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
Before he landed his role with
Mary Tyler Moore, Asner guest starred in such television series as
NBC's
The Outlaws (1962) and in the series finale of
CBS's
The Reporter in the episode entitled "Vote for Murder."
The Reporter focuses on a fictitious
New York Globe newspaper as seen through the lives of two of its employees, played by
Harry Guardino and
Gary Merrill.
Asner is best 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.
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,
The 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!, Ed Wuncler on
The Boondocks, and
Granny Goodness in various
DC Comics animated series. 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). He made an appearance on the show Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2001. In February 2009, Asner guest-starred in the web series
Star-ving.
More recently, Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the 2009
Pixar film
Up. He received great critical praise for the role, with one critic going so far as to suggest "They should create a new category for this year's Academy Award for Best Vocal Acting in an animated film and name Asner as the first recipient."
Asner is the only actor to win the Emmy award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role—Lou Grant.
In 2009, Asner was given the Lifetime Feel Good Achievement Award at that year's
Feel Good Film Festival in
Los Angeles.
[Feel Good Film Festival announces 2009 winners]
Although popularly known as Ed Asner, professionally he prefers the name Edward Asner.
Political views
A prominent member of the
Democratic Socialists of America, 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.
He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free
Mumia Abu-Jamal. 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 and the voice for the sinister
Ed Wuncler, Sr. 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.)
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 the organization 9-11 Visibility Project.
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.
Asner is listed as an advisor to the Rosenberg Foundation for Children, an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg which provides benefits for the children of political activists, and as a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Personal life
Nancy Sykes was his wife from 1959-1988. Together they have three children: twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. In 1987 he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman. Asner is a parent of a child with autism.[mickeynews.com, writing "James Denton ... applauded hosts of the organization's autism awareness public service announcements, including celebrity parents of children with autism, Ed Asner, Gary Cole, Joe Mantegna and John Schneider."]
Engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991, they married on 2 August 1998. Gilmore filed for divorce on November 7, 2007. Model and television personality Jules Asner is his former daughter-in-law. His nephew, Gavin Newsom, was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003.
Filmography
Film
Television
- Target: The Corruptors! - Tyler in the episode, "The Golden Carpet", November 24, 1961
- The Eleventh Hour - Max Brenson in the episode "My Name is Judith, I'm Lost, You See" (1963)
- The Outer Limits - Sgt. Siroleo (in the episode "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork), 1963"
- The Wild Wild West - Furman Crotty (in the episode "The Night of the Amnesiac), 1969"
- Mission: Impossible - George Simpson (in the episode "The Mind of Stefan Miklos," 1969)
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Lou Grant (1970-1977)
- Hawaii Five-O - as August March "Wooden Model of a Rat" (1975)
- Cher - Himself (1975)
- Rich Man, Poor Man - Axel Jordache (1976)
- Roots - Capt. Thomas Davies (1977)
- Lou Grant - Lou Grant (1977-1982)
- Rhoda - Lou Grant (1974)
- The X-Files - Maurice in the episode "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas", December 13, 1998
- Papa Giovanni: Ioannes XXIII – Angelo Roncalli (2002)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm"- Mr.Wiener (2001)
- ER - a con artist pretending to run a store-front clinic (2003)
- Thunder Alley - Performance garage owner and former racer Gil Jones
- The Christmas Card – Luke (2006)
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Wilson White (2006-2007)
Animation and video games
