Ed Asner

{{Infobox person

| name = Ed Asner

| image = Ed Asner 1977.JPG

| alt =

| caption = Asner in 1977

| birth_name = Eddie Asner

| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|11|15}}

| birth_place = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|8|29|1929|11|15}}

| death_place = Tarzana, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Sheffield Cemetery, Kansas City

| alma_mater = University of Chicago (dropped out)

| known_for = Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1955–2021

| works = Full list

| party = Democratic

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Nancy Sykes|1959|1988|end = divorced}}
{{marriage|Cindy Gilmore|August 2, 1998|2015|reason = divorced}}

}}

| children = 4

| awards = Full list

| module = {{infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office = President of the Screen Actors Guild

| term_start = November 3, 1981

| term_end = June 20, 1985

| predecessor = William Schallert

| successor = Patty Duke}}

| module2 = {{Infobox military person

| embed = yes

| allegiance =

| branch = United States Army

| serviceyears = 1951–1953

| rank =

| battles = Korean War

| awards =

}}}}

Eddie Asner{{Cite tweet|user=TheOnlyEdAsner|number=1167899086923517955|date=August 31, 2019| title=It's actually not. That is a strange mistake that floats out there. My Hebrew name is Yitzhak. My real name is Eddie Asner. Truth.|access-date=September 3, 2019|first=Ed |last= Asner|archive-date=September 12, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190912082147if_/https://twitter.com/TheOnlyEdAsner/status/1167899086923517955|url-status=live }} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|z|n|ər}}; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant on the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) and drama Lou Grant (1977–1982), making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama.

Asner is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series on spin-off Lou Grant{{--)}}. His other Emmys were also for performances in two miniseries: Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), and Roots (1977).{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/25/us/ed-asner-fast-facts/index.html |title=Ed Asner Fast Facts |author= |date=November 7, 2016 |work=CNN|access-date=July 6, 2017}}

Asner acted in the films El Dorado (1966), They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), JFK (1991), and Too Big to Fail (2011). He also played Santa Claus in several films and voiced Carl Fredricksen in the Pixar animated film Up (2009).{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/ed-asners-santa-36074/|title=Ed Asner's Santa Complex|work=TV Guide|date=October 30, 2003|access-date=June 28, 2019}}

Asner starred in the ABC sitcom Thunder Alley (1994–1995), and Michael: Every Day (2011–2017). He also acted extensively in numerous television series such as The Practice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Good Wife, Cobra Kai, Briarpatch, Working Class, and Dead to Me. He also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994–1998), Hudson in Gargoyles (1994–1997), and Ed Wuncler Sr. in The Boondocks (2005–2014).

Early life and education

Asner was born November 15, 1929,{{Cite tweet |number=1062941419927523328 |user=TheOnlyEdAsner |title=Hi. Tomorrow 11/15 is my 89th birthday. |date= November 15, 2018}} in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas.{{cite web| url= https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/edward-asner|title=Edward Asner|date=October 22, 2017|website=Television Academy Interviews|access-date= May 22, 2019}} His Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents, Lizzie (née Seliger; 1885–1967, from Odesa, Ukraine), a housewife, and Morris David Asner (1879–1957, from Lithuania (Vilna Governorate or Grodno Governorate)),{{cite web |url=http://enewsreference.com/actors/ed_asner.html |title=Ed Asner |website=eNewsReference |access-date=March 7, 2018 |archive-date=December 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210050404/http://enewsreference.com/actors/ed_asner.html |url-status=dead }} ran a second-hand shop and junkyard. His four older siblings were Ben J. Asner (1915–1986), Eve Asner (1916–2014), Esther Edelman (1919–2014) and Labe Asner (1923–2017).{{Cite news|last=Gates|first=Anita|title=Ed Asner, Emmy-Winning Star of 'Lou Grant' and 'Up', Dies at 91|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/arts/television/ed-asner-dead.html|access-date=February 11, 2022|issn=0362-4331|date=August 29, 2021}} He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Yitzhak.{{cite news |last=Zager |first=Norma |title=Outspoken Asner's Activism Is No Act |work=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles |date=August 5, 2005 |url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/outspoken_asners_activism_is_no_act_20050805/ |access-date = December 13, 2006 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081225122020/http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/outspoken_asners_activism_is_no_act_20050805/ |archive-date= December 25, 2008 }}{{cite news|last=Horwitz|first=Simi|title=Ed Asner's Still Crusty After All These Years| url= http://forward.com/articles/163396/ed-asners-still-crusty-after-all-these-years/?p=all| work = The Forward| date= September 27, 2012}}

Asner attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago. He studied journalism in Chicago until a professor advised him there was little money to be made in the profession. He had been working in a steel mill,{{cite web |url=https://www.gregpalast.com/ed-asner-1929-2021/ |title=Ed Asner (1929–2021): A Lion in Underpants |website=GregPalast.com |publisher=Greg Palast |date=August 29, 2021 |access-date=August 30, 2021 }} but he quickly switched to drama, debuting as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. He eventually dropped out of school, going to work as a taxi driver, worked on the assembly line for General Motors, and other odd jobs before being drafted in the military in 1951.{{cite web| url= http://www.vulture.com/2012/09/ed-asner-stars-in-grace-on-broadway.html| title= Late-Night Lox, Vodka, and Banana Cream Pie With Ed Asner|date=October 1, 2012| website= Vulture.com |access-date=November 24, 2017}}

Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War and appeared in plays that toured Army bases in Europe.{{cite web|title=Edward Asner|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/edward-asner|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=August 27, 2016}}

Career

{{see also|Ed Asner filmography|List of awards and nominations received by Ed Asner}}

= 1955–1969: Early work and television roles =

File:Mary Tyler Moore cast 1970.jpg in 1970, with Asner in center rear]]

Following his military service, Asner helped found 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.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Asner |title=Ed Asner |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=November 11, 2019 |first=Naomi |last=Blumberg |access-date=December 3, 2019 }} He later made frequent guest appearances with the successor to Compass, The Second City.{{cite web |url=https://www.secondcity.com/people/other/ed-asner/#:~:text=After%20the%20war%2C%20Asner%20joined,developed%20into%20The%20Second%20City. |title=Ed Asner |website=The Second City |access-date=June 2, 2020}} In New York City, Off-Broadway roles included Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum in the revival of Threepenny Opera and in Otway's Venice Preserv'd in late 1955.Atkinson, Brooks. "Theatre: Otway Tragedy." New York Times, 13 December 1955, 54. Asner scored his first Broadway role in Face of a Hero alongside Jack Lemmon in 1960, and began to make inroads as a television actor, having made his TV debut in 1957 on Studio One. In two notable performances on television, Asner played Detective Sgt. Thomas Siroleo in the 1963 episode of The Outer Limits titled "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and the reprehensible ex-premier Brynov in the 1965 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Exile". He made his film debut in 1962, in the Elvis Presley vehicle Kid Galahad.

Before landing his role with Mary Tyler Moore, Asner guest-starred in television series including four episodes of The Untouchables starring Robert Stack, the syndicated crime drama Decoy, starring Beverly Garland, two episodes of Naked City in 1961, and Route 66 in 1962 (the episode titled "Welcome to the Wedding") as Custody Officer Lincoln Peers. He was 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, Ben Casey, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, and The Invaders. In 1963, Asner appeared as George Johnson on The Virginian in the episode "Echo of Another Day".{{cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-virginian-1963/episode-26-season-1/echo-of-another-day/100532/ |website=TV Guide |title=The Virginian Season 1 Episode 26: Echo of Another Day |access-date=December 3, 2019 }} In 1968 he was the villain Furman Crotty in the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Amnesiac".

= 1970–1982: ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and ''Lou Grant'' =

File:Mary Tyler Moore cast 1977.jpg in 1977. From left standing: Ted Knight (Ted Baxter), Gavin McLeod (Murray Slaughter), Ed Asner (Lou Grant). Seated: Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens), Georgia Engel (Georgette Baxter), Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards).]]

Asner was best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after Moore's series ended, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore series, a thirty-minute award-winning comedy about television journalism, the Lou Grant series was an hour-long award-winning drama about newspaper journalism. For his role as Grant, Asner was 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). In addition he made appearances as Lou Grant on two other shows: Rhoda and Roseanne.{{cite web|first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |url=https://deadline.com/2021/08/ad-asner-dead-lou-grant-mary-tyler-moore-1234823859/ |title=Ed Asner Dies: TV Icon Who Played Lou Grant Was 91|work=Deadline Hollywood |date=August 29, 2021 |access-date=August 29, 2021}} Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also starred in one episode of the Western series Dead Man's Gun (1997), as well as portraying art smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-0 (2012) remake.{{cite web|first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |url=https://deadline.com/2011/12/ed-asner-to-reprise-role-from-original-hawaii-five-0-in-the-series-cbs-reboot-202774/ |title=Ed Asner To Reprise Role From Original 'Hawaii Five-0' In The Series' CBS Reboot|work=Deadline Hollywood |date=December 8, 2011 |access-date=August 29, 2021}} He also appeared as a streetwise veteran police officer in an episode of the 1973 version of Police Story.{{cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/movies/2011/09/police_story_from_1973_finally.html|title='Police Story' from 1973 finally lands on DVD|first1=Chris|last1=Ball|date=September 16, 2011|website=The Plain Dealer}}

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. The role earned Asner an Emmy Award,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/27/archives/a-saga-of-slavery-that-made-the-actors-weep-a-moving-saga-of.html |title=A Saga of Slavery That Made The Actors Weep|work=The New York Times |date=June 27, 1976 |access-date=August 29, 2021}} as did the similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the miniseries 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.katolsk.no/nyheter/2002/02/11-0011 |title=Ed Asner Satisfied with John XXIII Portrayal in TV Series — Den katolske kirke |publisher=Katolsk.no |date=February 10, 2002 |access-date=August 29, 2021}}

= 1983–2009: Established actor and voice work =

File:Ed Asner - 1985.jpg

Asner had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he played the eponymous character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A. Classic Theatre Works' radio theater production of Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt. Asner won one Audie Award and was nominated for two Grammy Awards and an additional Audie for his audiobook work.{{cite web | url=https://www.audiopub.org/2000-audies-award | title=2000 audie-awards }}{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/ed-asner/92 |title=Ed Asner |website=Recording Academy Grammy Awards |access-date=April 4, 2023}}{{cite web | url=https://www.audiopub.org/2020-audies | title=2020 audie-awards }} 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: The Animated Series (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);{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/stage/ed-asner-talks-acting-at-89-pursuing-the-truth-and-bringing-the-soap-myth-to-tampa-20190412/|title=Ed Asner talks acting at 89, pursuing the truth and bringing 'The Soap Myth' to Tampa|website=Tampa Bay Times|date=April 12, 2019}} and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series. He also voiced Napoleon, Cornelia's younger sister's cat in the Disney show W.I.T.C.H., and Kid Potato, the Butcher's dad in the PBS Kids hit show WordGirl. He was even nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program but lost to Eartha Kitt for Nick Jr.'s Wonder Pets!. Asner provided the voice of famed American orator Edward Everett in the 2017 documentary film The Gettysburg Address.{{cite web|first=Rasha |last=Ali |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/12-actors-over-80-still-killing-hollywood-ed-173400829.html |title=12 Actors Over 80 Still Killing It in Hollywood, From Ed Asner to Morgan Freeman (Photos) |publisher=Yahoo! |date=June 1, 2017 |access-date=August 29, 2021}}{{cite web|first=Brandon |last=Choe |url=https://deadline.com/2021/08/ed-asner-career-photo-gallery-1234823964/ |title=Ed Asner's Career Television & Film Career: A Photo Gallery |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=August 29, 2021 |access-date=August 29, 2021}}

Asner provided the voice of the main protagonist Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). He received critical acclaim 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."{{cite web | title = Keith Cohen review of "Up" | publisher = Entertainment Spectrum | url = http://entertainmentspectrum.com/index/movies/926/up. | access-date = May 31, 2009 | archive-date = July 10, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110710193937/http://entertainmentspectrum.com/index/movies/926/up. | url-status = dead }} He appeared in the mid- to late-2000s decade in a recurring segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?"{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?pid=187427131 |newspaper=Deseret News |via=legacy.com |department=Obituaries |title=Jane Bucklin Petty |date=December 5, 2017 |quote=In 2006 at age 90, she appeared on the Jay Leno Show where she won the segment, 'Does This Impress Ed Asner?' }}{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308022436/http://www.omaha.com/index.php/index.php?u_page=2620&u_sid=10524313 |archive-date=March 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |date=December 28, 2008 |newspaper=Omaha World-Herald |title=Iowa man appears on 'Tonight Show' |department=Entertainment News & Notes |url=http://www.omaha.com/index.php/index.php?u_page=2620&u_sid=10524313 |first1=Bob |last1=Fischbach |first2=Dane |last2=Stickney |quote=Fett ... took part in the 'Does This Impress Ed Asner?' segment.}} He was cast in a Country Music Television comedy pilot, Regular Joe.{{cite web |last=DiNunno |first=Gina |url=http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ed-Asner-Comedy-1019547.aspx|title=Ed Asner Signs On to CMT Comedy Pilot|work=TV Guide |date=June 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615001558/http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ed-Asner-Comedy-1019547.aspx |archive-date=June 15, 2010}}

In 2001, Asner was the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.sagawards.org/previous-life-achievement-recipients/2001 |title=Edward Asner – 2001 Life Achievement Recipient – Screen Actors Guild Awards |access-date=July 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015185704/http://www.sagawards.org/previous-life-achievement-recipients/2001 |archive-date=October 15, 2008 }} Asner 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.tv/awards/hall-fame/hall-fame-archives-honorees |title=Hall of Fame Archives: Inductees – Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |access-date=March 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218100226/http://www.emmys.tv/awards/hall-fame/hall-fame-archives-honorees |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame/honorees|title=Honorees|website=Television Academy}}

= 2010–2021: Later roles =

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.shattereddocumentary.com/|title=Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders|website=ShatteredDocumentary.com|access-date=November 24, 2017|archive-date=October 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019151018/http://www.shattereddocumentary.com/|url-status=usurped}} Also in 2010, Asner played the title role in FDR, a stage production about the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt;{{cite web|url=http://www.windwoodtheatricals.com/html/fdr.html|title=Ed Asner as FDR|publisher=WindWood Theatricals|access-date=November 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122050358/http://www.windwoodtheatricals.com/html/fdr.html|archive-date=January 22, 2013|url-status=dead}} he 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 role as billionaire Warren Buffett in HBO's economic drama Too Big to Fail (2011).{{cite web|first=Katya |last=Wachtel |date=May 13, 2011 |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/too-big-too-fail-cast-2011-5 |title=Too Big to Fail: the Cast |work=Business Insider |access-date=August 29, 2021}} In 2013, he guest starred as Mr. Finger in The Crazy Ones.{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/crazy-ones-ed-asner-1071497/ |title=Exclusive: Ed Asner Heads to The Crazy Ones |publisher=TV Guide |date= |access-date=August 30, 2021}}

File:Ed Asner 2015.jpg Awards]]

Asner also provided voice-over narration for many documentaries and films about social activism, including Tiger by the Tail, a documentary film detailing the efforts of Eric Mann and the Campaign to keep General Motors' Van Nuys assembly plant running.{{cite AV media | people=Goldman, Michael (Director) |year=1986 | title=Tiger by the Tail| medium=Motion picture | location=Los Angeles }} He also recorded for a public radio show and podcast, Playing On Air, appearing in Warren Leight's The Final Interrogation of Ceaucescu's Dog with Jesse Eisenberg, and Mike Reiss's New York Story.{{cite web|url=https://playingonair.org/2015/01/07/episode-12-a-dog-and-a-cat/|title=A Dog and a Cat: Two Short Plays|date=January 7, 2015|website=Playing On Air|access-date=August 4, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617082453/https://playingonair.org/2015/01/07/episode-12-a-dog-and-a-cat/|archive-date=June 17, 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://playingonair.org/2014/12/08/ed-asner/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808174349/https://playingonair.org/2014/12/08/ed-asner/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 8, 2016|title=Ed Asner|date=December 8, 2014|website=Playing On Air|access-date=August 4, 2016}} Asner was the voice-over narrator for the 2016 documentary Behind the Fear: The Hidden Story of HIV, directed by Nicole Zwiren, a controversial study on the AIDS debate.{{cite web|url=http://www.behindthefear.com|title=Behind the Fear, the hidden story of HIV|website=BehindTheFear.com|access-date=November 24, 2017}} A 2014 documentary titled My Friend Ed, directed by Sharon Baker, focused on the actor's life and career. It won Best Short Documentary at the New York City Independent Film Festival.{{cite news |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/new-jersey/article/Ed-Asner-More-Wrap-Up-2015-Garden-State-Film-Festival-20150326 |title=Ed Asner & More Wrap Up 2015 Garden State Film Festival |date=March 26, 2015 |website=BroadwayWorld |access-date=September 22, 2020 }} During interviews for a 2019 book on the history of Chicago theater, Asner told the author he preferred to be credited for his work as "Edward" rather than "Ed" because he felt the longer name held the page or screen better.{{cite news |url=https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/forever-ed-asner/ |title=Forever Ed Asner |date=September 8, 2021 |newspaper=Chicago Reader |first=Mark |last=Larson |access-date=May 11, 2022 }}

In 2018, Asner was cast in the Netflix dark comedy, Dead to Me, which premiered on May 3, 2019. The series also stars Christina Applegate, Linda Cardellini, and James Marsden. Asner also had a recurring guest role in the 2018–present series Cobra Kai, portraying Johnny Lawrence's step-father, Sid Weinberg, in seasons one and three.{{cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2021/08/cobra-kai-legendary-ed-asner-remembered-series-creators-and-cast-1234823974/ |title='Cobra Kai': Ed Asner Remembered By Series Creators And Cast |date=August 29, 2021 |work=Deadline |first=Rosy |last=Codero |access-date=September 4, 2021}} A memorial tribute to Asner preceded the credits in Cobra Kai season 4, episode 1, "Let's Begin". In 2020 he guest starred in an episode of the eleventh and final season of Modern Family and in 2021 played himself in a sketch on Let's Be Real.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/08/29/emmy-winner-ed-asner-dies-lou-grant-elf-up/4138015001/ |title=Ed Asner dies: TV's Lou Grant, 'Elf,' 'Up' star, 91, won seven Emmys |work=USA Today |date= |access-date=August 30, 2021}} The 2019 feature documentary by Kurt Jacobsen and Warren Leming entitled Ed Asner: On Stage and Off premiered at the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, which Asner attended,{{cite web |title=Ed Asner Speaks in Palm Springs 2019 |work=Palm Springs Life |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVvHrhxreFo|access-date=September 8, 2021 |date=August 29, 2021 |via=YouTube }}{{cite web |year=2019 |title=Ed Asner: On Stage and Off. A documentary Portrait |url=https://edasnerdocumentary.yolasite.com |access-date=September 8, 2021 |website=EdAsnerDocumentary |author=Cold Chicago Productions }} and since screened at a dozen more festivals, including a European premiere at the Oxford International Film Festival.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} In 2013, he played Santa in Christmas on the Bayou.{{cite news |url=https://africa.businessinsider.com/10-actors-who-have-played-santa-claus-in-movies/221zbdt?op=1 |title=10 actors who have played Santa Claus in movies |date=December 19, 2018 |work=Business Insider: Africa |first=Zoë |last=Miller |access-date=October 8, 2021}}

Beginning in 2016, Asner took on the role of Holocaust survivor Milton Salesman in Jeff Cohen's acclaimed play The Soap Myth in a reading at Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Theatre in New York City.{{cite web |url=https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2016/05/02/soap-myth-reading-jeff-cohen-play-celebration-holocaust-remembrance-day |title=The Soap Myth: A reading of the Jeff Cohen play in celebration of Holocaust Remembrance Day |date=May 2, 2016 |website=New York Public Library |access-date=October 3, 2020 }} He subsequently toured for the next three years in "concert readings" of the play in more than a dozen cities across the United States.{{cite web|author=|title=Ed Asner Sticks with THE SOAP MYTH for Tour|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Ed-Asner-Sticks-with-THE-SOAP-MYTH-for-Tour-20190417|access-date=October 17, 2020|website=Broadway World|language=en}} In 2019, PBS flagship station WNET filmed the concert reading at New York's Center for Jewish History for their All Arts channel. The performance, which is available for free, world-wide live-streaming, co-stars Tovah Feldshuh, Ned Eisenberg, and Liba Vaynberg.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/the-soap-myth-xplvfu/ |title=The Soap Myth |date=January 26, 2020 |publisher=PBS |access-date=October 3, 2020 }}

In the week before his death, Asner told his frequent collaborators, Greg Palast and Leni Badpenny, that he soon would be doing three one-act plays.

= 2021–present: Posthumous releases =

Asner had completed several roles in a number of TV series and films at the time of his death in August 2021, including three of his final productions released posthumously on the Disney+ streaming service. He returned to reprise his voice role as Carl Fredricksen from the Pixar film Up in the Disney+ animated miniseries of shorts Dug Days (2021), which was the first to premiere, just three days after his death. Asner's cameo appearance as the Ghost of Claude in the Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) was posthumous, and he provided the voice of Grandpa Heffley in the Disney+ animated film adaptation Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022), released over a year after his death. The final short film in the Dug Days series, Carl's Date, which includes Asner's recorded voice-over performance as Carl Fredricksen, did not premiere on Disney+, but it was released separately in theaters along with the Pixar animated feature film Elemental on June 16, 2023, nearly two years after his death and also served as the finale of the Up franchise. These were Asner's last acting works overall for Disney and were all dedicated to his memory.

Asner also appeared posthumously in Deadly Draw (2023), A Fargo Christmas Story (2023), and Altered Reality (2024). At least two other projects, which would include Asner's final film roles, have yet to announce release dates: Scarlett (a television drama film){{Cite web |last=Slenk |first=Austin |date=2021-09-18 |title=Ed Asner's Last Role Is in 'Muppets Haunted Mansion' Special |url=https://collider.com/ed-asner-final-role-muppets-haunted-mansion-special/ |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=Collider |language=en}} and Unplugged (an animated film).{{cite news |url=https://evanstonnow.com/filmmaker-plugs-into-evanston-to-produce-unplugged/ |title=Filmmaker plugs into Evanston to produce 'Unplugged' |date=December 30, 2021 |website=Evanston Now |first=Jeff |last=Hirsch |access-date=May 29, 2024}}

Activism

=Politics=

He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike.{{cite web | author= Kassel, Michael B. | title= Asner, Ed | url= http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=asnered | publisher= Museum of Broadcast Communications | date= November 29, 2007 | access-date= April 6, 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120928204506/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=asnered | archive-date= September 28, 2012 | url-status=dead }} He was also active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the movement to establish California One Care, single-payer health care in California, for which he created a television advertisement. He endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 United States presidential election,{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/01/15/kucinich-blends-new-age-aura-with-old-school-grit/646895ab-06ce-4959-bb0f-0380c60dab1a/ |title=Kucinich Blends New Age Aura With Old-School Grit |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 15, 2004 |access-date=February 26, 2022}} and Barack Obama during the 2008 United States presidential election. He was formerly a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC){{cite web |url=http://www.dsausa.org/a_brief_history_of_the_american_left |title=A Brief History of the American Left |last=Isserman |first=Maurice|author-link=Maurice Isserman |date=June 2, 1998 |website=Democratic Socialists of America|access-date=June 6, 2017}} and was a member of DSOC's successor, the Democratic Socialists of America.

The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had high ratings, being in the ACNielsen top ten throughout its final month on the air. However, the CBS television network declined to renew it. Asner believed that his left-wing political views, as well as the publicity surrounding them, were the actual root causes for the show's cancellation. In 2011, Asner endorsed Democratic candidate Marcy Winograd who finished 4th in the 16-candidate primary behind eventual winner Janice Hahn, in California's 36th congressional district special election.{{cite web| url=http://winogradforcongress.com/2011/ed-asner-urges-voters-to-protect-social-security-medicare-from-robber-barons-who-looted-america-to-pay-for-the-wars/| title=Ed Asner Urges Voters to 'Protect Social Security & Medicare from Robber Barons Who Looted America to Pay for the Wars'| access-date=April 28, 2011| author=Staff| date=April 28, 2011| publisher=Winograd For Congress| archive-date=September 2, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902121014/http://winogradforcongress.com/2011/ed-asner-urges-voters-to-protect-social-security-medicare-from-robber-barons-who-looted-america-to-pay-for-the-wars/| url-status=dead}} From 2011 to 2015, Asner worked with filmmaker Nicole Zwiren on the feature-length documentary Behind the Fear which addresses HIV/AIDS denialism. The film was released in 2016 with Asner as the narrator.{{cite news|title=Behind The Fear The Hidden Story of HIV|url=https://www.awarenessfestival.org/screening/behind-the-fear/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915231831/http://awarenessfestival.org/screening/behind-the-fear/|publisher=Awarenessfestival.org|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 15, 2016|access-date=May 16, 2017}}

Asner endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theories, including voicing qualified support for the 9/11 truth movement. In 2004, he signed a statement released by the group 9/11 Truth that included a call for a new investigation into some elements of the September 11 attacks that he questioned.{{cite web |url=http://www.stephaniemiller.com/bits/2006_0414_ed.mp3 |title=Audio interview of Ed Asner |access-date=August 24, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060824103721/http://www.stephaniemiller.com/bits/2006_0414_ed.mp3 |archive-date=August 24, 2006 }} by Stephanie Miller on The Stephanie Miller Show about a September 11 Conspiracy theory Asner confirmed his support for the statement in 2009.{{cite journal|last=Rossmeier|first=Vincent|journal=Salon|title=Would you still sign the 9/11 Truth petition?|date=September 11, 2009|url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/11/truth_petition/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914043105/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/11/truth_petition/|archive-date=September 14, 2009|access-date=September 11, 2009}} In April 2004, Asner wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9–11 truth" through the organization 9-11 Visibility Project.{{cite web |author=Asner, Ed |date=April 26, 2004 |title=A letter to the Peace and Justice movement from Ed Asner |url=http://www.septembereleventh.org/alerts/asner.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040502164829/http://www.septembereleventh.org/alerts/asner.php |archive-date=May 2, 2004 |access-date=September 26, 2008 |publisher=911 Visibility Project}} In 2011, Asner hosted the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth documentary on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, which endorses the theory that the building was taken down by controlled demolition.{{cite web |title=Architects and Engineers: Solving the Mystery of WTC 7 |url=https://www.ae911truth.org/evidence/videos/video/2-architects-and-engineers-solving-the-mystery-of-building-7 |access-date=November 23, 2018 |website=ae911truth.org}}{{cite web |author=J. Leroy Hulsey |date=September 9, 2020 |title=A Structural Reevaluation of the Collapse of WTC Building 7 |url=https://ine.uaf.edu/wtc7 |access-date=September 16, 2021 |website=University of Alaska |language=en-US}} Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.{{cite web|url=http://www.theoilfactor.com/|title=The Oil Factor website|website=TheOilFactor.com|access-date=November 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807044007/http://www.theoilfactor.com/|archive-date=August 7, 2012|url-status=dead}}File:AsnerWeaver1978.jpg picketing during an advertising agency strike in Los Angeles, 1978]]

=Nonprofit organizations=

Asner was on the Entertainment Board of Directors for The Survivor Mitzvah Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing direct emergency aid to elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.{{cite web|url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/ed-asner-play-a-man-and-his-prostate-is-full-of-healthy-laughs |title=Ed Asner play A Man and His Prostate is full of healthy laughs |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=April 19, 2018 |access-date=August 29, 2021}} Asner was 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 served 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 was a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. Asner also sat on the advisory board for Exceptional Minds, a non-profit school and a computer animation studio for young adults on the autism spectrum.{{cite web

|url=http://www.thewrap.com/sesame-street-partnering-exceptional-minds-school-autism/

|title='Sesame Street' Partnering With Exceptional Minds School for Autism Initiative

|last=Ross

|first=L.A.

|date=April 22, 2014

|work=TheWrap

|access-date=June 4, 2014

|archive-date=October 3, 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003101551/http://www.thewrap.com/sesame-street-partnering-exceptional-minds-school-autism/

|url-status=dead

}}

Asner was a supporter of Humane Borders, an organization based in Tucson, Arizona, which maintains water stations in the Sonoran Desert for use by undocumented migrants, with the goal of preventing deaths by dehydration and exposure. He was the master of ceremonies at that organization's volunteer dinner in fall 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://humaneborders.org/event/ed-asner-host-charity-dinner/|title=Ed Asner to Host Charity Dinner|work=Humane Borders|access-date=July 3, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=July 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704035751/https://humaneborders.org/event/ed-asner-host-charity-dinner/|url-status=dead}}

In November 2017, The Ed Asner Family Center was founded by Asner's son, Matt, and daughter-in-law, Navah Paskowitz. The Center provides arts and vocational enrichments, counseling services, and support groups and camps to special needs individuals and their families.{{cite web |date=August 23, 2019 |title=Ed Asner Family Center offers programming and special-needs support |url=https://www.laparent.com/ed-asner-family-center/ |access-date=March 7, 2021 |website=L.A. Parent |language=en-US}}

= SAG involvement =

Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity during the 1980s he opposed United States policy in Central America, working closely with the Alliance for Survival.

On March 30, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) completed a merger of equals, forming a new union SAG-AFTRA. Asner was adamantly opposed to such a merger, arguing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors.{{YouTube|pxfUfqXWKuA|Former SAG President Edward Asner speaks out against the SAG-AFTRA merger}} Asner and a group of fellow actors and voice-actors, including Martin Sheen and Ed Harris, filed (but later dropped) a lawsuit against SAG president Ken Howard and several SAG vice presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned and to have the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/dismissal-formalized-sag-aftra-merger-327775|title=SAG-AFTRA: Dismissal Formalized In SAG-AFTRA Merger Lawsuit|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=May 22, 2012}}

= Community theater =

In 2021, Asner traveled to Monte Rio, California to support the reopening, revitalization, and shifted focus of the local Monte Rio Theater.{{cite web|url=https://www.monteriotheater.com/|title= Monte Rio Theater}}{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/505406182|title= The Historic RIO THEATER Promo Video|date= January 27, 2021}}

Personal life and death

Asner was married to Nancy Lou Sykes from 1959 to 1988. They had three children, twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. In 1987, he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman.{{cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/1988/6/18/18768979/asner-admits-baby-boy-is-his-illegitimate-child/|title=Asner Admits Baby Boy Is His Illegitimate Child|date=June 18, 1988|work=Deseret News|access-date=August 27, 2016}}{{cite news|title=Ed Asner Fast Facts|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/25/us/ed-asner-fast-facts/|access-date=August 27, 2016|work=CNN|date=October 27, 2015}} Asner was a parent and a grandparent to autistic children and was involved with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Autism Speaks.{{cite web |url=http://www.mickeynews.com/News/DisplayPressRelease.asp_Q_id_E_1295Family |title=mickeynews.com |access-date=June 29, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720173701/http://www.mickeynews.com/News/DisplayPressRelease.asp_Q_id_E_1295Family |archive-date=July 20, 2006 }}, 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." He also served as a board member and adviser for Aspiritech, a nonprofit organization that trains high-functioning autistic persons to test software and perform quality-assurance services for companies.{{cite web |url=https://aspiritech.org/who-we-are/advisors/ |title=Advisors |publisher=Aspiritech |access-date=May 5, 2019 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34047713/ns/health-mental_health/t/autism-seen-asset-not-liability-some-jobs/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328132814/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34047713/ns/health-mental_health/t/autism-seen-asset-not-liability-some-jobs |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2013 |title=Autism seen as asset, not liability, in some jobs |first=Chris |last=Tachibana |publisher=NBC News |date=December 8, 2009 |access-date=May 5, 2019 }}

Asner became engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991. They married on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for legal separation on November 7, 2007.{{cite news|date=November 7, 2007|title=Ed Asner's Second Wife Seeks Separation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110702166.html|access-date=August 27, 2016|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Asner filed for divorce in 2015.{{cite news|last1=Fowler|first1=Tara|title=Ed Asner Files For Divorce 8 Years After Separating From Wife|url=http://www.people.com/article/ed-asner-files-divorce-8-years-after-separating-wife|access-date=August 27, 2016|work=People|date=May 15, 2015}}

Asner died of natural causes at his home in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on August 29, 2021, at the age of 91.{{cite magazine |last1=Dagan |first1=Carmel |last2=Natale |first2=Richard |date=August 29, 2021 |title=Ed Asner, Emmy-Winning 'Lou Grant' Star, Dies at 91 |url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/ed-asner-dead-lou-grant-1235051373/ |magazine=Variety |access-date=August 29, 2021}}{{cite magazine |last=Barnes |first=Mike |date=August 29, 2021 |title=Ed Asner Dead: Lou Grant on 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' Was 91 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ed-asner-dead-lou-grant-1235004802/ |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter}} He was buried at Sheffield Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 12.{{cite news |last1=Dulle |first1=Brian |date=September 19, 2021 |title=In private ceremony, Hollywood actor Ed Asner buried with family in Kansas City |publisher=WDAF-TV |url=https://fox4kc.com/news/entertainment/in-private-ceremony-hollywood-actor-ed-asner-buried-with-family-in-kansas-city/ |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925142056/https://fox4kc.com/news/entertainment/in-private-ceremony-hollywood-actor-ed-asner-buried-with-family-in-kansas-city/ |url-status=dead }}

Numerous celebrities paid tribute to Asner, including Maureen McCormick, George Takei, Mark Hamill, Michael McKean, Bradley Whitford, Josh Gad, Mia Farrow, Andy Richter, Katie Couric, Denis O'Hare, Mira Sorvino, Eric Stonestreet, Niecy Nash, Yvette Nicole Brown, Michael Moore, Rosario Dawson, Rosanna Arquette,{{cite magazine |last=Yasharoff |first=Hannah |date=August 30, 2021 |title=Hollywood mourns Ed Asner: 'You made and will continue to make this world a better place' Was 91 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/08/29/ed-asner-mary-tyler-moore-actor-mourned-by-hollywood/5643620001/ |magazine=USA Today |access-date=September 4, 2021}} Ben Stiller, The Muppets, William Baldwin,{{cite magazine |last=Yasharoff |first=Hannah |date=August 30, 2021 |title=Ed Asner: Lou Grant and Up actor dies aged 91 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58380089 |magazine=BBC.com |access-date=September 4, 2021}} Greg Weisman,{{cite web |date=August 29, 2021 |title=Greg Weisman's tribute to Asner summed up in short words |url=https://twitter.com/greg_weisman/status/1432159289334919176?s=21 |access-date=September 5, 2021 |publisher=Twitter}} William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Bob Peterson, Bill Farmer, and Zooey Deschanel.{{cite magazine |last=West |first=Amy |date=January 29, 2021 |title=Zooey Deschanel pays sweet tribute to Elf co-star after his death |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a37450909/zooey-deschanel-ed-asner-sweet-tribute-elf-costar/ |magazine=Digital Spy |access-date=September 4, 2021}}