Charles Grodin

Charles Grodin was born on April 21, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA as Charles Grodinsky.

He auditioned as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967), but was never offered the role. Mike Nichols still offered him a role in Catch-22 (1970), which he was already scheduled to direct at the time.

Was close friends with actor Gene Wilder, who wanted Grodin to play the role of Charles/Pierre in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), but Grodin declined, having committed to directing the original Broadway production of Lovers and Other Strangers (1970).

His direction of "Lovers and Other Strangers" introduced him to Elaine May, who became his 'professional benefactor' Elaine May, and cast him in The Heartbreak Kid (1972).

He is an actor and writer, known for Midnight Run (1988), King Kong (1976) and The Heartbreak Kid (1972).

Has appeared in three movies alongside Bonnie Hunt, He played her husband in Beethoven (1992) and in Beethoven's 2nd (1993) and they both appeared in Dave (1993) where he played Murray Blum and she played The White House Tour Guide and they share no scrren time together in Dave.

Admitted in a 2006 interview on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) that the surly attitude he adopts on talk shows is an act he developed in order to be a more interesting guest. According to Grodin, he was scheduled to make his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1973, and was to be in the segment immediately following Diana Ross performing a medley of her hits. Realizing that he would bomb if he followed her as himself, he adopted this churlish character who has little patience for the questions of the host. Carson loved it and it became his trademark.

Longtime resident of Fairfield County's Wilton, Connecticut. [May 2007]