Asner, TV’s blustery Lou Grant, dies at 91
LOS ANGELES — 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 The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later in the drama Lou Grant, died Sunday. He was 91.
Asner's representative confirmed the actor's death in an email to The Associated Press. Asner's official Twitter account included a note from his children: “We 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.”
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 The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore’s ebullient Mary Richards (He called her “Mary,” she called him “Mr. Grant”) at a fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on Lou Grant.
Asner’s character had caught on from the first episode of Mary Tyler Moore, when he told Mary in their initial meeting, “You've got spunk ... I hate spunk!” 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 home show hostess Sue Ann Nivens. Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman, playing Mary’s neighbours, both saw their characters spun off into their own shows.
Asner is the third Mary Tyler Moore alum to die in recent months. Leachman died in January and MacLeod died in May.
The 99-year-old White is the lone surviving main cast member.
Mary Tyler Moore 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 Lou Grant, his character moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to become city editor of the Tribune, a crusading newspaper.
Asner won three best supporting actor Emmys on Mary Tyler Moore and two best actor awards on Lou Grant. He also won Emmys for his roles in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1975-76) and Roots (197677).
He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles.
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. Lou Grant was cancelled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985.
“There have been few actors of Ed Asner's prominence who risked their status to fight for social causes the way Ed did,” said actor Gabrielle Carteris, who is SAGAFTRA’s president. She noted that his advocacy “did not stop with performers. He fought for victims of poverty, violence, war, and legal and social injustice, both in the United States and around the globe.”