Midnight Run actor Charles Grodin dies at age 86 at his home in Connecticut of bone marrow cancer

Hollywood staple Charles Grodin has died at the age of 86.

The character actor passed away at his home in Wilton, Connecticut on Tuesday. The cause of death was bone marrow cancer, his son Nicholas told The New York Times. 

The Pennsylvania native was best known for his 1988 film Midnight Run with Robert De Niro and the 1980 comedy Seems Like Old Times with Goldie Hawn. 

He was known for his deadpan comedy style that made him a solid sidekick in Hollywood movies and also helped him score roles in plays such as Broadway’s Same Time, Next Year.

The actor left University Of Miami to get his start in Hollywood films: he had a small role as a drummer boy in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1954.

He landed his first big part in the TV show The Marrieds in which he played Matt Crane Stevens.

After several guest starring roles on TV shows like The Felony Squad, Iron Horse, NYPD and The Big Valley, he secured a role as Dr Hill in the 1968 creepy thriller Rosemary’s Baby from Roman Polanski that starred Mia Farrow.

He stood out more in the 1972 movie The Heartbreak Kid where he played salesman Lenny Cantrow. The film was about a newlywed man on his honeymoon who has second thoughts about his marriage to his wife (played by Jeannie Berlin) and falls for a beautiful blonde (played by Cybill Shepherd).

That led to a role as businessman Fred Wilson in 1976’s mega hit King Kong with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange.

In 1978 he had a supporting role in the big-budget Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty.

The following year Charles starred with Charlie’s Angels vet Farrah Fawcett in the film Sunburn from director Richard Sarafian Hemdale. 

And in 1980, he was the stuffed suit next to to Chevy Chase’s smooth talker in the film Seems Like Old Times which had as its star Hawn. The film was a box office dynamo.

Next came 1981’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman and The Great Muppet Caper.

In 1986 he tried his hand at TV again with Fresno in which he played Cane Kensington.

He went back to movies in 1987 with the massive flop Ishtar with Beatty; he played Jim Harrison.

But one of his biggest hits came just a year later with Midnight Run. He was the accountant who stole from the mafia next to De Niro’s tough-talking bounty hunter.

The two bicker as they travel across the country and in the end develop a bond. 

Grodin landed a blockbuster in 1992 with Beethoven about an unruly dog that wreaks havoc on a family living in suburbia. That film got a sequel in 1993.

When asked why he took the role in the film aimed at children, he said, ‘I’m not that much in demand. It’s not like I have this stack of wonderful offers. I’m just delighted they wanted me.’

He also stood out for his roles in Clifford and The Humbling. Other TV shows included Louise and Madoff. 

And he even took a stab at being a talk show host in the Nineties. From 1995 to 1998, he hosted a talk show on CNBC cable network. He moved to MSNBC and then to CBS’ 60 Minutes II.

In his 2002 book, I Like It Better When You’re Funny, he said too many TV programmers believe that viewers are best served ‘if we hear only from lifelong journalists.’ He argued that ‘people outside of Washington and in professions other than journalism’ also deserved a soapbox.

One of his highlights toward the end of his career was working with Ben Stiller on the comedy While We’re Young in 2014. 

His last role was in the 2017 film An Imperfect Murder.

The comedian was also an author: he penned 1989’s It Would Be So Nice If You Weren’t Here, 1992’s How I Get Through Life, 1993’s Freddie the Fly and 2009’s How I Got to Be Whoever It Is I Am. 

He also made his mark in another sphere, as a commentator on radio and TV, including the FX series Louie. 

Grodin was born Charles Grodinsky in Pittsburgh in 1935, son of a wholesale dry goods seller who died when Charles was 18. He played basketball and later described himself as ‘a rough kid, always getting kicked out of class.’

He studied at the University of Miami and the Pittsburgh Playhouse, worked in summer theatre and then struggled in New York, working nights as a cab driver, postal clerk and watchman while studying acting during the day.

Grodin and his first wife, Julia Ferguson, had a daughter, comedian Marion Grodin. The marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife, Elissa Durwood, had a son, Nicholas.