Posted on 12/06/2023 9:22:14 AM PST by Morgana
Legendary television writer and producer Norman Lear behind series like 'All in the Family' has died at the age of 101.
Variety reported that Lear died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes on Tuesday, with a private service for close family to be held in the coming days.
In a statement, his family said: 'Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.
'Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all.
'Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.' Lear, seen here in 2019, died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes on Tuesday, with a private service for close family to be held in the coming days
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
He was a horrible person. Should have died 60 years earlier.
His creativity was limited to ripping off British comedies and renaming them.
Wiki——In 1981, Lear founded People for the American Way (PFAW), a progressive advocacy organization formed in reaction to the politics of the Christian right.[83] PFAW ran several advertising campaigns opposing the interjection of religion in politics.[85] PFAW and other like-minded groups succeeded in their efforts to block Reagan’s 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.[86] Lear, a longtime critic of the Religious Right, was an advocate for the advancement of secularism.[87][88]
Prominent right-wing Christians including Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Jimmy Swaggart have accused Lear of being an atheist and holding an anti-Christian bias.[87][88]
In the January 21, 1987 issue of The Christian Century, Lear associate Martin E. Marty (a Lutheran professor of church history at the University of Chicago Divinity School between 1963 and 1998) rejected those allegations, stating the television producer honored religious moral values and complimenting Lear’s understanding of Christianity.[88]
Marty noted that while Lear and his family had never practiced Orthodox Judaism,[88] the television producer was a follower of Judaism.[88]
In a 2009 interview with US News journalist Dan Gilgoff, Lear rejected claims by right-wing Christian nationalists that he was an atheist and prejudiced against Christianity.
Lear held religious beliefs and integrated some evangelical Christian language into his Born Again American campaign. He believed that religion should be kept separate from politics and policy-making.[87]
In a 2014 interview with The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles journalist Rob Eshman, Lear described himself as a “total Jew” but said he was never a practicing one.[89]
Whether he was intending to or not Lear made Bunker a flawed but sympathetic character ... and Meathead a flat out loser freeloading off his father-in-law despite being a married man.
Whenever Fred Sanford said “how would you like one across your lips?” Or “Elizabeth, I’m coming to join you,” my dad would be on the floor laughing.
Even Barry Goldwater joined at least for a time People for the American Way.
First cousin of another TV innovator, David Susskind...’
susskind’s show was first rate...
Lear was a very wily liberal activist......
he knew which buttons to press to make himself look good.
Absolutely. I think this why my dyed-in-the-wool conservative father loved the show.
Memory Eternal!
He gave us one of my favorites, Archie Bunker!
I heard on the radio today that Mr. Lear was just recently on a zoom call about re-booting one of my favorite shows, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
“I love the fact that the viewing audience didn’t despise Archie and didn’t hold Meathead up as the enlightened hero despite Lear hoping they would.”
People saw Archie was really a nice guy for letting Meathead freeloading and mouthing off at him like that, and not kicking his ass and throwing him out.
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