Television Producer-Writer Norman Lear Dies at 101
Newsmax.com
Wednesday,
06 December 2023 08:42 AM EST
https://www.newsmax.com/thewire/norman-lear-obit/2023/12/06/id/1144939/
Television
producer-writer Norman Lear, whose groundbreaking hit comedy shows such as
"All in the Family" and "Maude" addressed social issues
like race and abortion that had rarely been seen on U.S. television, died
Wednesday at the age of 101, according to media reports.
Lear,
one of the most influential people in television, died at his Los Angeles home
of natural causes, his publicist told Variety.
Lear,
who won six Emmy awards for his work in television, was known for his
campaigning for liberal causes, including voting rights, and worked well into
his 90s.
In
2017, he rebooted his 1970s TV series "One Day at a Time" to focus on
a Cuban American family, and in 2020 he earned his sixth Emmy for a live
special broadcast of "All in the Family" and "Good Times."
In
February 2021, Lear received the Carol Burnett Award, a lifetime achievement
award, at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony for his contributions to television.
In
addition to "All in the Family" and "Maude," Lear dominated
American TV screens in the 1970s and '80s with the situation-comedy shows
"Sanford and Son," "The Jeffersons," and the soap-opera
spoof "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." At one point in the 1970s Lear
had eight shows on the air with an estimated 120 million viewers, Time magazine
said.
By
drawing material from social themes of the time, Lear's shows made network
executives nervous because they had a depth and air of controversy.
"For
him to say that he didn't have an impact on not only television but society is
... a little too humble," said Rob Reiner, who had a co-starring role on
"All in the Family" before becoming a film director.
Lear
and production partner Bud Yorkin put "All in the Family" on the air
in January 1971 and the show would go on to win four Emmys for best comedy in
its nine seasons. It was based on a British show, "Til Death Do Us
Part," and gave U.S. television one of its most memorable and
controversial characters - Archie Bunker.
Carroll
O'Connor portrayed Archie as a crude, loud, blue-collar New Yorker who spouted
racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic comments. He was cast against a
scatter-brained wife he called "Dingbat," a liberal daughter and an
even more liberal son-in-law he referred to as "Meathead" and played
by Reiner.
"All
in the Family" was the top-rated show on U.S. television for five straight
years, according to CBS, and TV Guide ranked it fourth on its list of
television's all-time greatest shows.
Born
on July 27, 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Norman Milton Lear's most lasting
creation was partly based on fact. Many of the harsh words that came out of
Archie's mouth had first been spoken by Lear's own father, Herman Lear, who
went to prison for selling fake bonds, and frequently told his wife to
"stifle" herself and called his son "the laziest white kid I
ever saw."
"I
grew up in a family that lived at the top of its lungs and the ends of its
nerves," Lear told Esquire magazine.
Some
critics said the Archie Bunker character put a laughing face on bigotry but
Lear said it only pointed to the complexity of humanity.
As
with Bunker, the character was like none previously seen on U.S. television.
Maude was on her fourth husband, protested marijuana laws and had an abortion
before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide. Her husband
battled alcoholism, had two nervous breakdowns and attempted suicide.
Black
characters in U.S. television in the '70s were mostly limited to minor roles
until Lear made them the focus of some of his shows.
"The
Jeffersons" was another spin-off of "All in the Family" and
featured an upwardly mobile Black couple who moved to Manhattan's glitzy upper
eastside neighborhood. The show's lead character George was often rude and
loud. Lear's other hits included "Sanford and Son" a sitcom about a
Black junkyard owner in a Los Angeles neighborhood, and "Good Times,"
a protrayal of a working-class Black family in a Chicago housing project.
Other
Lear-produced hits included "Diff'rent Strokes," "Fernwood 2
Night," and the "All in the Family" spin-off "Archie
Bunker's Place." But Lear also had flops such as "All That
Glitters," "Sunday Dinner" and another "All in the
Family" spin-off, "Gloria."
Lear,
who grew up in Connecticut, dropped out of college in World War Two to join the
Army and flew 52 combat missions. He went to Los Angeles in 1950 with the
intention of being a publicist but began writing for TV stars such as Danny
Thomas, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Andy Williams.
Lear
shifted focus in 1981 and founded the liberal activist group People
for the American Way to
boost voting rights and fight right-wing extremism. He also established the
Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School
of Communication.
In
2001, he and a partner purchased an original copy of the U.S. Declaration of
Independence and sent it on a three-year tour of U.S. schools, libraries and
events.
Lear
is survived by his third wife, Lyn, and his six children. (Writing and
reporting by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Diane
Craft)
Connecting
the Dots:
Norman Lear was a
director at People for the American Way, married to Lyn
Davis Lear and the president of the Lear Family Foundation.
Lear
Family Foundation was a funder for People for the American Way.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder
for People for the American Way and the Sundance Institute.
George Soros was the chairman for
the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Lyn Davis Lear is
a trustee at the Sundance Institute, a director at the Lear
Family Foundation and married to Norman Lear.
Resources:
Past Research
Norman
Lear: Donald Trump is America’s ‘Middle Finger’ to Establishment (Past Research on Narman Lear)
THURSDAY,
OCTOBER 22, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/10/norman-lear-donald-trump-is-americas.html
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