Ed Asner

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Ed Asner (2006)

Eddie "Ed" Asner (born November 15, 1929 in Kansas City , Missouri , † August 29, 2021 in Los Angeles , California ), sometimes also Edward Asner, was an American actor and film producer , voice actor and human rights activist . One of his most famous roles was that of journalist Lou Grant, first in the sitcom Mary Tyler Moore , then as the title character in the drama series Lou Grant .

Career

Beginnings

Eddie Asner, called Ed, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Kansas City. His father owned a thrift store . After attending Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Asner worked for some time on the assembly line at a General Motors factory , where he first became a union member.

A short time later he went to Chicago to study at the University of Chicago . There he belonged to the theater group Tonight at Eight-Thirty (Tonight at eight thirty), which, under the direction of the later famous director Mike Nichols, mainly performed plays by authors such as George Bernard Shaw and William Butler Yeats . Asner made his debut as Thomas Becket in TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral .

Acting career

After two years of military service (1951–1953) in France , he returned to Chicago, where he began to play for the Playwrights' Theater Club. In 1960 he got on Broadway at the Eugene-O'Neill-Theater in 36 performances a supporting role in the play Face of a Hero based on a work by Pierre Boulle . Jack Lemmon played the leading role . This was followed by further appearances in Broadway and off-Broadway productions as well as at numerous Shakespeare festivals in the USA.

After several appearances on television shows in New York , Asner moved to Hollywood in 1961 , where he now worked predominantly as a film and television actor, in both dramatic and comedic roles. In the first few years he had mixed success there. He played some Soviet villains in agent series and had a supporting role alongside John Wayne in Howard Hawks ' Western El Dorado (1966) , but was often limited to smaller parts.

In 1971 he got a permanent role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show , where he played the editor-in-chief Lou Grant with great success . The role became after the end of the series in a slightly different form in a spin-off for him to the main role. As the grumpy but lovable head of the local editorial team of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune, Asner became known to the German television audience in the series of the same name. He received the Emmy five times for the role, three times for his role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show as a supporting actor and twice for Lou Grant as a leading actor. Asner is the only actor to get five Emmys for the same role in two different series. He also won the Golden Globe twice for the role. His portrayals of Axel Jordache in Reich und Arm (1976–1977) and as commander of a slave ship in Roots (1977) were also awarded an Emmy .

Ed Asner, 2012

Even after Lou Grant was hired in the 1980s, Asner continued to appear in many film and television roles. In 1998, in Hard Rain with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater , he was again in front of the camera with his former colleague and girlfriend from the Mary Tyler Moore Show , Betty White . In 2003 he was seen as Santa Claus in the movie Buddy - The Christmas Elf . He received his 17th and final Emmy nomination in 2009 for his guest appearance as Abraham Klein in the episode Yahrzeit of the series CSI: NY . With a total of seven Primetime Emmy Awards , he is the most frequently awarded male actor in Emmy history (a distinction is made between Primetime and Daytime Emmy Awards , with the Primetime Emmy Awards being more prestigious for prime- time programs).

Despite his old age, Asner worked as an actor in film productions to the end and continued to work as managing director of his production company Quince Productions. The English-speaking world also knew him as the voice of some cartoon characters and from radio plays . For example, in 2008 he lent his voice to the main character of the pensioner Carl Fredricksen in the Oscar-winning animated film Above .

Political and social engagement

From 1981 to 1985 he was chairman of the Screen Actors Guild . In addition, Asner, whose political position was by his own admission left - wing , was known to the American public as an advocate for human rights . His character of the dedicated Lou Grant was therefore often perceived as Asner's alter ego . In the early 1980s, his stand against the US involvement in Latin America and, more than twenty years later, his support for the Black Panther activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of murder, caused a sensation .

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , he repeatedly criticized the aggressive US response to them. He also had doubts about parts of the widely accepted course of the terrorist attacks. Asner also co-founded the 2004 Racism Watch initiative , a campaign against racism , particularly against Arab Americans and Arab immigrants following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Private life

His first marriage, which lasted from 1959 to 1988, had three children. Another son comes from another relationship. In 1998 he married producer Cindy Gilmore. After the couple split in 2007, Asner filed for divorce in 2015. He died in Los Angeles on August 29, 2021 at the age of 91.

Dubbing voice

He was dubbed by Heinz Theo Branding in Lou Grant and several feature films .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award : 2001
  • Ralph Morgan Award: 2002
  • Golden Globe - Best Television Actor in Drama: 1978 (Lou Grant), 1980 (Lou Grant)
  • Golden Globe - Best Actor on TV: 1972 (Mary Tyler Moore), 1976 (Mary Tyler Moore), 1977 (rich and poor)
  • Emmy - best actor in drama: 1978 (Lou Grant), 1980 (Lou Grant)
  • Emmy - Best Supporting Actor in Comedy: 1971 (Mary Tyler Moore), 1972 (Mary Tyler Moore), 1975 (Mary Tyler Moore), 1977 (Roots)
  • Emmy - Best Guest Actor: 1976 (Rich and Poor)

Literature on Asner

  • Ed Asner: Lou Grant - The Making of TV's Top Newspaper Drama. Syracuse University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8156-0363-0 .

Web links

Commons : Ed Asner  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edward Asner in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. ↑ Ed Asner: Tweet from August 31, 2019. In: Twitter . Retrieved July 13, 2021 .
  3. ^ Ed Asner, Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved August 30, 2021 .
  4. ↑ jbumpus: Ed Asner, 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' and Comedy Legend, Dies at 91 August 29, 2021, accessed August 30, 2021 (American English).
  5. ^ A b Kathlyn Gay: American Dissidents: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Subversives, and Prisoners of Conscience . ABC-CLIO, 2012, ISBN 978-1-59884-764-2 ( google.de [accessed on August 30, 2021]).
  6. ↑ The Broadway League: Face of a Hero - Broadway Play - Original | IBDB. Accessed August 30, 2021 .
  7. ↑ a b c Edward Asner | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Accessed August 30, 2021 .
  8. ↑ Matthias Heine : He seduced several generations to journalism. In: The world . August 30, 2021 .;
  9. ↑ Ed Asner, TV legend who won 7 Emmys, has died at 91. Retrieved August 30, 2021 (American English).
  10. ↑ 'Americas in Transition': the issue as Edward Asner sees it . In: Christian Science Monitor . May 21, 1982, ISSN  0882-7729 ( csmonitor.com [accessed August 30, 2021]).
  11. ↑ a b Ed Asner, actor who twice had the role of a lifetime as newsman Lou Grant, dies at 91 . In: Washington Post . ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed August 30, 2021]).
  12. ^ Scoop News: Racism Watch 2004 Calls for End to Anti-Arab Books. Retrieved August 31, 2021 .
  13. ^ Actor Ed Asner, TV's blustery Lou Grant, dies at 91
personal data
SURNAME Asner, Ed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Asner, Eddie; Asner, Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, film producer, voice actor, and human rights activist
BIRTH DATE November 15, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Kansas City (Missouri) , Missouri , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles , California , United States