Writer-producer-developer Norman Lear, who revolutionized American comedy with such daring, immensely popular early-‘70s sitcoms as “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son,” died on Tuesday. He was 101.
Lear’s publicist confirmed to Variety that he died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes. A private service for immediate family will be held in the coming days.
“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Lear’s family said in a statement. “Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”
Lear had already established himself as a top comedy writer and captured a 1968 Oscar nomination for his screenplay for “Divorce American Style” when he concocted the idea for a new sitcom, based on a popular British show, about a conservative, outspokenly bigoted working-class man and his fractious Queens family. “All in the Family” became an immediate hit, seemingly with viewers of all political persuasions.
Lear’s shows were the first to address the serious political, cultural and social flashpoints of the day – racism, abortion, homosexuality, the Vietnam war — by working pointed new wrinkles into the standard domestic comedy formula. No subject was taboo: Two 1977 episodes of “All in the Family” revolved around the attempted rape of lead character Archie Bunker’s wife Edith.
ht/ js
He died at his home in Los Angeles of too many birthdays!
I loved his racists sitcoms, they were the best – especially All in the Family. Archie was my favorite. Loved Sanford and Sons too. It was a take off of Amos and Andy which was taken off because it was racists.
By the time that garbage was on TV I was outside. I don’t remember watching any of his stuff.
…and then there’s Maude.
A bridge too far.
“All in the Family” was a rip off of a British sitcom. Left has been lauding this guy for decades, now he’s dead. They’re running out of talent to reference to bolster their ideology.
He has plenty of replacements. Particularly the heads of MIT, Penn, Hahvahd… https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1732179418787783089
i claim the title of “laziest mostly-yt man” – apologies to aachee bnkr
“You can never buy beer. You can only rent it”.
(trickle……)
FLUSH!!
And then there was the (in)famous Sammy Davis Jr cheek smooch.
I’m not sure O’Connor was warned in advance what was going to happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3gHj5LHB6s
Is the Meathead next, one can only hope.
“…giving us comedy with a social conscience.”
That’s when I stopped watching. Comedy was no longer funny.
Archie was supposed to be mocked and reviled for his views, but he was loved for them. Meathead was supposed to present the new, hip ideas and was laughed at as a clueless, hippy caricature. I liked the show. I thought the Sanford show was incredibly stupid and obnoxious. Watched maybe 5 episodes.
People for the American Way is not Liberal. It is a subversive Commie operation meant to undermine American values, traditions, culture, principles, and its Constitution, and reduce us under totalitarian slavery.
Lear was a comedic genius and gave us a trove of tremendous entertainment. But like many smart people, there was something sick and evil in his heart that caused him to embrace Communism and reject Liberty.
RIP
“We had a Judeo-Christian ethic hanging around a couple thousand years that didn’t help erase racism at all.”
Yeah except for ending slavery in Christian countries. What an asshole.
They gave Archie common sense and prejudice as a way to discredit common sense. Communists have no common sense and are blatant racist. Viewers tolerated his prejudice because it wasn’t racism and enjoyed his common sense.
Why wasn’t Archie “racist”, because his statements about others took an observed quality about an individual and applied to everyone with the same characteristics. A racist hates everyone with that shared characteristic, despite any observations to the contrary.
There’s a difference between prejudice and racism.
Norm was an anti Christian worker of iniquity. People like him are the reason our country and the world is so screwed up now. In spite of his admirable service record in WW2, and his entertaining shows, I don’t expect to see him in heaven. RIP if possible.
The guy who made it acceptable to make straight, white, Jude’s-Christian males look like idiots.
The left does still have Alan Alda. Oh, that’s right. He was canceled because his character was a sexist pig. Funny, that’s what I thought in the early days of M*A*S*H when the show was on CBS. But then again, I am a conservative so what did I know?
I remember my grandmother always laughed when Archie flushed the toilet, another first for All In The Family.
And calling the toilet the terlet.
Lear rewrote history and expunged any contributions of his co-production business partner.
He borrowed (stole) show ideas and claimed credit for himself.
Ousted John Amos from “Good Times”, because a black family comedy could not possibly have a strong black father in the home.
Lear was a narcissistic jackass.
Our liberal mother wouldn’t let us watch All In the Family because she thought Archie was offensive. So, my little sister would watch it with the black kids across the street; their dad loved it!
A talented showman – and a liberal who did so much damage to our nation.
His 2 most notable series were rip-offs of British sitcoms that he passed of as his own creations.