Lord Fancourt Babberly in an 'American Playhouse' TV movie of Brandon Thomas' 'Charley's Aunt' in 1983 on PBS with Anne Francis and Vincent Gardenia.

Arthur Hiller cast him in 1984 as a suicidal friend of Steve Martin's 'Lonely Guy' with Judith Ivey in a downbeat romcom which underwhelmed audiences and critics.

He played one of Gene Wilder's best friends in the mid-life crisis hit comedy 'The Woman in Red' with Kelly Le Brock, Joseph Bologna, Gilda Radner and Judith Ivey which the star also directed - a film whose most memorable thing was Stevie Wonder's treacly chart topping song 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'. 

In William Asher's 1985 comedy 'Movers and Shakers,' Grodin played a screenwriter tasked by Walter Matthau's Hollywood studio mogul to turn a sex manual into a hit film.

As well as starring, Grodin wrote the screenplay but the film had disastrous test screenings and MGM initially balked at releasing it, blaming Asher.

It did get a limited release but Grodin later cited his experiences making the film as contributing to a long battle with depression.

There was also a role as a scheming son in 'Fresno,' an award winning CBS miniseries spoof of 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' in 1986 with Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr and Bill Paxton about rivalry in the world of Californian raisin production.

In Zane Buzby's  disappointing 1986 comedy 'Last Vacation' with Robin Pearson Rose, Megan Mullally, Jon Lovitz and Jon Ashton, Grodin played a Chicago salesman who takes his family on a nightmare holiday to a tropical island resort which has barbed wire, soldiers and unhelpful staff.

His next project reunited him with Elaine May and Warren Beatty.

In the 1987 action adventure comedy 'Ishtar' with Beatty, Dustin Hoffman and Isabelle Adjani, he played a CIA agent who recruits Hoffman's singer in a Simon and Garfunkel style duo in Morocco.

May's film infamously got bogged down in production problems when David Puttnam took over briefly as the studio head at Columbia Pictures and it crashed and burned at the box office after polarising critics.

After being labelled the worst movie ever made, the film has undergone a critical reappraisal in recent years with Quentin Tarantino, Lena Dunham and Martin Scorsese among those insisting it is much better than the reputation it acquired.

There was a role as a radio psychiatrist in Michael Ritchie's 1987 comedy 'The Couch Trip' with Dan Aykroyd and Walter Matthau which stuttered at the box office after drawing mixed reviews.

Richard Martini directed him in a minor role in the feeble 1988 romcom 'You Can't Hurry Love' with David Leisure and Bridget Fonda.

However he would memorably team up that year with Robert de Niro in Martin Brest's excellent adventure comedy 'Midnight Run' with Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Farina, Jon Ashton, Joe Pantoliano and Philip Baker Hall.

Arguably Grodin's greatest performance, he gelled brilliantly with de Niro, playing a wily accountant who has fallen foul of the Mob and fears that if his bounty is collected, he will be assassinated.

Amazingly, 'Midnight Run' failed to match its studio's high box office expectations despite enthusiastic reviews and decent ticket sales.

Grodin lent his voice in 1989 to the Disney Epcot theme park attraction 'Cranium Command,' playing the Left Brain in an animated short.

He turned up with the Muppets on NBC in 1990 in an episode of 'The Magical. World of Disney'.

There was an ill judged role as a spineless advertising executive in Arthur Hiller's lame 1990 comedy 'Taking Care of Business' with Jim Belushi, Veronica Hamel and Hector Elizondo.

However two years later, he was to score a huge success in Brian Levant's  St Bernard family dog comedy, 'Beethoven' for Universal with Bonnie Hunt, Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci and Dean Jones, in which he played a put upon dad.

A surprise hit with audiences in spite of a sniffy critical reaction, it spawned four sequels - with Grodin appearing in one of them, Rod Daniel's 1993 instalment 'Beethoven's 2nd' with Debi Mazar joining the cast.

Ivan Reitman cast him as another accountant who helps Kevin Kline's faux President balance the budget in the hit 1993 White House comedy 'Dave' with Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Ben Kingsley, Kevin Dunn, Laura Linney and Ving Rhames.

Grodin won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor for his typically deadpan performance.

There was a brief appearance as a driver in Thomas Schlamme's cult comic movie 'So I Married An Axe Murderer' with Mike Myers, Nancy Travis, Brenda Fricker, Amanda Plummer and Anthony LaPlaglia.

He was an aspiring singer affected by stage fright who is killed in a bus accident in Ron Underwood's 'Heart and Souls,' a comic fantasy with Kyra Sedgwick, Elisabeth Shue, Alfre Woodard and Tom Sizemore about spirits who recruit Robert Downey Jr's businessman to fulfil all the ambitions they couldn't because of their untimely deaths.

The film drew mixed reviews and was a disappointment at the box office.

Paul Flaherty directed him, Martin Short, Dabney Coleman and Mary Steenburgen in a 1994 slapstick comedy 'Clifford' which also misfired.

Steenburgen was also cast alongside him and Kieran Culkin that year in Bob Clark's comedy 'My Summer Year' which drew lukewarm reviews as well and languished on video shelves after getting a limited release in cinemas.

Grodin took an 11 year break from making movies. 

As someone who proudly wore his liberal politics on his sleeves, he was talked into hosting a CNBC talk show 'The Charles Grodin Show' in 1995 for three years before it transferred for a year on MSNBC.

There was a stint in 2000 as a correspondent on CBS's '60 Minutes II' - a midweek version of the channel's flagship current affairs show.

His return to the big screen came in 2006 in a supporting role in Jesse Peretz's underperforming comedy 'The Ex' with Zach Braff, Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, Mia Farrow and Donal Logue.

In 2009, Grodin featured in a wonderfully chaotic interview with Fox News Sean Hannity during which he teased the extreme conservative TV host about wearing mascara, being a fascist and whether he would consent to being waterboarded.

Grodin returned to a small screen acting role in 2012 in an episode of NBC's 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' in the 14th season of the show.

A year later, there was also an appearance in an episode of NBC's 'The Michael J Fox Show' .

Michael Cera directed him in a short film 'Brazzaville Teen Anger' in 2013.

The following year, there was a part alongside Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig, Kyra Sedgwick, Diane Wiest and Dan Hedaya in Barry Levinson's 'The Humbling' which received tepid reviews and struggled to find an audience.

Noah Baumbach gave him a more high profile role as Ben Stiller's father in law in the critically acclaimed indie hit 'While We're Young' with Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried and Adam Horowitz.

In the fourth season of Louis CK's FX show 'Louie' in 2014, Grodin played a blunt doctor who ignores the comedian's back problems, preferring to focus instead on blood illnesses and telling his patient how boring he is.

Grodin played the real life philanthropist Carl J Shapiro in ABC's acclaimed four part miniseries 'Madoff' in 2016, with Richard Dreyfuss, Blythe Danner and Frank Whaley.

In Taylor Hackford's 2016 comedy 'The Comedian' with Robert de Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny de Vito, Edie Falco, Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone and Harvey Keitel, he played an estranged colleague in a film that set neither audiences nor critics alight.

He co-starred with John Turturro in a memorable episode of 'The New Yorker Presents' on Amazon Prime, entitled 'The Last Session,' playing a psychiatrist in John Kenney's short whose patient-doctor relationship has reached the end of the road.

James Toback also directed him in 2017 in a rare dramatic outing in 'An Imperfect Murder' with Sienna Miller, Alec Baldwin and Colleen Camp.

It was to be his last screen performance.

Married twice with two children, Grodin wrote three plays and several books.

However he enjoyed something of a career renaissance in the 2010s, with younger comic actors and writers keen to recognise his influence on them.

Grodin knew his forte was comedy and while his career was littered with misfires, it nevertheless contained many memorable comic high points.

He also knew that that flair for comedy meant he was often overlooked as a great actor.

However he often reminded critics that comedy is extremely hard to pull off, with acclaimed actors often struggling.

"I enjoy comedic things," he once remarked. 

"People don't understand it's the hardest thing to do. We have a ratio of 25-to-1 between good dramatic actors and people who are considered good comic actors."

Over the years, Charles Grodin proved he wasn't just a good comic actor.

He was simply a great comic actor and undoubtedly one of the best.

(Charles Grodin passed away on May 18, 2021 at the age of 86)