Legendary Hollywood producer Norman Lear, who was responsible for some of the most popular television shows of the 1970s, has died at the age of 101.
“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Lear’s family said in a statement, per Variety. “Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”
Lear had his first big hit with the sitcom “All In the Family” featuring Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) as the family patriarch of a working-class family. The program soon became the most-watched show in the United States and is regarded by many as one of the best sitcoms ever created.
Lear’s next hit TV sitcom was “Sanford and Son,” which focused on a black widower father and his son living in Los Angeles. It’s seen as a precursor to many other black-focused comedies to come.
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Other shows credited to Lear include “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” which were both spin-offs of “All in the Family,” “One Day at a Time,” and “Good Times.” He also worked on film scripts for popular projects, including writing scripts for “Come Blow Your Horn” (1963); “The Night They Raided Minsky’s” (1968); “The Thief Who Came to Dinner” (1971); “Stand by Me” (1986) and “The Princess Bride” (1987), and “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991).
The TV producer received many awards over the course of his career, including six Emmys, two Peabody Awards, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award in 2021. He was also a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Lear, who was a liberal, is well known for creating one of the most iconic politically incorrect characters of all time in Archie Bunker, whom he said he based on his own father. Lear later compared President Donald Trump to Bunker. He’s also remembered for addressing social issues of the day, including racism, abortion, homosexuality, and the Vietnam War. In a two-part episode of “Maude” which aired in 1973, the main character opts to have an abortion after becoming unexpectedly pregnant at the age of 47. This was the first time a character on primetime television had an abortion, and the narrative happened to coincide with the historic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
In the ’80s, Lear dropped out of television and founded the liberal public-interest group People For The American Way.
When asked if he found his shows controversial during a 2005 Onion A.V. Club interview, the producer replied, “My shows were not that controversial with the American people. They were controversial with the people who think for the American people. That’s a very hard thing to help the establishment know. We’re still an establishment that thinks the average mentality is something like 13 years of age, that never forgot H.L. Mencken’s notion that nobody lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people. That’s the horsesh** the establishment has always lived with.”
Lear went on to say the American people were not “the best educated” but “wise at heart.”