Legendary actor Ed Asner of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and ‘Lou Grant’ fame died peacefully on Sunday, aged 91, as informed by his family on Twitter.
The prolific actor gave soul to one of the iconic characters in U.S television history – the harsh yet lovable newsman Lou Grant in the superhit comedy series ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’.
Asner remained active throughout his 70s, 80s, and 90s and might be recognizable to young fans as the one who voiced the widower Carl Fredricksen in Pixar’s hit 2009 animated movie, Up.
The late actor’s family took to Twitter to share the heartbreaking news, adding, “With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you.”
Ed Asner’s achievements in the U.S acting industry remain unparalleled. Asner won the coveted Emmy awards seven times, the highest for any male actor yet.
He won three Best Supporting Actor awards for the CBS show ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ (1970) and two Best Actor awards for its spin-off series, ‘Lou Grant’ (1977). He won other Emmy awards for ‘Rich Man, Poor Man’ (1975) and ‘Roots’ (1976).
Along with a diverse range of incredible roles, Asner held the President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) position in the 1980s. He was vocal about liberal politics, animal rights, and other humanitarian causes.
Standing up for one such reason – his outspoken stand on the U.S government’s involvement with El Salvador – led many to cancel him, causing a huge uproar.
Asner never backed down from speaking what is right. He blamed CBS for canceling the series ‘Lou Grant’ because of his political views, not low viewership.
In an interview with Archive of American Television, he explained,
“I have no proof. But most insiders seem to think that the show would not have been canceled had it not been for the controversy that arose over my stand on El Salvador.”
He remained active both politically and professionally throughout his career. His most recent occurrences are in Netflix’s 2018 dark comedy Dead to Me and a guest appearance in Cobra Kai.
Source: Twitter
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