R.I.P. Norman Lear, legendary producer and sitcom pioneer
Norman Lear, who created iconic series like All In The Family and The Jeffersons, died at age 101
Aux News Norman Lear
Legendary TV writer and producer Norman Lear, who elevated the sitcom format by using comedy as a vehicle to tackle social issues, has died at the age of 101. In a career that spanned half a century, Lear created a string of hit shows, beginning with his best-known, most influential series, All In The Family, which itself spun two other hits, The Jeffersons, and Maude. Lear also produced the classic sitcoms Sanford And Son, Good Times, One Day At A Time, soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and talk show spoof Fernwood 2 Night.
Lear was born into a Jewish family in New Haven, Connecticut in 1922. When he was 9, his father, Herman, went to jail for three years for selling fake bonds. Lear saw his father as “a rascal,” and turned to his grandfather as a role model. His grandfather, Shya, was passionate about political issues, a trait he passed on to his grandson.
At age 20, Lear dropped out of Emerson College to join the Air Force after the U.S. entered WWII. He flew 52 combat missions in the Mediterranean as a gunner and radio operator on a B-17 Flying Fortress, for which he was decorated with the Air Medal. After the war, Lear went into public relations, moving to California to further his career. There he met Ed Simmons, the husband of Lear’s cousin Elaine, and an aspiring comedy writer. The two of them teamed up as door-to-door salesmen by day, and comedy writers by night, writing TV sketches for Martin and Lewis, and Rowan and Martin. Lear turned those opportunities into steady work writing for variety shows hosted by Martha Raye, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and George Gobel. In 1959, Lear created his first television show, The Deputy, a western starring Henry Fonda.
Flush with success on the small screen, Lear teamed with director Bud Yorkin (who he had worked with on several variety shows) to become a film producer, producing Never Too Late with Maureen O’Sullivan, The Night They Raided Minsky’s with Jason Robards, and two films with Dick Van Dyke—Cold Turkey, and Divorce, American Style, the latter of which Lear co-wrote, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
But Lear had his greatest success when he returned to television. He had developed a blue-collar sitcom, based loosely on the British show Til Death Do Us Part, about an argumentative conservative butting heads with his liberal son-in-law. ABC rejected the show twice, and Lear had to tape three different pilots before finally being picked up by CBS. All In The Family was a low-rated critical darling in its first season (winning the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series), but by the following year, it was the top-rated show on television, a position it would hold for five years.
In bigoted, outspoken, yet softhearted Archie Bunker, Lear (and Carroll O’Connor, who portrayed Archie for 13 years across two series) had created one of television’s most iconic characters. And in pitting Bunker against idealistic son-in-law Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner), and allowing his wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) and daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) grow from passive characters to more assertive ones, both liberals and conservatives had someone to identify with on the show, and Americans from all walks of life saw their own families’ political discussions echoed in the Bunker household.
The show was such a cultural institution that the easy chairs from the Bunkers’ living room were sitting in the Smithsonian while the show was still on the air (Lear had replicas built to continue taping). When Family ended its run after 9 years, neither Lear nor America was ready to let go, so the show was retooled as Archie Bunker’s Place, centered around a bar Archie had bought in the original show’s eighth season, and ran for four more years.
Lear didn’t rest on his laurels. In the five years after Family premiered, Lear launched five more long-running hit sitcoms, all essentially built on the same template—family shows that mixed politics and humor, with an outspoken, curmudgeonly lead, staged like a play in front of a live studio audience, a practice that All In The Family pioneered. But while Lear stuck to a basic template for his series, he pushed television’s boundaries when it came to representation.
Before Lear got back into TV, there had only been a handful of shows with predominantly black casts in the history of the medium. But a year after Family, Lear cast comedian Redd Foxx, as a cantankerous junk dealer who sparred with his more levelheaded son. Sanford And Son was an immediate hit, finishing at #2 in the ratings (behind All In The Family) in two of its six seasons. Two years later came Good Times, about the struggles of a working-class black family (although the show became Lear’s broadest offering, as breakout star Jimmie Walker pushed slapsticks and catchphrases to the fore).
Then in 1974, All In The Family spun off The Jeffersons, in which Archie Bunker’s more successful black neighbors (Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford) move to a Manhattan high-rise. The series was built solidly on the Lear template, mixing wisecracks, farce, and frank discussions of race and other social issues, centered around an irascible, opinionated man of the house. But The Jeffersons was also groundbreaking simply for putting an affluent African-American family on television, something that had never been done. Like Sanford and Good Times before it, The Jeffersons was a top ten show, and the most enduring of Lear’s sitcoms, running for eleven seasons. After Norman Lear, it was impossible for the networks to pretend white audiences wouldn’t tune into see a show with a black cast (although they would certainly try).
While Lear originally conceived of the women in the Bunker household as pushovers, so as not to leave Archie outnumbered in Family’s back-and-forth, he’d quickly embrace feminism, both by giving Edith and Gloria more backbone, and with two more hit sitcoms. Maude was All in The Family’s first spinoff, built around Bea Arthur’s outoutspoken liberal feminist. The show was, if anything, more serious and political than All In The Family, dealing with drug abuse, domestic violence, and even abortion. Despite frequently courting controversy, Maude was another hit for Lear, spending its first four seasons (out of six) in the top ten. And the last of his string of hit sitcoms in the ‘70s was One Day At A Time, which starred Bonnie Franklin as a divorcee raising two teenage daughters, who was frequently torn between raising them to be independent women and wanting to keep them under her watchful eye. The same year, Lear also produced soap opera spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a short-lived but influential show whose absurd, complicated plots would presage Soap and Arrested Development.
Lear had launched seven TV comedies in six years, and Hartman was the only one that wasn’t a smash hit. In the 1974-75 season, half the shows in the top ten were Norman Lear productions. In 1978 Lear took a break from TV to develop a film that never got produced, and his remarkable run of hits was over. But those shows’ impact was lasting. The “Norman Lear sitcom” was a genre unto itself—one generations of TV producers would try (and usually fail) to imitate.
Even Lear himself couldn’t recapture that magic, as two attempts to return to the sitcom world in the 1990s—Sunday Dinner, about a widower who marries a woman the same age as his kids; and 704 Hauser, about a liberal black couple with a conservative son who move into the former Bunker residence. Neither show lasted past six episodes.
Lear continued to produce films for the rest of his life. He bankrolled All In The Family actor Rob Reiner’s directorial debut, This Is Spinal Tap, and produced his later effort, The Princess Bride. Lear also produced Fried Green Tomatoes, and documentaries about All-American subjects like Pete Seeger, and the Declaration of Independence (of which Lear owned an original copy). Later in life, he executive produced the diverse reboot of One Day At A Time and was working on new versions of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and an animated Good Times before his death.
Lear was as politically active outside of his career as he was in it, founding liberal advocacy group People For The American Way, and his activism got him named “No. 1 enemy of the American family” by Jerry Falwell, and a spot on Nixon’s enemies list. (The ex-president can be heard discussing All In The Family on the Watergate tapes.)
Even when Lear, by his own admission, “blew a fortune in a series of bad investments in failing businesses,” he maintained an optimism and enthusiasm for life. After realizing his money woes meant he may have to sell his house, he told his son-in-law, “Terrible, of course, but I must be crazy, because despite all that’s happened, I keep hearing this inner voice saying, ‘Even this I get to experience.’”
With additional reporting from Mary Kate Carr.
51 Comments
You can’t be sad for someone that made it to 101 and was with it up until the end. His legacy will live on and his vision of what network television can be will be missed. All you can do in situations like this is thank him for all of his work and wisdom over the years.
I disagree, I think it can be sad regardless of a person’s age. It is definitely not a great tragedy, but it’s still sad. There are a lot of long-lived people in my family. My great grandma died in her mid 90s when I was in my early 20’s. I remember offering my condolences to my grandma (her daughter, in her 70s at the time), and my grandma said “it doesn’t matter if she was 95 or 35, she was still my mother and it’s hard to lose her”. That really stuck with me and I think about it every time I see that a person of greatly advanced age has passed.
Yeah, I mean you can definitely try to make it about yourself…
It’s really lucky that he was able to see his youngest kids grow into adults. Normally when someone has a kid in their 70s, it’s a pretty short parental relationship. I bet his family treasured that.
I remember watching all these shows with my parents when I was just a Li’l Funkhouser. I remember my dad sorta sympathizing with Archie and really disliking Maude. Luckily he has softened some over the years as he approaches 90. RIP Mr. Lear.Also, George Gobel!! Blast from the past!“Didja ever get the feeling the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?”
The genius with Archie was having him not always be wrong, and his daughter and son in-law sometimes demonstrate themselves to be naive about the world. Like with the Jeffersons, give the audience complex characters with depth and people will watch. A lesson too many producers and directors today could learn instead of thinking representation for its own sake will sell tickets.
his daughter and son in-law sometimes demonstrate themselves to be naive about the world. That was one of the keys – Lear could and did skewer Archie’s simple-minded, uneducated bigotry, but never shied away from showing that Mike and Gloria were sometimes hopelessly deluded in their liberal thinking.
Damn straight.My 65 year old father’s foundational media are Atlas Shrugged and All in the Family.
His friends all make fun of him behind his back for the fact that everything he says about his “political beliefs” is Ayn Rand nonsense…when he would give a stranger the shirt off of his back.Basically the opposite of Meathead.
RIP to a true legend. Television today wouldn’t be what it is without Norman Lear.
His shows are some of my earliest TV moments. Sitting in front (and too close) of the big zenith color tv and watching early 70’s sitcoms. His work is solidly historic.
This Gen X-er grew up on re-runs of Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.
I am an older gen-xer that watched them first run. Somehow my mom thought the tv and the backyard pool were sufficient babysitters. Hell my mom let me watch the first season of SNL as a 6 year old.
That’s Gen-X in a nutshell. We were raised to take care of ourselves.
Totally. I did have a conversation a few years back with my mother on the parenting decision of a swimming pool as a babysitter or the idea she always knew where I was. No Mom you did not know I was setting fireworks off inside a drainage culvert.
RIP to one of the greatest sitcom producers of al time.
We need a million more Norman Lears.A hero and a truth teller. The world is a darker place without him.
Is it a darker place? I get the sentiment but whenever I read these types of comments when people die – “the world is a darker place” – I find it profoundly cynical.His work will live on in reruns as well as the indelible mark he left on television.The world is a brighter place because he was in it. It is not “darker” now that he is gone.
cue slideshow!
Anyone else picturing Lear two weeks ago sitting in his armchair, muttering “I am going to outlast that evil prick Kissinger if it’s the last thing I do”?
Congratulations, Norman.
If only he had gotten to piss on the grave.
Who says he didn’t?
Well, I have to assume that they haven’t buried Kissinger yet.
Take a while to dig a hole as deep as that cunt deserves. Need to hand him over to Satan personally.
I like to think his making it to 101 was one final punchline he delivered to Kissinger’s 100.
Weirdly, it was only a couple of months ago that I said to my wife, “Did you know that Henry Kissinger and Norman Lear are still alive?” I think I’d read something that day about Lear, plus I’d heard a reference to Kissinger in an old TV show. So I guess I jinxed them!
Way to go! (non-sarcastic)Also, way to go! (sarcastic)
Wait, was Norman Lear… WOKE!?!?!?(Rest in Peace to one of the great ones)
You think All in the Family would be produced in today’s woke society? Please.He was able to tackle issues head on without worrying that someone’s delicate sensibilities might get trampled by the format.
Good god what a legacy. Man flew in more than 50 air missions for the Air Force during WW2, came home and made some of the most influential TV shows ever. We wouldn’t have ANY of the shows we like today without him, and I especially appreciate him pushing the agenda with actual, impactful issues during the 70s. Man was a war hero who championed progressive causes and made some of the best TV ever. Hope everyone remembers him for the absolute titan of human accomplishment that he was.
All of the greats from that generation were also World War II veterans, some of them in combat. It is impressive and humbling that Mr. Lear survived so many air combat missions in service to our country when so many others were lost.
Mel Brooks:
https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2882521/actor-comedian-mel-brooks-served-in-army-in-world-war-ii/Carl Reiner (from Wikipedia):
Reiner was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces on October 27, 1942, and served during World War II, eventually achieving the rank of corporal by the end of the war. He initially trained to be a radio operator. After spending three months in the hospital recovering from pneumonia, he was sent to Georgetown University for ten months of training as a French interpreter. There, he had his first experience as a director, putting on a Molière play entirely in French. After completing language training in 1944, he was sent to Hawaii to work as a teleprinter operator. The night before he was scheduled to ship out for an unknown assignment, he attended a production of Hamlet by the Special Services entertainment unit. Following an audition before actor Major Maurice Evans and Captain Allen Ludden, he was transferred to Special Services. Over the following two years, Reiner performed around the Pacific theater, entertaining troops in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima until he was honorably discharged in 1946.
Sid Caesar: was an entertainer in the Coast Guard.The list goes on.
Lear was exceptional, though, since off the top of my head, of major entertainment figures only Jimmy Stewart had anything resembling Lear’s frontline combat record – which was even more exceptional since unlike the then-unknown Lear, given his prewar stature Stewart could easily just have gotten into Special Services for the duration but insisted on piloting. Veterans do note these things.I do wish Lear had made it long enough to see Masters of the Air and commented on it. That would have been fun and valuable as one of the tiny handful of experienced bomber crew still alive.
If you’re interested in more details than Wikipedia provides on various celebrities and their war service, years back the Naval Institute put out Stars in Blue; while limited to the sea services, it’s a pretty interesting read seeing just what everyone did.
I agree—Jimmy Stewart could have easily served as an entertainer in the military during WWII and stayed out of harms way just making propaganda films and public appearances for the US war effort. I didn’t realize that he was active military (or reserve?) until he reached age 60, a brigadier general! Sure, maybe his fame and patriotism played a part in reach that high of a ranking, but he didn’t “phone it in,” either.
You may not have clicked on the DoD page for Mel Brooks—the man actually fought at the Battle of the Bulge. If that isn’t serious combat experience, then nothing is.And I just looked it up and Kirk Douglas also served in combat with the Navy:“Douglas joined the United States Navy in 1941,
shortly after the United States entered World War II, where he served
as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare aboard USS
PC-1139. He was medically discharged in 1944 for injuries sustained from
the premature explosion of a depth charge.”
I remember learning after HW died that he was a highly decorated fighter pilot…and that he had refused to let his campaign mention his service, even when the media was calling him a “wimp.”
A lot of people who later became famous actors, musicians, producers and directors had actual combat experience. Jimmy Stewart was one of the very few who was already famous at the time.I can’t help but think that current entertainment industry would benefit from people having more broad experiences (not just military) prior to breaking into stardom. Hell, the only major current actor I can think of with any military experience is Adam Driver.
Bud Tingwell was a Spitfire, Hurricane, and Mosquito pilot in Europe.Peter Sellers based cinema’s most famous RAF Group Captain on officers he knew during the war……but special shout-out to Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune, who swapped their wartime roles.Mifune was the fighter pilot in real life, and Marvin was the grunt (scout-sniper, 21 amphibious landings in the Pacific…and busted down to PFC for troublemaking).
Far too young.This obit does fail to mention the best Norman Lear sitcom released this century:The Carmichael Show.
There’s a podcast called 70 over 70. It’s poking fun at 30 under 30 lists… and interviews 7o people over 70 years old.If you’re having some feelings of Lear nostalgia… his episode of that podcast is delightful.
Matt Baume’s most recent All in the Family video has some really great Lear stuff:
Someone please check on Mel Brooks.
101 is damned respectable.
God bless ya, Norman.
I was waaaaay too young to understand how important Sanford & Son was to my dad and I bonding, but I’m so thankful for it. Thank you, Norman.
Watching “Sanford And Son” is one of my earliest, non-cartoon show memories. Norman Lear was truly as great as they come in the world of TV and film. His death really makes me sad because he is of the Mel Brooks/Carl Reiner generation of great comedy in all its forms—creating, writing, acting, directing, producing. Mel is the last one alive. I know I’ll be shattered when he, too, leaves this life. May Norman’s memory be for a blessing.
Holy SHIT, dude had a RUN.
Excellent obit. One of my heroes. Very sad even at 101. Was hoping he’d pull a Moses and make it into the hundreds.
101… I recall a centenarian being asked what it was like to live that long and her reply was that it was a mixed bag. “Everyone you know has passed and you’re all that’s left at that age.”
For some reason, last month Youtube was spitting out 1970s show intros in my feed, and having for some reason watched many of them, it is remarkable just how bad most of that television was, even for the shows that stayed on for a while.Norman Lear was anything but that. Remarkable man doing quality, needed work for the time he was in. RIP.
Lear had launched seven TV comedies in six years, and Hartman was the only one that wasn’t a smash hit. I believe you I guess – but man, while that show was on, it was the only thing anyone talked about ever.I like the fact that Lear pretty much never stopped working – even just to offer advice or encouragement to other tv creators. I don’t know how hands-on he was with the reboot of One Day at a Time but I know his approval meant a lot to the cast and crew (and it was a really good show – better than the original).RIP. But he outlasted Kissinger so we get bookended obits of an absolute despicable monster and of a nice, universally loved human being.
I’m not sure you could have a Norman Lear now. In a lot of ways, something like All in the Family or Maude relies upon a captive audience. They were good shows because they were funny, well written and acted, but also because they confronted the audience with topics and ideas that made them feel uncomfortable. That went equally for viewers who identified with Mike, Gloria, or Maude as it did for viewers who identified with Archie Bunker or George Jefferson.There were only 3 TV networks in 1973 (well, four-ish if you count PBS). There were no DVRs or VCRs, streaming or on demand video services. Heck, a lot of TV’s still didn’t even have remote controls. You had to actually get up to change the channel. Your entertainment alternatives were go see a movie/live performance/read a book.
On top of that, All in the Family was the cornerstone of what is probably the greatest network lineup on a single night in TV history, besting even NBC’s Thursday night Must See TV juggernauts of the 1990’s. In 1973, CBS Saturday nights were:8-8:30: All in the Family8:30-9: M*A*S*H9-9:30: The Mary Tyler Moore Show9:30-10: The Bob Newhart Show10-11: The Carol Burnett ShowSure, the other networks had other stuff you could watch at those times. But would you want to? Given that Lear had most of America’s eyes glued to CBS every night, it was courageous of him to put something in front of them that often made them feel uncomfortable. I just believe that nowadays, most people would probably switch over to stuff they felt “comfortable” with, to the extent they would even find his work to begin with.
As someone who has been in the middle of a Jefferson’s rewatch, in fits and starts, since early Covid, all I can say is that it is not possible to sufficiently appreciate this man. America would be a much worse place today (and that’s really fucking saying something) if not for Norman Lear.Rest in peace, sir. You were the greatest.
Recently watched this great look at his life and the great work he did for LGBTQ representation on American TV