Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101

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2019 Invision

FILE - Honoree Norman Lear makes his speech at "The Paley Honors: A Special Tribute to Television's Comedy Legends" at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with such topical hits as "All in the Family" and Maude and propelled political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, has died, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.. He was 101. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES ā€“ Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with "All in the Family," ā€œThe Jeffersonsā€ and ā€œMaude,ā€ propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of TV sitcoms, has died. He was 101.

Lear died Tuesday night in his sleep, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said Lara Bergthold, a spokesperson for his family.

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A liberal activist with an eye for mainstream entertainment, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world. His shows helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s, launched the careers of Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli and made middle-aged superstars of Carroll O'Connor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx.

Lear ā€œtook television away from dopey wives and dumb fathers, from the pimps, hookers, hustlers, private eyes, junkies, cowboys and rustlers that constituted television chaos, and in their place he put the American people,ā€ the late Paddy Chayefsky, a leading writer of televisionā€™s early ā€œgolden age,ā€ once said.

Tributes poured in after his death: ā€œI loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family,ā€ Reiner wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "More than anyone before him, Norman used situation comedy to shine a light on prejudice, intolerance, and inequality. He created families that mirrored ours,ā€ Jimmy Kimmel said.

ā€œAll in the Familyā€ was immersed in the headlines of the day, while also drawing upon Lear's childhood memories of his tempestuous father. Racism, feminism, and the Vietnam War were flashpoints as blue collar conservative Archie Bunker, played by O'Connor, clashed with liberal son-in-law Mike Stivic (Reiner). Jean Stapleton co-starred as Archieā€™s befuddled but good-hearted wife, Edith, and Sally Struthers played the Bunkers' daughter, Gloria, who defended her husband in arguments with Archie.

Lear's work transformed television at a time when old-fashioned programs such as ā€œHereā€™s Lucy,ā€ ā€œIronsideā€ and ā€œGunsmokeā€ still dominated. CBS, Learā€™s primary network, would soon enact its ā€œrural purgeā€ and cancel such standbys as ā€œThe Beverly Hillbilliesā€ and ā€œGreen Acres.ā€ The groundbreaking sitcom ā€œThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,ā€ about a single career woman in Minneapolis, debuted on CBS in September 1970, just months before ā€œAll in the Familyā€ started.

But ABC passed on ā€œAll in the Familyā€ twice and CBS ran a disclaimer when it finally aired the show: ā€œThe program you are about to see is ā€˜All in the Family.ā€™ It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.ā€

By the end of 1971, ā€œAll In the Familyā€ was No. 1 in the ratings and Archie Bunker was a pop culture fixture, with President Richard Nixon among his fans. Some of his putdowns became catchphrases. He called his son-in-law ā€œMeatheadā€ and his wife ā€œDingbat,ā€ and would snap at anyone who dared occupy his faded orange-yellow wing chair. It was the centerpiece of the Bunkers' rowhouse in Queens, and eventually went on display in the Smithsonianā€™s National Museum of American History.

Even the showā€™s opening segment was innovative: Instead of an off-screen theme song, Archie and Edith are seated at the piano in their living room, belting out a nostalgic number, ā€œThose Were the Days,ā€ with Edith screeching off-key and Archie crooning such lines as ā€œDidnā€™t need no welfare stateā€ and ā€œGirls were girls and men were men.ā€

ā€œAll in the Family,ā€ based on the British sitcom, ā€œTil Death Us Do Part,ā€ was the No. 1-rated series for an unprecedented five years in a row and earned four Emmy Awards as best comedy series, finally eclipsed by five-time winner ā€œFrasierā€ in 1998.

Hits continued for Lear and then-partner Bud Yorkin, including ā€œMaudeā€ and ā€œThe Jeffersons,ā€ both spinoffs from ā€œAll in the Family,ā€ with the same winning combination of one-liners and social conflict. In a 1972 two-part episode of ā€œMaude,ā€ the title character (played by Arthur) became the first on television to have an abortion, drawing a surge of protests along with high ratings. And when a close friend of Archie's turned out to be gay, Nixon privately fumed to White House aides that the show ā€œglorifiedā€ same-sex relationships.

ā€œControversy suggests people are thinking about something. But thereā€™d better be laughing first and foremost or itā€™s a dog,ā€ Lear said in a 1994 interview with The Associated Press.

Lear and Yorkin also created ā€œGood Times,ā€ about a working class Black family in Chicago; ā€œSanford & Son,ā€ a showcase for Foxx as junkyard dealer Fred Sanford; and ā€œOne Day at a Time,ā€ starring Bonnie Franklin as a single mother and Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as her daughters. In the 1974-75 season, Lear and Yorkin produced five of the top 10 shows.

Learā€™s business success enabled him to express his ardent political beliefs beyond the small screen. In 2000, he and a partner bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence for $8.14 million and sent it on a cross-country tour.

He was an active donor to Democratic candidates and founded the nonprofit liberal advocacy group People for the American Way in 1980, he said, because people such as evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were ā€œabusing religion.ā€

"I started to say, ā€˜This is not my America. You donā€™t mix politics and religion this way,ā€™ā€ Lear said in a 1992 interview with Commonweal magazine.

The nonprofit's president, Svante Myrick, said ā€œwe are heartbrokenā€ by Lear's death. ā€œWe extend our deepest sympathies to Normanā€™s wife Lyn and their entire family, and to the many people whoā€‹, like us,ā€‹ loved Norman.ā€

With his wry smile and impish boat hat, the youthful Lear created television well into his 90s, rebooting ā€œOne Day at a Timeā€ for Netflix in 2017 and exploring income inequality for the documentary series ā€œAmerica Dividedā€ in 2016. Documentarians featured him in 2016's ā€œNorman Lear: Just Another Version of You,ā€ and 2017's ā€œIf Youā€™re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,ā€ a look at active nonagenarians such as Lear and Rob Reinerā€™s father, Carl Reiner.

In 1984, he was lauded as the ā€œinnovative writer who brought realism to televisionā€ when he became one of the first seven people inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciencesā€™ Hall of Fame. He later received a National Medal of Arts and was honored at the Kennedy Center. In 2020, he won an Emmy as executive producer of ā€œ Live In Front of a Studio Audience: ā€˜All In the Familyā€™ and ā€˜Good Timesā€™.ā€™ā€

Lear beat the tough TV odds to an astounding degree: At least one of his shows placed in prime-timeā€™s top 10 for 11 consecutive years (1971-82). But Lear had flops as well.

Shows including ā€œHot L Baltimore,ā€ ā€œPalmerstownā€ and ā€œa.k.a. Pablo,ā€ a rare Hispanic series, drew critical favor but couldnā€™t find an audience; others, such as ā€œAll That Glittersā€ and ā€œThe Nancy Walker Show,ā€ earned neither. He also faced resistance from cast members, including ā€œGood Timesā€ stars John Amos and Esther Rolle, who often objected to the scripts as racially insensitive, and endured a mid-season walkout by Foxx, who missed eight episodes in 1973-74 because of a contract dispute.

In the 1990s, the comedy ā€œ704 Hauser,ā€ which returned to the Bunker house with a new family, and the political satire ā€œThe Powers that Beā€ were both short-lived.

Learā€™s business moves, meanwhile, were almost consistently fruitful.

Lear started T.A.T. Communications in 1974 to be ā€œsole creative captain of his ship,ā€ his former business partner Jerry Perenchio told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. The company became a major TV producer with shows including ā€œOne Day at a Timeā€ and the soap-opera spoof ā€œMary Hartman Mary Hartman,ā€ which Lear distributed himself after it was rejected by the networks.

In 1982, Lear and Perenchio bought Avco-Embassy Pictures and formed Embassy Communications as T.A.T.ā€™s successor, becoming successfully involved in movies, home video, pay TV and cable ownership. In 1985, Lear and Perenchio sold Embassy to Coca-Cola for $485 million. They had sold their cable holdings the year before, reportedly for a hefty profit.

By 1986, Lear was on Forbes magazineā€™s list of the 400 richest people in America, with an estimated net worth of $225 million. He didnā€™t make the cut the next year after a $112 million divorce settlement for his second wife, Frances. They had been married 29 years and had two daughters.

He married his third wife, psychologist Lyn Davis, in 1987 and the couple had three children. (Frances Lear, who went on to found the now-defunct Learā€™s magazine with her settlement, died in 1996 at age 73.)

Lear was born in New Haven, Conn. on July 27, 1922, to Herman Lear, a securities broker who served time in prison for selling fake bonds, and Jeanette, a homemaker who helped inspire Edith Bunker. Like a sitcom, his family life was full of quirks and grudges, ā€œa group of people living at the ends of their nerves and the tops of their lungs,ā€ he explained during a 2004 appearance at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

His political activism had deep roots. In a 1984 interview with The New York Times, Lear recalled how, at age 10, he would mail letters for his Russian immigrant grandfather, Shia Seicol, which began ā€œMy dearest darling Mr. President,ā€ to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sometimes a reply came.

ā€œThat my grandfather mattered made me feel every citizen mattered,ā€ said Lear, who at 15 was sending his own messages to Congress via Western Union.

He dropped out of Emerson College 1942 to enlist in the Air Force and flew 52 combat missions in Europe as a turret gunner, earning a Decorated Air Medal. After World War II, he worked in public relations.

Lear began writing in the early 1950s on shows including ā€œThe Colgate Comedy Hourā€ and for such comedians as Martha Raye and George Gobel. In 1959, he and Yorkin founded Tandem Productions, which produced films including ā€œCome Blow Your Horn,ā€ ā€œStart the Revolution Without Meā€ and ā€œDivorce American Style.ā€ Lear also directed the 1971 satire ā€œCold Turkey,ā€ starring Dick Van Dyke about a small town that takes on a tobacco companyā€™s offer of $25 million to quit smoking for 30 days.

In his later years, Lear joined with Warren Buffett and James E. Burke to establish The Business Enterprise Trust, honoring businesses that take a long-term view of their effect on the country. He also founded the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern Californiaā€™s Annenberg School for Communication, exploring entertainment, commerce and society and also spent time at his home in Vermont. In 2014, he published the memoir ā€œEven This I Get to Experience.ā€

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Longtime AP Television Writer Lynn Elber retired from The Associated Press in 2022. Contributors include Alicia Rancilio in Detroit and Hillel Italie in New York.


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