Ed Asner
Ed Asner | |
---|---|
Tarzana, California, U.S. | |
Resting place | Sheffield Cemetery, Kansas City |
Alma mater | University of Chicago (dropped out) |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1957–2021 |
Works | Full list |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Nancy Sykes
(m. 1959; div. 1988)Cindy Gilmore
(m. 1998; div. 2015) |
Children | 4 |
Awards | Full list |
21st President of the Screen Actors Guild | |
In office November 3, 1981 – June 20, 1985 | |
Preceded by | William Schallert |
Succeeded by | Patty Duke |
Military career | |
Service/ | United States Army |
Years of service | 1951–1953 |
Eddie Asner[1] (/ˈæznər/; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is best remembered 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.
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
Asner was born
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]
Career
1955–1969: Early work and television roles
Following his military service, Asner helped found the Playwrights Theatre Company in Chicago, but left for
Before he landed his role with
1970–1982: The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant
Asner was best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after Moore's series ended, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore series, a thirty-minute award-winning comedy about television journalism, the Lou Grant series was an hour-long award-winning drama about newspaper journalism. For his role as Grant, Asner was one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role (the second being Uzo Aduba). In addition he made appearances as Lou Grant on two other shows: Rhoda and Roseanne.[16] Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also starred in one episode of the western series Dead Man's Gun (1997), as well as portraying art smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-0 (2012) remake.[17] He also appeared as a veteran streetwise officer in an episode of the 1973 version of Police Story.[18]
Asner was acclaimed for his role in the ABC miniseries
1983–2009: Established actor and voice work
Asner had an extensive
Asner provided the voice of the main protagonist Carl Fredricksen in the
In 2001, Asner was the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.[31] Asner won more Emmy Awards for performing than any other male actor (seven, including five for the role of Lou Grant). In 1996, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.[32][33]
2010–2021: Later roles
In July 2010, Asner completed recording sessions for Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders; a documentary on the 1974 DeFeo murders in Amityville, New York. Asner served as the narrator for the film, which covers a forensic analysis of the murders, the trial in which 23-year-old DeFeo son Ronald DeFeo Jr., was convicted of the killings, and the subsequent "haunting" story which is revealed to be a hoax.
Asner also provided voice-over narration for many documentaries and films about social activism, including Tiger by the Tail, a documentary film detailing the efforts of
In 2018, Asner was cast in the Netflix dark comedy, Dead to Me, which premiered on May 3, 2019. The series also stars Christina Applegate, Linda Cardellini, and James Marsden. Asner also had a recurring guest role in the 2018–present series Cobra Kai, portraying Johnny Lawrence's step-father, Sid Weinberg, in seasons one and three.[44] In 2020 he guest starred in an episode of the eleventh and final season of Modern Family and in 2021 played himself in a sketch on Let's Be Real.[45] The 2019 feature documentary by Kurt Jacobsen and Warren Leming entitled Ed Asner: On Stage and Off premiered at the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, which Asner attended,[46][47] and since screened at a dozen more festivals, including a European premiere at the Oxford International Film Festival.[citation needed] In 2013, he played Santa in Christmas on the Bayou.[48]
Beginning in 2016, Asner took on the role of
In the week before his death, Asner told his frequent collaborators, Greg Palast and Leni Badpenny, that he soon would be doing three one-act plays.[10] At the time of his death in August 2021, Asner had completed several roles in a number of TV series and films released posthumously, including three of his final productions released on the Disney+ streaming service. He reprised his voice role as Carl Fredricksen from the Pixar film Up in the Disney+ animated miniseries of shorts Dug Days (2021), which was the first to premiere, just three days after his death. Asner played a posthumous cameo role as the Ghost of Claude in the Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) and provided the voice of Grandpa Heffley in the Disney+ animated film adaptation Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022), released over a year after his death. The final short film in the Dug Days series, Carl's Date, which includes Asner's recorded voice-over performance as Carl Fredricksen, did not premiere on Disney+, but it was released in theaters along with the Pixar animated feature film Elemental on June 16, 2023, nearly two years after his death and also served as the finale of the Up franchise. These were his last four acting works overall for Disney and were all dedicated to his memory. Many of Asner's other posthumous projects on what would become his final film roles are yet to be announced for a release, but still in post-production and remained unreleased, those upcoming films include Altered Reality (2024), A Fargo Christmas Story, Deadly Draw, Scarlett and Unplugged.[citation needed]
Activism
Politics
He played a prominent role in the
The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had high ratings, being in the
Asner endorsed
Nonprofit organizations
Asner was on the Entertainment Board of Directors for The Survivor Mitzvah Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing direct emergency aid to elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.[63] Asner was a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a free speech organization that is dedicated to protecting comic book creators and retailers from prosecutions based on content. He served as an advisor to the Rosenberg Fund for Children, an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which provides benefits for the children of political activists, and was a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. Asner also sat on the advisory board for Exceptional Minds, a non-profit school and a computer animation studio for young adults on the autism spectrum.[64]
Asner was a supporter of Humane Borders, an organization based in
In November 2017, The Ed Asner Family Center was founded by Asner's son, Matt, and daughter-in-law, Navah Paskowitz. The Center provides arts and vocational enrichments, counseling services, and support groups and camps to special needs individuals and their families.[66]
SAG involvement
Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity during the 1980s he opposed United States policy in Central America, working closely with the Alliance for Survival.
On March 30, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) completed a merger of equals, forming a new union SAG-AFTRA. Asner was adamantly opposed to such a merger, arguing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors.[67] Asner and a group of fellow actors and voice-actors, including Martin Sheen and Ed Harris, filed (but later dropped) a lawsuit against SAG president Ken Howard and several SAG vice presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned, and the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.[68]
Community theater
In 2021, Asner traveled to Monte Rio, California to support the reopening, revitalization, and shifted focus of the local Monte Rio Theater.[69][70]
Personal life and death
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.[71][72] Asner was a parent and a grandparent to autistic children and was involved with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Autism Speaks.[73] 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.[74][75]
Asner became engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991. They married on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for legal separation on November 7, 2007.[76] Asner filed for divorce in 2015.[77]
Asner died of
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,[81] Ben Stiller, The Muppets, William Baldwin,[82] Greg Weisman,[83] William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Bob Peterson, Bill Farmer, and Zooey Deschanel.[84]
References
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- ^ Choe, Brandon (August 29, 2021). "Ed Asner's Career Television & Film Career: A Photo Gallery". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
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- ^ "Jane Bucklin Petty". Obituaries. Deseret News. December 5, 2017 – via legacy.com.
In 2006 at age 90, she appeared on the Jay Leno Show where she won the segment, 'Does This Impress Ed Asner?'
- ^ Fischbach, Bob; Stickney, Dane (December 28, 2008). "Iowa man appears on 'Tonight Show'". Entertainment News & Notes. Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009.
Fett ... took part in the 'Does This Impress Ed Asner?' segment.
- ^ DiNunno, Gina (June 13, 2010). "Ed Asner Signs On to CMT Comedy Pilot". TV Guide. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010.
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- YouTube
- ^ "SAG-AFTRA: Dismissal Formalized In SAG-AFTRA Merger Lawsuit". The Hollywood Reporter. May 22, 2012.
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- ^ "The Historic RIO THEATER Promo Video". January 27, 2021.
- ^ "Asner Admits Baby Boy Is His Illegitimate Child". Deseret News. June 18, 1988. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ "Ed Asner Fast Facts". CNN. October 27, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ "mickeynews.com". Archived from the original on July 20, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2009., writing "James Denton ... applauded hosts of the organization's autism awareness public service announcements, including celebrity parents of children with autism, Ed Asner, Gary Cole, Joe Mantegna and John Schneider."
- ^ "Advisors". Aspiritech. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ Tachibana, Chris (December 8, 2009). "Autism seen as asset, not liability, in some jobs". NBC News. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
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- ^ Fowler, Tara (May 15, 2015). "Ed Asner Files For Divorce 8 Years After Separating From Wife". People. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ Dagan, Carmel; Natale, Richard (August 29, 2021). "Ed Asner, Emmy-Winning 'Lou Grant' Star, Dies at 91". Variety. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ Barnes, Mike (August 29, 2021). "Ed Asner Dead: Lou Grant on 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' Was 91". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Dulle, Brian (September 19, 2021). "In private ceremony, Hollywood actor Ed Asner buried with family in Kansas City". WDAF-TV. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ Yasharoff, Hannah (August 30, 2021). "Hollywood mourns Ed Asner: 'You made and will continue to make this world a better place' Was 91". USA Today. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
- ^ Yasharoff, Hannah (August 30, 2021). "Ed Asner: Lou Grant and Up actor dies aged 91". BBC.com. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
- ^ "Greg Weisman's tribute to Asner summed up in short words". Twitter. August 29, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ West, Amy (January 29, 2021). "Zooey Deschanel pays sweet tribute to Elf co-star after his death". Digital Spy. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
External links
- Ed Asner at AllMovie
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Ed Asner at the Internet Broadway Database
- Ed Asner at IMDb
- Ed Asner at the TCM Movie Database
- Ed Asner at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
- Ed Asner discography at Discogs