We have lost an icon in the world of entertainment.
Norman Lear, one of the most beloved and accomplished producers in television history, has died. He was 101 years old.
“Norman lived a life of curiosity, tenacity, and empathy,” his family said in a statement.
“He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all,” they continued.
“He began his career in the earliest days of live television and discovered a passion for writing about the real lives of Americans, not a glossy ideal,” the statement read.
Norman Lear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, where he lived before attending Emerson College in Boston.
He dropped out in 1942 to join the military, serving in the Mediterranean theater in World War II as a B-17 radio operator and gunner.
Lear flew 52 combat missions, for which he was awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.
Norman was later discharged from the Army, and in 1950, his television career began. It all started when he and his writing partner, Ed Simmons, got a job writing for The Ford Star Revue.
After only four shows, Jerry Lewis ended up hiring the duo to write for him and Dean Martin on The Colgate Comedy Hour. Lear also wrote for the big screen, earning an Academy Award nomination in 1967 for Divorce, American Style.
The 1970’s is when most of the world was introduced to Lear, when he was running the world of television.
His reign began with the debut of All in the Family in 1971. The sitcom was groundbreaking, using comedy to examine issues like race relations, the war in Vietnam, abortion, gay rights, and rape.
That would become Lear’s trademark, never running away from important issues as he explored different hot-button issues through comedy.
All in the Family earned Lear multiple awards, including four Emmys for Best Comedy series, as well as the Peabody Award in 1977.
All in the Family led to the spin-offs Maude and The Jeffersons, along with Archie Bunker’s Place and the short-lived Gloria, starring All in the Family’s Sally Struthers, aka Gloria Stivic, as a now single mom.
Maude starred Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker’s cousin, who clashed with Archie. The spin-off continued Lear’s tradition of putting social commentary into a sitcom format.
The Jeffersons centered on the Bunkers’ African American neighbors after they “moved on up” from Queens to the East Side.
In 1974, Lear created Good Times about an African American family in Chicago. That series handled issues like poverty, drug use, and inner-city crime.
In addition to promoting important conversations on screen, Lear was also an activist in his personal life.
In 1980, he created the non-profit People for the American Way, which was dedicated to supporting the Bill of Rights and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms.
According to his personal website, Lear also founded the non-profit charity Business Enterprise Trust and the Environmental Media Association, designed to get the entertainment industry more “green.”
In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Lear with the National Medal of Arts.
“Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it,” he said at the time.
The powerhouse producer was still thriving as he approached 100, shepherding a Latina-led remake of One Day at a Time for Netflix in recent years.
He also led successful, star-studded productions of both All in the Family and The Jeffersons on ABC’s well-received LIVE from a Studio Audience specials.
Lear also hosted a podcast titled All of the Above with Norman Lear.
Throughout his career, Lear won a total of six Emmy Awards out of a career total 19 nominations.
He also won two Peabody awards, and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984.
In 2017, Lear was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Married three times, Lear is survived by his third wife, Lyn, and his six children: Ellen, Kate, Maggie, Benjamin, Brianna, and Madeline.
He is also survived by his four grandchildren: Daniel, Noah, Griffin, and Zoe.