Farewell Lou Grant
Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who played the gruff but lovable newsman in two television shows, dies at 91.
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 in the drama “Lou Grant,” died Sunday. He was 91.
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 headgoodnight dad. We love you.”
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 at the 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 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 played Mary’s neighbors.
Asner is the third “Mary Tyler Moore” alum to die in recent months. Leachman died in January and Macleod died in March.
The 99-year-old White is the lone surviving main cast member from “Mary Tyler Moore.”
“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.
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” (19751976) and “Roots” (19761977).
He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles. More recently, he was in such TV series as “Forgive Me” and “Dead to Me.”
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 canceled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985.
Former SAG President Charlton Heston and others accused him of making un-american statements and of misusing his position as head of their actors union.
The actor blamed the controversy for ending the five-year run of “Lou Grant,” although CBS
insisted declining ratings were the reason the show was canceled.
Asner, born in Kansas City, Mo., 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.
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.
Later, in New York, he joined the long-running “The Threepenny Opera” and appeared opposite Jack Lemmon in “Face of a Hero.”
Arriving in Hollywood in 1961 for an episode of television’s “Naked City,” Asner decided to stay and appeared in numerous movies and TV shows.
He was married twice, to Nancy Lou Sykes and Cindy Gilmore, and had four children, Matthew, Liza, Kate and Charles.