Actor Ed Asner TVs blustery Lou Grant dies at 91
LOS ANGELES (AP) â" Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy âThe Mary Tyler Moore Showâ and later in the drama âLou Grant,â died Sunday. He was 91.
Asnerâs representative confirmed the actorâs death in an email to The Associated Press. Asnerâs official Twitter account included a note from his children: âWe are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you.â
Built like the football lineman he once was, the balding Asner was a journeyman actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on âThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.â For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Mooreâs ebullient Mary Richards (He called her âMary,â she called him âMr. Grantâ) at the fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on âLou Grant.â
The part brought Asner three best supporting actor Emmys on âMary Tyler Mooreâ and two best actor awards on âLou Grant.â He also won Emmys for his roles in the miniseries âRich Man, Poor Manâ (1975-1976) and âRootsâ (1976-1977).
He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles. In 2003, he played Santa Claus in Will Ferrellâs hit film âElf.â He was John Goodmanâs father in the short-lived 2004 CBS comedy âCenter of the Universeâ and the voice of the elderly hero in the hit 2009 Pixar release, âUp.â More recently, he was in such TV series as âForgive Meâ and âDead to Me.â
Nonetheless, Asner told The Associated Press in 2009 that interesting roles were hard to come by.
âI never get enough work,â he said. âItâs the history of my career. There just isnât anything to turn down, let me put it that way.â
âIâd say most people are probably in that same boat, old people, and itâs a shame,â he said.
As Screen Actors Guild president, the liberal Asner was caught up in a political controversy in 1982 when he spoke out against U.S. involvement with repressive governments in Latin America. âLou Grantâ was canceled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985.
Asner discussed his politicization in a 2002 interview, noting he had begun his career during the McCarthy era and for years had been afraid to speak out for fear of being blacklisted.
Then he saw a nunâs film depicting the cruelties inflicted by El Salvadorâs government on that countryâs citizens.
âI stepped out to complain about our countryâs constant arming and fortifying of the military in El Salvador, who were oppressing their people,â he said.
Former SAG President Charlton Heston and others accused him of making un-American statements and of misusing his position as head of their actorsâ union.
âWe even had bomb threats at the time. I had armed guards,â Asner recalled.
The actor blamed the controversy for ending the five-year run of âLou Grant,â although CBS insisted declining ratings were the reason the show was canceled.
Asnerâs character had caught on from the first episode of âMary Tyler Moore,â when he told Mary in their initial meeting, âYouâve got spunk. ⦠I hate spunk!â The inspired cast included Ted Knight as Ted Baxter, the dimwitted news anchor; Gavin MacLeod as Murray Slaughter, the sarcastic news writer; and Betty White as the manipulative, sex-obsessed home show hostess Sue Ann Nivens. Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman, playing Maryâs neighbors, both saw their characters spun off into their own shows.
âMary Tyler Mooreâ was still a hit when the star decided to pursue other interests, and so it was brought to an end in the seventh season with a hilarious finale in which all of the principals were fired except for the bumbling Baxter.
Asner went immediately into âLou Grant,â his character moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to become city editor of the Tribune, a crusading newspaper under the firm hand of Publisher Margaret Pynchon, memorably played by Nancy Marchand.
Although the show had its light moments, its scripts touched on a variety of darker social issues that most series wouldnât touch at the time, including alcoholism and homelessness. Asner remained politically active for the rest of his life and in 2017 published the book âThe Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs.â
Asner, born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1929, almost became a newsman in real life. He studied journalism at the University of Chicago until a professor told him there was little money to be made in the profession.
He quickly switched to drama, debuting as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T.S. Eliotâs âMurder in the Cathedral.â
He eventually dropped out of school, going to work as a taxi driver and other jobs before being drafted in 1951. He served with the Army Signal Corps in France.
Returning to Chicago after military service, he appeared at the Playwrights Theatre Club and Second City, the famed satire troupe that launched the careers of dozens of top comedians.
Later, in New York, he joined the long-running âThe Threepenny Operaâ and appeared opposite Jack Lemmon in âFace of a Hero.â
Arriving in Hollywood in 1961 for an episode of televisionâs âNaked City,â Asner decided to stay and appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including the film âEl Dorado,â opposite John Wayne; and the Elvis Presley vehicles âKid Galahadâ and âChange of Habit.â He was a regular in the 1960s political drama series âSlatteryâs People.â
He was married twice, to Nancy Lou Sykes and Cindy Gilmore, and had four children, Matthew, Liza, Kate and Charles.
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