Where To Watch
R.I.P. Ed Asner, TV legend, star of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant
He held the record for the most Emmy awards of any male performer and shaped Chicago's improv scene. He was 91.
Ed Asner, the entertainment icon known by millions as Lou Grant of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its successful spinoff, Lou Grant, passed peacefully in his home on Sunday, August 29, 2021. He was 91 years old.
"You've got spunk." That's what Asner as Lou Grant tells Mary Richards when she walks into his office to interview for a job that he's already filled on the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. "I hate spunk," he says, when Mary foolishly takes the comment for a good thing. Of course, he hires Mary anyway, for a job he "wanted a man for," and that began one of TV history's best workplace friendships of all time.
But before he met Mary Tyler Moore in a sitcom that would shape the landscape of TV, he was already making changes in Chicago's entertainment industry that would last for decades. Chicago has a legendary improv comedy scene that has produced many of today's top comedians. Asner was one of the first performers to come from what would become the Second City. After serving in the military, Asner joined the Playwrights Theatre Club. The group eventually turned into the Compass Players, which later morphed into The Second City.
While Lou Grant was skeptical about hiring Mary, it was Mary Tyler Moore who would hand-pick Asner for the role that would rocket him into TV legends. "I read as I thought they wanted to hear me read, and they laughed and said the appropriate 'Thank you, we’ll be in touch,'" Asner said. "From what I heard, after I left, Mary turned to them and, with a tremendously screwed-up face, said, 'Are you sure?' I don’t blame her for asking the question that way, because it was a meshuggeneh reading. The producers then said to her, 'That’s your Lou Grant.'"
Asner would go on to have the rare honor of being the only actor to win a comedy and drama Primetime Emmy as the same role, which he picked up as Lou Grant. Furthermore, he would become the most awarded male performer in Emmy history with seven wins, five of them being for his role as Grant.
Younger generations might know Asner better as his emotional voice acting role of Carl Fredricksen in the Oscar-winning animaed movie, Up. Additionally, he joined the ranks of holiday movie classics when he appeared as Santa Claus in the 2003 Will Ferrell movie, Elf. This was only one of five times he donned the red suit; he also wore it on an episode of Highway to Heaven (1986), The Story of Santa Claus (1996), Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999), and The Ellen Show (2001).
In 2001, he was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Acheivement Award.
His legacy will live on with The Ed Asner Family Center, launched in 2017 by Asner’s son, Matt Asner, and daughter-in-law Navah Paskowitz Asner. The center provides counseling services, support groups, enrichment programs and camps to special needs individuals and their families.
Related
54 Comments
He will be missed.
RIP Mr. Asner
Ed Asner was also in the classic 1977 TV movie "The Gathering," co-starring Maureen Stapleton and also Rebecca Balding, who was also on "Lou Grant" (she played one of Asner's daughters in "The Gathering").
Glad I found the DVD of "The Gathering." I watch that every Christmas season now.
Again - Rest in peace, Ed Asner!
Try and do him in my characters
And you can't mention her without mentioning "My World and Welcome to It".
Her career didn't last long, too bad, but she was on a number of "classic MeTV shows"
Descriptions are used for the purpose of billing, which equals compensation (and prestige = influence). IF a series has only a single Lead (which is arguable) in addition to the "Star" billing in that way, there can be a designation of "Also Starring" of which ST:TOS (All Our Yesterdays) is an example. Functionally speaking the actors, in addition to their billing status, still support one another, working as an ensemble cast, or the series would only be about "Kirk" which it isn't. Same for MASH.
MTM, as did Cheers functioned as ensemble productions. MTM so admitted in an interview, being more than happy to share the spotlight with her fellow talent. Screen time is relative, to story lines and availability but doesn't devalue an actor's contribution/placement. Just how the stories are written, and the purpose they play. While Pickles in DVD is a different example, most wives as discussed eventually appear.
Anthologies work differently. Often in Alfred Hitchcock or Twilight Zone there can be a single Star billing, and the additional actors are truly for background. So the difference is whether recurring or incidental appearances.
(We've gone over this topic before. Billing is complicated).
Lou Grant would fit MeTV, about the same vintage as Rockford (pr Lomgstreet, or Harry O)
"Lou Grant" is also on DVD from Shout! Factory.
RIP, Ed Asner.
Winner Lead Actor, Drama, LG, 79, 78
Winner Single Performance, Supporting, Roots, 77
Winner Lead Single Appearance, Drama, Rich Man, Poor Man, 76
Winner, Outstanding Continuous Performance, Supporting, MTM, Comedy, 75, 72, 71
Except for Roots, he was so much himself in the roles, yet, convincing, effective characters, Comedy or Drama, Single Appearance, Leading or Supporting. Just the Wins alone (plus many nominations) so consistently awarded is really something.