Charles Grodin Discusses his Hollywood Journey.

Actor Charles Grodin. Unlike his contemporaries - and friends - like Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, Grodin achieved the great success that every actor strives for only recently. He starred with Robert De Niro in last year's "Midnight Run," his first major success in a long, twisted journey through the acting profession. Grodin has written a memoir about his passage; it's titled It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here. Grodin's career in acting began in summer stock theater and included stints as a cab driver and postal clerk to sustain him through a seemingly endless stream of rejections. His first success came in the movie "The Heartbreak Kid," but when that was followed by the bomb "11 Harrowhouse," he didn't work again in Hollywood for 11 years. But his memoir is also the story of opportunities offered but declined, like the lead in "The Graduate." Grodin has also worked as a screenwriter, a director and a television producer.