Charles Grodin, one of cinema’s most-accomplished comic actors and most-beloved curmudgeons has passed away at the age of 86.
A collaborator of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Neil Simon and Buck Henry and the neurotic scene partner of Robert DeNiro in “Midnight Run,” Grodin’s career spanned six decades, and left its mark on classics of ’70s comedy and even the odd shaggy, slobbering dog story.
Born to Orthodox Jewish parents in Pittsburgh, Grodin studied acting with Lee Stasberg and Uta Hagen (While in classes, he questioned, to Hagen’s chagrin, why they had to “carry imaginary suitcases and open imaginary windows.”)