Edward Asner (born November 15, 1929) is an American film and television actor and former President of the
Screen Actors Guild, primarily known for his role as
Lou Grant on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its
spin-off series,
Lou Grant. More recently, he provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in
Pixar's newest film,
Up.
Early life
Asner was born
Eddie Asner in
Kansas City,
Missouri,
across the river from the
Kansas City, Kansas home of his
Russian American parents, Lizzie (née Seliger), a housewife, and Morris David Asner,
[www.filmreference.com/film/6/Edward-Asner.html] who ran a
second-hand shop.
[Asner interview, Archive of American Television, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences] He was raised in an
Orthodox Jewish family.
Asner attended historic
Wyandotte High School and the
University of Chicago. He served with the
U.S. Army Signal Corps and, most crucially, spent many hours in the Granada movie theater in
Kansas City, Kansas.
Career
