Actor Charles Grodin, who charmed audiences with his droll, understated and awkward humor in such films as The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run and the Beethoven movies, has died. He was 86.

In Grodin’s 50-year acting career, irrational irritation was the comedy chord he played best. But it was comedy icon Elaine May who first enshrined that skill in The Heartbreak Kid (1972).