Edward Asner

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Edward Asner

Image:Asner, Ed (DOD).jpg
Ed Asner in 2006

Birth name

Yitzhak Edward Asner

Born

November 15 1929 (age 79)
Kansas City, Kansas

Years active

1957 - present

Spouse(s)

Nancy Sykes (1959-1988)
Cindy Gilmore (1998-)

Awards
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series 1971 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1972 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1975 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie 1976 Rich Man, Poor Man Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie 1977 Roots Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series 1978 Lou Grant 1980 Lou Grant
Golden Globe Awards
Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or TV Movie 1972 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1976 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1977 Rich Man, Poor Man Best Actor - Drama Series 1978 Lou Grant 1980 Lou Grant
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Life Achievement Award 2002 Lifetime Achievement

Edward Asner (born November 15, 1929) is an American actor primarily known for his Emmy-winning role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spinoff series, Lou Grant. He also appeared as a recurring guest star as Wilson White on the television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

1 Biography
2 Notable television roles
3 Notable animation and game roles
4 Footnotes
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Asner was born in Kansas City, Kansas to Lizzie Seliger, a housewife, and Morris David Asner, who ran a second-hand shop. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family.^[1] Asner attended historic Wyandotte High school located at 2501 Minnesota Ave and spent many hours up the street at 10th and Minnesota Ave at the Granada movie theater in Kansas City, Kansas. Asner attended the University of Chicago.

Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe.^[2]

Asner was married to Nancy Sykes from 1959 to 1988. He married Cindy Gilmore on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for divorce on November 7, 2007. Gilmore was the Associate Producer on the 1992 movie "Sister Act".

[edit] Career

Asner is best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on the The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after the end of the Mary Tyler Moore show, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant, which ran from 1977-1982. In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore show, which was a thirty minute comedy, the Lou Grant show was an hour long award-winning drama about journalism.

Image:LouGrant.jpg

Ed playing his most famous role, as Lou Grant in Mary Tyler Moore.

Asner is also known for his acclaimed role as Captain Davies, from the mini-series Roots, the man who kidnapped Kunta Kinte and sold him into slavery, a role that earned Asner an Emmy Award. While Asner's character in Roots was highly developed, full of metaphors on tortured ethics and the morality of slavery, biographer Alex Haley would later admit he had no idea who the actual Captain was who had commanded the historic slaver which had kidnapped his ancestor.

Asner was a member of the Playwrights Theatre Company in Chicago, but left for New York before members of that company regrouped as the Compass Players in the mid-1950s. He later made guest appearances with the successor to Compass, Second City, and is considered part of the Second City extended family. Asner has also had an extensive voice acting career. He provided the voices for J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man, Hudson on Gargoyles, Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars, Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series, Cosgrove on Freakazoid, and Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks. Both he and his late friend Linda Gary voiced many cartoons for the Filmation company. In 1993, he narrated the short documentary Legacy for Efrain, which explores the impact of the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International. In 2001 was the protagonist for "Papa Giovanni XXIII" fiction for Rai One (Italy).

Although popularly known as Ed Asner, professionally he prefers the name Edward Asner.

[edit] Personal life

In 1959, he married Nancy Sykes; they were divorced in 1988. She is the mother of his first three children. In 1998, he married Cindy Gilmore.

Asner has four children: a son, Matthew and his twin sister Liza, a daughter, Kate, and a younger son, Charles. Model and television personality Jules Asner is his former daughter-in-law. His wife's nephew, Gavin Newsom, was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003. Dr. Jerry Pournelle has mentioned in his weblog that Asner lives nearby, having encountered him while both were on neighborhood walks, and describes him as "a good neighbor".^[3]

[edit] Political views

A vocal Democratic Socialist, Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity he opposed US policy in Central America. He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike.[1] He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and as a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His political position may also have motivated him to play the voice of the pig-like villain Hoggish Greedly on the pro-environmental animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers [2] and the voice for the sinister Ed Wuncler in The Boondocks.

The cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show supposedly had ratings which would have justified its ongoing presence in primetime (it was in the ACNielsen top ten throughout its final month on the air), but the network declined to renew it. Asner has consistently contended that the publicity surrounding his political views was the real cause for the cancellation. (Howard Hesseman, who had participated with Asner in promoting a controversial medical aid for El Salvador program, found his popular show WKRP in Cincinnati canceled by CBS the same day.)^[4]

He has signed the 911 Truth Statement^[5] calling for new investigations of questions about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including those concerning US intelligence on upcoming attacks, the breakdown of military air defense, and the nature of the investigations. Asner has also reviewed 9/11 literature and videos, including a recent review for the film 9/11 Guilt: The Proof Is in Your Hands. He's also appeared several times on Joyce Riley's The Power Hour.

Asner served as the spokesman for 2004 Racism Watch. In April 2004, he wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9-11 truth" through an organization called the "9-11 Visibility Project." Recently he has appeared in a recurring segment, on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?"^[6] Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.

An avid comic book fan, Asner is a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a free speech organization that's dedicated to protecting comic book creators and retailers from prosecutions based on content.

In the February 28, 2007 all-star benefit reading of "The Gift of Peace" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, he portrays a minister (clergyman), and plays alongside actors Barbara Bain, Amy Brenneman, George Coe, Wendie Malick, and James Pickens, Jr.. The play is an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which seeks to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" in the U.S. government, to be funded by a two percent diversion of the Pentagon's annual budget.^[7]

Asner is listed as an advisor to the Rosenberg Foundation for Children (www.rfc.org), an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg which provides benefits for the children of political activists.