Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 and 鈥淢aude,鈥 propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of 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.
A liberal activist, 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鈥機onnor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx.
鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 was immersed in the headlines of the day, while also drawing upon Lear鈥檚 childhood memories of his tempestuous father. Racism, feminism, and the Vietnam War were flashpoints as blue collar conservative Archie Bunker, played by O鈥機onnor, clashed with liberal son-in-law Mike Stivic (Reiner). Jean Stapleton co-starred as Archie鈥檚 befuddled but good-hearted wife, Edith, and Sally Struthers played the Bunkers鈥 daughter, Gloria, who defended her husband in arguments with Archie.
Lear鈥檚 work transformed television at a time when old-fashioned programs as 鈥淗ere鈥檚 Lucy,鈥 鈥淚ronside鈥 and 鈥淕unsmoke鈥 still dominated. CBS, Lear鈥檚 primary network, would soon enact its 鈥渞ural purge鈥 and cancel such standbys as 鈥淭he Beverly Hillbillies鈥 and 鈥淕reen Acres.鈥 The groundbreaking sitcom 鈥淭he Mary Tyler Moore Show,鈥 about a single career woman in Minneapolis, debuted on CBS in Sept. 1970, just months before 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 started.
But ABC passed on 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 twice and CBS was initially reluctant to take on the daring series, Lear would say. When the network finally aired 鈥淎ll in the Family,鈥 it began with a disclaimer: 鈥淭he program you are about to see is 鈥楢ll in the Family.鈥 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.鈥
By the end of 1971, 鈥淎ll In the Family鈥 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 鈥淢eathead鈥 and his wife 鈥淒ingbat,鈥 and would also snap at anyone who dared occupy his faded orange-yellow wing chair. It was the centerpiece of the Bunkers rowhouse in the New York City borough of Queens and eventually an artifact in the Smithsonian鈥檚 National Museum of American History.
Even the show鈥檚 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, 鈥淭hose Were the Days,鈥 with Edith screeching off-key and Archie crooning such lines 鈥淒idn鈥檛 need no welfare state鈥 and 鈥淕irls were girls and men were men.鈥
鈥淎ll in the Family,鈥 based on the British sitcom, 鈥淭il Death Us Do Part,鈥 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 鈥淔rasier鈥 in 1998.
Hits continued for Lear and then-partner Bud Yorkin, including 鈥淢aude鈥 and 鈥淭he Jeffersons,鈥 both spinoffs from 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 and both the same winning combination of one-liners and social conflict. In a 1972 two-part episode of 鈥淢aude,鈥 the title character (played by Arthur) became the first on television to have an abortion, drawing a surge of protests along with the show鈥檚 high ratings. Nixon himself objected to an 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥 episode about a close friend of Archie鈥檚 who turns out to be gay, privately fuming to White House aides that the show 鈥済lorified鈥 same-sex relationships.
鈥淐ontroversy suggests people are thinking about something. But there鈥檇 better be laughing first and foremost or it鈥檚 a dog,鈥 Lear said in a 1994 interview with The Associated Press.
Lear and Yorkin also created 鈥淕ood Times,鈥 about a working class Black family in Chicago; 鈥淪anford & Son,鈥 a showcase for Foxx as junkyard dealer Fred Sanford; and 鈥淥ne Day at a Time,鈥 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.
The late Paddy Chayefsky, a leading writer of television鈥檚 early 鈥済olden age,鈥 once said that Lear 鈥渢ook 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.鈥
Lear鈥檚 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 鈥渁busing religion.鈥
鈥淚 started to say, This is not my America. You don鈥檛 mix politics and religion this way,鈥 Lear said in a 1992 interview with Commonweal magazine.
The nonprofit鈥檚 president, Svante Myrick, said 鈥渨e are heartbroken鈥 by Lear鈥檚 death. 鈥淲e extend our deepest sympathies to Norman鈥檚 wife Lyn and their entire family, and to the many people who鈥, like us,鈥 loved Norman.鈥
With this wry smile and impish boat hat, the youthful Lear created television well into his 90s, rebooting 鈥淥ne Day at a Time鈥 for Netflix in 2017 and exploring income inequality for the documentary series 鈥淎merica Divided鈥 in 2016. Documentarians featured him in 2016鈥檚 鈥淣orman Lear: Just Another Version of You,鈥 and 2017鈥檚 鈥淚f You鈥檙e Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,鈥 a look at active nonagenarians such as Lear and Rob Reiner鈥檚 father, Carl Reiner.
In 1984, he was lauded as the 鈥渋nnovative writer who brought realism to television鈥 when he became one of the first seven people inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences鈥 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 鈥淟ive In Front of a Studio Audience: 鈥楢ll In the Family鈥 and 鈥楪ood Times鈥.鈥欌
Lear beat the tough TV odds to an astounding degree: At least one of his shows placed in prime-time鈥檚 top 10 for 11 consecutive years (1971-82). But Lear had flops as well.
Shows including 鈥淗ot L Baltimore,鈥 鈥淧almerstown鈥 and 鈥渁.k.a. Pablo,鈥 a rare Hispanic series, drew critical favor but couldn鈥檛 find an audience; others, such as 鈥淎ll That Glitters鈥 and 鈥淭he Nancy Walker Show,鈥 earned neither. He also faced resistance from cast members, including 鈥淕ood Times鈥 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 鈥704 Hauser,鈥 which returned to the Bunker house with a new family, and the political satire 鈥淭he Powers that Be鈥 were both short-lived.
Lear鈥檚 business moves, meanwhile, were almost consistently fruitful.
Lear started T.A.T. Communications in 1974 to be 鈥渟ole creative captain of his ship,鈥 his former business partner Jerry Perenchio told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. The company became a major TV producer with shows including 鈥淥ne Day at a Time鈥 and the soap-opera spoof 鈥淢ary Hartman Mary Hartman,鈥 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.鈥檚 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 magazine鈥檚 list of the 400 richest people in America, with an estimated net worth of $225 million. He didn鈥檛 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 Lear鈥檚 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. Norman Lear would remember family life as a kind of sitcom, full of quirks and grudges, 鈥渁 group of people living at the ends of their nerves and the tops of their lungs,鈥 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 鈥淢y dearest darling Mr. President,鈥 to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sometimes a reply came.
鈥淭hat my grandfather mattered made me feel every citizen mattered,鈥 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, was awarded a Decorated Air Medal, and then worked in public relations.
Lear began writing in the early 1950s on shows including 鈥淭he Colgate Comedy Hour鈥 and working for such comedians as Martha Raye and George Gobel. In 1959, he and Yorkin founded Tandem Productions, which produced films including 鈥淐ome Blow Your Horn,鈥 鈥淪tart the Revolution Without Me鈥 and 鈥淒ivorce American Style.鈥 Lear also directed the 1971 satire 鈥淐old Turkey,鈥 starring Dick Van Dyke about a small town that takes on a tobacco company鈥檚 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 California鈥檚 Annenberg School for Communication, exploring entertainment, commerce and society. In 2014, he published the memoir 鈥淓ven This I Get to Experience.鈥
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