Charles Grodin, a stellar underrated comic actor has died at 86 years old. It would be a shame if he was best remembered for the surprise hit family comedy Beethoven. I haven't seen that film since I was a kid so I don't want to knock it too much but I just know that Grodin has several other stellar performances under his belt.
I'll remember his best for his marvelous mop of wig, which he sported in nearly all his movies, and his knack for dry, deadpan comedy characters -- an unsung skill that probably led to being overlooked, even though he played beautifully opposite bigger name comic actors like Steve Martin, Albert Brooks and Chevy Chase.
He was definitely a bit of an oddball, as evidenced by his iconoclastic talk show and mock-offended persona he would play during talk show appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman. In later years, he would re-emerge, most memorably as Louis CK's doctor on his acclaimed show Louie. But he's always be a favorite of mine from the following movies:
Midnight Run - The most iconic and fully satisfying Grodin performance. He was not the obvious choice to play a neurotic white collar criminal being sheparded across country by Robert De Niro's grizzled bounty hunter, but once you see the movie it's hard to imagine anyone else in the part. One of the great '80s comedies, thanks to Grodin's perfect timing.
Seems Like Old Times - A real distillation of the put-upon Grodin persona here, as he plays the husband of Goldie Hawn whose life is turned upside down when her ex-husband (played by Chevy Chase) stumbles (literally) back into her life. A showcase for Neil Simon's dialogue and Chase's physical comedy for sure but it's Grodin who grounds the madcap silliness in a comic-infused reality.
Heaven Can Wait - Once again Grodin is the foil, this time to Warren Beatty's sweet, naive hero (really an NFL player who's died and whose spirit is inhabiting an older, wealthy man -- whose fortune Grodin is conspiring to steal. Grodin is mostly the befuddled straight man but he is memorable everytime he is on screen opposite Dyan Cannon as his partner in crime.
Real Life - This underrated, oft-overlooked gem from Albert Brooks -- his first film -- is as much a Grodin movie as it is his. Grodin plays the head of a household being profiled in a faux documentary directed by Brooks (playing an obnoxious caricature of himself). Grodin brilliantly plays an uptight veterinarian, shamelessly aware of the cameras and who has a bleakly funny mishap during a procedure on a horse that plunges the mockumentary into chaos. A must see.
The Lonely Guy - A largely forgotten Steve Martin comedy that I have a lot of affection for. Grodin steals every scene he's in as a hilarious sad sack of a man who befriends his own fern plants and talks to them as if they're people. I watched this movie after a particularly bad break-up and it really lifted my spirits. I will always cherish Grodin's exaggerated version of a perpetually single man.
Ishtar - Even this infamous flop's detractors would concede that Grodin is a lot fun as a put-upon CIa agent trying to make heads or tails of two idiotic singer-songwriters (played with aplomb by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty) who become embroiled in international intrigue. Again he's the deadpan grounded one amid the chaos, and you appreciate his being the funny adult in the room.
Clifford - A deeply strange and polarizing 'comedy' features Grodin opposite a totally manic Martin Short playing a something akin to a demon child. Grodin is hilarious throughout this grating comedy that is best enjoyed as a cult film than as the broad family comedy it was probably intended to be. Still, there is no funnier line delivery on the planet than "I wanna say... Mason?"
The Heartbreak Kid - The rare film where Grodin gets to play a fully realized lead and he's excellent. This is probably Elaine May's most accessible and successful film as a director, and it's sadly hard to find today, but it's a wonderful little romantic comedy (about a nebbishy man who falls in love with another woman on his honeymoon) that is ripe for rediscovery.
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