Ed Asner
Eddie Asner[1] (/ˈæznər/; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama.
Ed Asner
August 29, 2021 (aged 91)
Sheffield Cemetery, Kansas City
University of Chicago (dropped out)
Actor
1957–2021
4
1951–1953
Asner is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series on spin-off Lou Grant). His other Emmys were for performances in two miniseries: Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), and Roots (1977).[2]
Asner acted in numerous films such as the Western El Dorado (1966), the crime drama They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), and the cop drama Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981). He portrayed Guy Banister in the political thriller JFK (1991), Warren Buffett in the HBO drama film Too Big to Fail (2011), and Santa Claus in several films, including in Elf (2003). He voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up (2009).[3]
Asner starred in the ABC sitcom Thunder Alley (1994–1995), and Michael: Every Day (2011–2017). He also acted extensively in numerous television series such as The Practice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Good Wife, Cobra Kai, Briarpatch, Working Class, and Dead to Me. He also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994–1998), and Uncle Ben in The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).
Early life and education[edit]
Asner was born November 15, 1929,[4] in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas.[5] His Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents, Lizzie (née Seliger; 1885–1967, from Odessa, Russian Empire), a housewife, and Morris David Asner (1879–1957, from Lithuania (Vilna Governorate or Grodno Governorate),[6] ran a second-hand shop and junkyard.[5] His four older siblings were Ben J. Asner (1915–1986), Eve Asner (1916–2014), Esther Edelman (1919–2014) and Labe Asner (1923–2017).[7] He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Yitzhak.[8][9]
Asner attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago. He studied journalism in Chicago until a professor advised him there was little money to be made in the profession. He had been working in a steel mill,[10] but he quickly switched to drama, debuting as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. He eventually dropped out of school, going to work as a taxi driver, worked on the assembly line for General Motors, and other odd jobs before being drafted in the military in 1951.[11]
Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War and appeared in plays that toured Army bases in Europe.[12][7]
Activism[edit]
Politics[edit]
He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike.[54] He was also active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the movement to establish California One Care, single-payer health care in California, for which he created a television advertisement. He endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 United States presidential election,[55] and Barack Obama during the 2008 United States presidential election. He was formerly a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC)[56] and was a member of DSOC's successor, the Democratic Socialists of America.[2]
The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had high ratings, being in the ACNielsen top ten throughout its final month on the air. However, the CBS television network declined to renew it. Asner believed that his left-wing political views, as well as the publicity surrounding them, were the actual root causes for the show's cancellation.[54] In 2011, Asner endorsed Democratic candidate Marcy Winograd who finished 4th in the 16-candidate primary behind eventual winner Janice Hahn, in California's 36th congressional district special election.[57] From 2011 to 2015, Asner worked with filmmaker Nicole Zwiren on the feature-length documentary Behind the Fear which addresses HIV/AIDS denialism. The film was released in 2016 with Asner as the narrator.[58]
Asner endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theories, including voicing qualified support for the 9/11 truth movement. In 2004, he signed a statement released by the group 9/11 Truth that included a call for a new investigation into some elements of the September 11 attacks that he questioned.[59] Asner confirmed his support for the statement in 2009.[60] In April 2004, Asner wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9–11 truth" through the organization 9-11 Visibility Project.[61] In 2011, Asner hosted the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth documentary on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, which endorses the theory that the building was taken down by controlled demolition.[62][63] Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.[64]
Personal life and death[edit]
Asner was married to Nancy Lou Sykes from 1959 to 1988. They had three children, twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. In 1987, he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman.[73][74] Asner was a parent and a grandparent to autistic children and was involved with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Autism Speaks.[75] He also served as a board member and adviser for Aspiritech, a nonprofit organization that trains high-functioning autistic persons to test software and perform quality-assurance services for companies.[76][77]
Asner became engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991. They married on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for legal separation on November 7, 2007.[78] Asner filed for divorce in 2015.[79]
Asner died of natural causes at his home in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on August 29, 2021, at the age of 91.[7][80][81] He was buried at Sheffield Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 12.[82]
Numerous celebrities paid tribute to Asner, including Maureen McCormick, George Takei, Mark Hamill, Michael McKean, Bradley Whitford, Josh Gad, Mia Farrow, Andy Richter, Katie Couric, Denis O'Hare, Mira Sorvino, Eric Stonestreet, Niecy Nash, Yvette Nicole Brown, Michael Moore, Rosario Dawson, Rosanna Arquette,[83] Ben Stiller, The Muppets, William Baldwin,[84] Greg Weisman,[85] William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Bob Peterson, Bill Farmer, and Zooey Deschanel.[86]