Ed Asner has played
the same character
of Lou Grant
in four different series:
Mary Tyler Moore (1970),
Rhoda (1974),
Lou Grant (1977)
and
Roseanne (1988).
Edward "Ed" Asner (born November
15, 1929) is an American film, television, and stage actor, voice
actor, and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is
primarily known for his role as Lou Grant during the 1970s and early
1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou
Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the
same leading character in both a comedy and a drama. He is also known
to younger generations for portraying Santa Claus in the 2003 comedy
Elf and as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up (2009).
Asner
was in Kansas City, Missouri to Jewish Russian-born parents, (Lizzie
and David Asner) who ran a second-hand shop. He attended Wyandotte
High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago in
Chicago, Illinois and worked on the assembly line for General Motors.
Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and appeared in plays
that toured Army camps in Europe.
Following his military service, Asner
joined the Playwrights Theatre Company in Chicago, but left for New
York City 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. In New York City, Asner played Jonathan
Jeremiah Peachum in the Off-Broadway revival of Threepenny Opera, and
began to make inroads as a television actor. There were two standout
performances on television. The first was as Detective Sgt. Thomas
Siroleo in the 1963 episode The Outer Limits titled "It Crawled
Out of the Woodwork" and as the reprehensible Ex-Premiere Brynov
in the 1965 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Exile".
Before he landed his role with Mary Tyler
Moore, Asner guest-starred in such television series as the
syndicated crime drama Decoy, starring Beverly Garland, and the NBC
western series The Outlaws. On the TV series, Route 66 in 1962
(Welcome to the Wedding) as Custody Officer Lincoln Peers. He was
also cast on Jack Lord's ABC drama series Stoney Burke and in the
series finale of CBS's The Reporter, starring Harry Guardino. He also
appeared on Mr. Novak, Mission: Impossible, and The Invaders. Asner
also played a minor character in children's television show
W.I.T.C.H. (Napoleon- Cornelia's younger sister's cat).
Asner is best known for his character Lou
Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970.
In 1977, after the series, Asner's character was given his own show,
Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore show, a
thirty-minute comedy, the Lou Grant show was an hour-long
award-winning drama about journalism. (For his role as Grant, Asner
is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a
drama for the same role. The second being Uzo Aduba) Other television
series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The
Bronx Zoo, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also portrayed art
smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O
(1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-O (2012) remake.
Asner was acclaimed for his role in the
ABC miniseries Roots, as Captain Davies, the morally conflicted
captain of the Lord Ligonier, the slave ship that brought Kunta Kinte
to America. That role earned Asner an Emmy Award, as did the
similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the mini-series Rich Man,
Poor Man (1976). In contrast, he played a former Pontiff in the lead
role of Papa Giovanni: Ioannes XXIII (Pope John XXIII 2002), an
Italian television film for RAI. He has also appeared in a recurring
segment, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, entitled "Does This
Impress Ed Asner?"
In 2003 Asner played Santa Claus in Elf
with Will Ferrell, James Caan, (MTM alumnus) Bob Newhart, and Zooey
Deschanel. Directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum, it
is the story is about one of Santa's elves who learns of his true
identity as a human and goes to New York City to meet his biological
father, spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics as he goes.
The film received positive reviews from critics, inspired the 2010
broadway musical Elf: The Musical and NBC's 2014 stop-motion animated
television special Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas.
Asner
has also had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he performed
the role of the title character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A.
Classic Theatre Works' radio theatre production of Sinclair Lewis's
novel "Babbitt." He also provided the voices for Joshua on
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (1986) for Hanna-Barbera, J. Jonah
Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man
(1994–98); Hoggish Greedly on Captain Planet and the Planeteers
(1990–95); Hudson on Gargoyles (1994–96); 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 (1992–94); Cosgrove on Freakazoid!; Ed Wuncler
on The Boondocks (2005–14); and Granny Goodness in various DC
Comics animated series. Asner also provided the voice of famed
American orator Edward Everett in the 2015 documentary film The
Gettysburg Address.
Asner provided the voice of Carl
Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). 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 has provided voice-over narration
for many documentaries and films of social activism, including Tiger
by the Tail, a documentary film detailing the efforts of the Campaign
to Keep GM Van Nuys Open and the chair of the organization, Eric
Mann, to keep General Motors' Van Nuys Assembly plant running.
In July 2010, Asner completed recording
sessions for Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville
Murders; a documentary on the 1974 DeFeo murders in Amityville, New
York. Asner served as the narrator for the film, which covers a
forensic analysis of the murders, the trial in which 23-year-old
DeFeo son Ronald DeFeo Jr., was convicted of the killings, and the
subsequent "haunting" story which is revealed to be a hoax.
Also in 2010, Asner played the title role in "FDR", a stage
production about the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt he has
subsequently continued to tour the play throughout the country. In
January 2011, Asner took a supporting role on CMT's first original
sitcom Working Class. He made an appearance in the independent comedy
feature Not Another B Movie, and had a small but pivotal role as
billionaire Warren Buffett in HBO's 2011 economy drama Too Big to Fail.
Asner has won more Emmy Awards for
performing than any other male actor (seven, including five for the
role of Lou Grant). In 1996, he was inducted into the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and in 2001, Asner was
the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Asner served two terms as president of the
Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity during the 1980s he opposed US
policy in Central America, working closely with the Alliance for
Survival. 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 and the movement to establish single-payer
health care in California, California One Care, for which he created
a television advertisement. He endorsed Barack Obama during the
United States presidential election, 2008.
The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant
(above) in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had
high ratings - the level of which should have justified its ongoing
presence in primetime (it was in the AC Nielsen top ten throughout
its final month on the air). However, the CBS television network
declined to renew it. It has been Asner's consistent position that
his political views, as well as the publicity surrounding them, were
the actual root causes for the show's cancellation.
Asner is a member of the Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund, a free speech organization that is dedicated to
protecting comic book creators and retailers from prosecutions based
on content. He serves as an advisor to the Rosenberg Fund 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 and is also a member of the
Honorary Board of Directors for the homeless respite service center
Fresh Start WC in Walnut Creek, California. Asner also sits on the
advisory board for Exceptional Minds, a non-profit school and a
computer animation studio for young adults on the autism spectrum.
Asner
signed a statement released by the organization 9/11 Truth in 2004
that calls for a new investigation into the September 11 attacks. A
brief summary of the reasons for his position appears in a video
available on YouTube. Asner confirmed his support for the statement
in 2009. Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor:
Behind the War on Terror.
Asner was married to Nancy Sykes from 1959
until 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 and a grandparent of a child with autism
and is deeply involved with the autism nonprofit Autism Speaks. He
also serves on the advisory board of a suburban Chicago firm that
employs persons with autistic spectrum disorders to test and program
software. He became engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991 and
married her on August 2th, 1998. They divorced in November 2007.
Selected Ed
AsnerTVography
A Man Called Shenandoah
- The Verdict (1965)
Adventures from the Book of Virtues
- Faith (1997)
Alcoa Premiere
- The Contenders (1962)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
- To Catch a Butterfly (1963)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- What Frightened You, Fred? (1962)
American Dad!
- Lost Boys (2019)
- Rabbit Ears (2019)
- Jenny Fromdabloc (2011)
- There Will Be Bad Blood (2010)
Andy Barker, P.I.
- The Lady Varnishes (2007)
The Angry Beavers
- Mission to the Big Hot Thingy/I Dare You (1997)
Animaniacs
- Garage Sale of the Century/West Side
Pigeons (1993)
Arli$$
- Last Call (2000)
Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City
- Episode #1.5 (1998)
Armstrong Circle Theatre
- Thief of Diamonds (1957)
Ask Harriet
- Lips That Pass in the Night (1998)
- Hot Coco (1998)
- Pumps and Circumstances (1998)
Ballmastrz 9009
- Onward, True Blue Friends Win Eternal;
Paladin of the Heavens, Start Today! (2020)
Batman: The Animated Series
- as Roland Daggett (1992-1994, voice)
Ben Casey
- The Echo of a Silent Cheer: Part 2 (1963)
Bennie's (TV Series)
- Elevator (2016)
Betty White's Off Their Rockers
- Episode #2.14 (2013)
Blue Bloods
- Vested Interests (2020)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
- A Case of Armed Robbery (1964)
Bones (TV Series)
- Final Chapter: The New Tricks in the Old
Dogs (2017)
Bonkers
- Seems Like Old Toons (1993)
The Boondocks
- as Ed Wuncler (6 episodes, 2005-2014)
Breaking Point
- Last Summer We Didn't Go Away (1963)
Briarpatch
- Butterscotch (2020)
- Behind God's Back (2020)
- Terrible, Shocking Things (2020)
The Bronx Zoo
- as Principal Joe Danzig (1987-1988, 21 episodes)
Bruno the Kid
- as Engineer (1996, voice)
Burke's Law
- Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
- The Return of XL (2000)
Cade's County
- The Fake (1972)
Cain's Hundred
- Blues for a Junkman: Arthur Troy (1962)
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
- as Hoggish Greedly, Don Porkaloin and
Boris (1990-1995, voice, 31 episodes)
CBS Playhouse
- Sadbird (1969)
Center of the Universe
- as Art Barnett (2004-2005, 12 episodes)
Central Park
- Squirrel, Interrupted (2020)
The Cleveland Show
- Sex and the Biddy (2011)
- The Blue, the Gray and the Brown (2011)
- Murray Christmas (2010)
- How Cleveland Got His Groove Back (2010)
- The Curious Case of Jr. Working at the
Stool (2010)
Chasing Life
- Locks of Love (2014)
Chicken Soup for the Soul
- The Anniversary (1999)
The Closer
- as Carl Dobson (1998, 10 episodes)
Cobra Kai
- Molting (2018)
- Ace Degenerate (2018)
Crash: The Animated Series
- Crash & The Carpool Kids (2020)
The Crazy Ones
- The Stan Wood Account (2013)
CSI: NY
- Yahrzeit (2009)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
- The Acupuncturist (2001)
Dead Man's Gun
- Next of Kin (1997)
Dead to Me
- as Abe Rifkin (2019)
The Dead Zone
- Coming Home (2005)
Decoy
- An Eye for an Eye (1959)
The Defenders
- Hero of the People (1964)
- The Cruel Hook (1963)
Dharma & Greg
- How This Happened (2001)
Dinosaurs
- Georgie Must Die! (1994)
Doom Patrol
- Flex Patrol (2019)
Dr. Kildare
- Tightrope Into Nowhere (1963)
- The Legacy (1962)
Duck Dodgers
- I'm Going to Get You Fat Sucker/Detained
Duck (2003)
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man
- The Germ Turns (1995)
The Ellen Show
- Ellen's First Christmess (2001)
The Eleventh Hour
- My Name Is Judith, I'm Lost, You See (1963)
ER
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (2003)
- A Saint in the City (2003)
- A Little Help from My Friends (2003)
The F.B.I.
- The Attorney (1969)
- The Dynasty (1968)
- The Tormentors (1966)
Family Guy
- One If by Clam, Two If by Sea (2001)
The Farmer's Daughter
- Like Father, Like Son (1964)
Felony Squad
- The Killer Instinct (1966)
Fish Police
- as Chief Abalone (1992, voice, 6 episodes)
Forgive Me
- To Avoid the Near Occasion of Sin (2018)
- Worthy of All My Love (2018)
- Most of All Because They Offend You
(2018)
- I Detest All My Sins Because of Your
Just Punishments (2018)
- Blessed Is the Fruit (2015)
- Blessed Art Thou (2015)
Freakazoid!
- as Sgt. Mike Cosgrove (1995-1997, voice,
16 episodes)
The Fugitive
- Run the Man Down (1967)
- Three Cheers for Little Boy Blue (1965)
- Masquerade (1965)
Gargoyles
-as Hudson, Jack Danforth and Burbank
(1994-1996, voice, 39 episodes)
Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles
- as Hudson, Pilot and Burbank (1996,
voice, 10 episodes)
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
- The Double-O-Nothing Affair (1967)
Grim & Evil
- Grim for a Day/ChickenBall Z/Max
Courage! (2003, voice)
Gunsmoke
- The Whispering Tree (1966)
- Hung High (1964)
Hawaii Five-0
- Wooden Model of a Rat (1975)
Hawaii Five-0
- Kanalua (2012)
- Kalele (2012)
Hearts Afire
- as George Lahti (1992-1993, 12 episodes)
Hercules
- Hercules and the Disappearing Heroes (1998)
Here Come the Brides
- The Legend of Big Foot (1969)
- The Firemaker (1969)
Higher Education
- as President Gordon Knight (1994)
Highway to Heaven
- The Last Assignment (1986)
Hot in Cleveland
- Rubber Ball (2012)
The Hoop Life
- The Second Chance (2000)
The Huntress
- Generations (2001)
Iron Horse
- The Prisoners (1967)
Ironside
- Not with a Whimper, But a Bang (1969)
- The Fourteenth Runner (1967)
Insight
- as God, Henry and Bernie
(1967-1977, 7 episodes)
The Invaders
- The Miracle (1968)
- Wall of Crystal (1967)
Johnny Bravo
- The Hansel and Gretel Witch Project/I.Q.
Johnny/Get Stinky (2002, voice)
- Virtual Johnny/Hold That Schmoe/Hunted
(2000, voice)
Judd for the Defense
- The Law and Order Blues (1969)
- The Other Face of the Law (1967)
Jumanji
- The Trial (1997)
Justice League
- The Ties That Bind (2005)
- Hawk and Dove (2004)
King of the Hill
- Unfortunate Son (2002)
- Yankee Hankee (2001)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Monster's Legacy (2013)
The Lieutenant
- A Troubled Image (1963)
Life with Louie
- The Kiss Is the Thing (1997)
The Line
- as Patrick (7 episodes, 2008-2009)
Lou Grant
- series star (1977-1982, 114 episodes)
MacGyver (TV Series)
- Skyscraper - Power (2018)
Mad About You
- The Handyman (1997)
- The Finale: Part 2 & 3 (1996)
The Magic School Bus
- Spins a Web (1996)
Maggie Winters
- Angstgiving Day (1998)
Maron
- Unaired Pilot (2013)
Mary Tyler Moore
- as Lou Grant (1970-1977, 166 episodes)
Max Steel
- as Chuck Marshak (2001, voice)
Medical Center
- The Last Ten Yards (1969)
Men at Work
- Gigo-Milo (2014)
Men in Black: The Series
- The Neuralizer Syndrome (1997)
Michael: Every
Day
- as Dr. Wasserman (7 episodes, 2011 - 2017)
The Middle
- The Paper Route (2012)
Mission: Impossible
- The Mind of Stefan Miklos (1969)
Modern Family
- Dead on a Rival (2020)
The Mod Squad
- The Connection (1972)
- Color of Laughter, Color of Tears (1971)
- Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot! (1970)
Mom
- Kimchi and a Monkey Playing Harmonica (2014)
Mr. Novak
- An Elephant Is Like a Tree (1965)
- First Year, First Day (1963)
Naked City
- New York to L.A. (1961)
- A Hole in the City (1961)
The Name of the Game
- The Perfect Image (1969)
- The Inquiry (1969)
Off the Rack
- as Sam Waltman (1984-1985, 7 episodes)
The Outer Limits
- It Crawled Out of the Woodwork (1963)
Outlaws
- The Dark Sunrise of Griff Kincaid (1962)
Platform
- Valedictorian (2021)
Play of the Week
- Black Monday (1961)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
- My Good Friend, Whatsisname (1966)
Police Story
- Three Days to Thirty (1976)
- A Dangerous Age (1974)
- Slow Boy (1973)
Powder Burns: An Original Western Audio Drama
- Psalms for a Broken Man (2017)
The Practice
- Mr. Shore Goes to Town (2004)
- Pre-Trial Blues (2004)
- Going Home (2004)
- The Blessing (1997)
Profiles in Courage
- Hamilton Fish (1965)
- Richard T. Ely (1964)
The Rat Patrol
- The Life Against Death Raid (1966)
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
- Nuclear Netherworld (1996)
Recess
-as Thaddeus T. Third V / Additional
Voices (1997-2001)
Regular Show
- The Christmas Special (2012)
The Reporter
- Vote for Murder (1964)
The Richard Boone Show
- Where's the Million Dollars? (1963)
Rich Man, Poor Man
- as Axel Jordache (1976)
Rhoda
- Rhoda's Wedding (1974)
Rock in a Hard Place (2013)
Roots
- as Capt. Thomas Davies (1977)
Roseanne
- Call Waiting (1996, cameo as Lou Grant)
Route 66
- Welcome to the Wedding (1962)
- Shoulder the Sky, My Lad (1962)
- The Mud Nest (1961)
- The Opponent (1961)
- The Man on the Monkey Board (1960)
Royal Pains
- A Man Called Grandpa (2011)
- The Shaw/Hank Redemption (2011)
Run for Your Life
- The Committee for the 25th (1966)
The Sarah Silverman Program
- Wowschwitz (2010)
The Simpsons
- Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner? (1999)
Slattery's People
- Question: Do the Ignorant Sleep in Pure
White Beds? (1964)
- Question: Remember the Dark Sins of
Youth? (1964)
- Question: What Is Truth? (1964)
Soul Man
- Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1998)
The Spectacular Spider-Man
- Intervention (2008, voice)
Spider-Man
- as J. Jonah Jameson (1994-1998, voice,
35 episodes)
Asner
was in Kansas City, Missouri to Jewish Russian-born parents, (Lizzie
and David Asner) who ran a second-hand shop. He attended Wyandotte
High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago in
Chicago, Illinois and worked on the assembly line for General Motors.
Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and appeared in plays
that toured Army camps in Europe.
Asner
has also had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he performed
the role of the title character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A.
Classic Theatre Works' radio theatre production of Sinclair Lewis's
novel "Babbitt." He also provided the voices for Joshua on
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (1986) for Hanna-Barbera, J. Jonah
Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man
(1994–98); Hoggish Greedly on Captain Planet and the Planeteers
(1990–95); Hudson on Gargoyles (1994–96); 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 (1992–94); Cosgrove on Freakazoid!; Ed Wuncler
on The Boondocks (2005–14); and Granny Goodness in various DC
Comics animated series. Asner also provided the voice of famed
American orator Edward Everett in the 2015 documentary film The
Gettysburg Address.
Asner
signed a statement released by the organization 9/11 Truth in 2004
that calls for a new investigation into the September 11 attacks. A
brief summary of the reasons for his position appears in a video
available on YouTube. Asner confirmed his support for the statement
in 2009. Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor:
Behind the War on Terror.
