Grodin, Charles

Charles Grodin was born in 1935 in Pittsburgh into a family of Jews who hold Orthodox views ^[4] . The maternal grandfather is a rabbi who immigrated with his family at the beginning of the 20th century from Russia . Charles Ted’s father (Theodore) is a small wholesale trader, mother Lana helped her husband in trade, and also looked after patients in a hospital for war veterans as a volunteer ^[5] . Charles is the second child in the family. Has an older brother.

Charles Grodin's artistic debut took place in 1962 in the Broadway play Chin-Chin ( born Tchin-Tchin ). Professional training in acting is held by Grodin with Uta Hagen (among her students - Marlon Brando , Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Lisa Minnelli , Whoopi Goldberg , Sigourney Weaver , Matthew Broderick and others) and Lee Strasberg (his students - Christopher Walken , Dustin Hoffman , Eli Wallack , Gene Hackman , Harvey Keitel , Jack Nicholson and others). Both of these masters instilled in their students the method of acting technique according to the Stanislavsky System .

In the 1960s, Charles Grodin took part in the creation of several television series. In 1968, a horror film , the novel by Roman Polanski, “Rosemary's Baby” , was released , in which Grodin will play the role of Dr. Hill - his first notable work in cinema. At the same time, he tries himself as a theater director and puts on Broadway several plays: “Hooray! It's a Glorious Day ... and All That ”,“ Lovers and Other Strangers ”,“ Thieves ”. After a small role in the film "Trick 22" ( 1970 ), Grodin gets the main role in the film " Heartbreaker " ( 1972 ), which immediately opens his gift as a comic actor.

The roles in the films “King Kong” ( 1976 ), “Heaven Can Wait,” follow, however, the main occupation of the actor remains the theater and participation in the play “Thieves” directed by him. Over the next few years, Charles Grodin starred in a number of good comedies, which did not however receive great commercial success: “Real Life” ( Eng. Real Life 1979 ) with Albert Brooks , “Like the Old Good Times” ( 1980 ) with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn , “The Big Puppet Journey” ( 1981 ), “The Incredibly Decreased Woman” ( 1981 ). The period 1982-1987 is marked by a cinematic (but not theatrical) “downtime”. Of the interesting ones, the role of the short-sighted CIA agent in the film with the scandalous fame Ishtar ( 1987 ) should be mentioned. But the next three years brought Charles Grodin a worldwide success.

At first it was a somewhat comical, but worthy of a dramatic performance duet with Robert De Niro in the movie “Catch Before Midnight” ( 1988 ). For the role of criminal financier Jonathan Mardukas , nicknamed “Duke”, Grodin received the award at the Valladolid Film Festival, Spain , as the best actor. In the same year, the light comedy “Taking Care of Business”, known in the “pirate” box office of those years in Russia under the title “How to Deal with Things”, was released . In it, he played the role of the absent-minded and reserved businessman Spencer Barnes , opposing the pressure of the charming and dynamic joker Jimmy Dvorsky performed by James Belushi . Two years later, the comedy Beethoven is released , and another year later, Beethoven 2 . Charles Grodin in the role of George Newton - the head of an ordinary American family, contrary to his will, has a St. Bernard puppy. A touching family film collected worldwide revenues of almost $ 150 million ^[6] , and its continuation - 118 million ^[7] . These films have become a hallmark, but also a peak in the cinematic career of Grodin. Having starred in a small role in the film "Dave" (as the best supporting actor for this role, he was awarded the "American Prize for Achievements in the Comedy Genre" ^[8] ), the artist left the cinema for several years. Only in 2006, he took part in the filming of the movie "Ex-lover . "

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Charles Grodin hosted The Charles Grodin Show on CNBC (1995-1998); was a political observer on CBS ; wrote several plays for the theater. The actor is also the author of several books: “Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here , ” “Spilled Milk and Other Clichés and How I Get Through Life , ” “If I Only Knew Then ... Learning from Our Mistakes” . The last of them, “How I Got To Be Whoever It Is I Am,” was released in April 2009.

Charles Grodin was married twice. From his first marriage with Julia Ferguson, he has a daughter, Marion. The union broke up in 1968. In 1985, the actor married Elissa Durwood. The couple had a son, Nicky (1988). Grodin brings up Alex Fischetti, adopted into the family of a boy who has autism . The family lives in the small town of Wilton, in Connecticut , USA.

• Charles Grodin at the Internet Movie Database