Charles Grodin
By 
Always a favorite of mine. R.I.P.:
Charles Grodin, the versatile actor familiar from “Same Time, Next Year” on Broadway, popular movies like “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Midnight Run” and “Beethoven” and numerous television appearances, died on Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86.
His son, Nicholas, said the cause was bone marrow cancer.
With a great sense of deadpan comedy and the kind of Everyman good looks that lend themselves to playing businessmen or curmudgeonly fathers, Mr. Grodin found plenty of work as a supporting player and the occasional lead. He also had his own talk show for a time in the 1990s and was a frequent guest on the talk shows of others, making 36 appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and more than 40 on David Letterman’s NBC and CBS shows combined.
I know his subsequent filmography has issues, but Martin Brest’s Midnight Run is on the small list of movies that I pretty much have to watch at least once a year. I will try to honor Grodin’s memory with some Lyonnaise Potatoes.