- Born
- DiedDecember 5, 2023 · Los Angeles, California, USA (cardiopulmonary arrest, as a complication of congestive heart failure)
- Birth nameNorman Milton Lear
- Height1.75 m
- Norman Lear enjoyed a long career in television and film, political and social activism, and philanthropy.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear flew 52 combat missions over Europe in World War II before beginning his television career. His classic shows of the 1970s and '80s - All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, among others - collectively reached as many as 120 million viewers per week and are said to have transformed the American cultural landscape, bringing the social and political issues of the day into American living rooms for the first time. With the rise of the radical religious right, Lear put his career on hold in 1980 to found People For the American Way, the nonprofit organization that remains a relevant and effective force defending all aspects of the First Amendment.
Lear was among the first seven television pioneers inducted in 1984 into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. In 1999, President Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts, noting that "Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it." His memoir, Even This I Get to Experience, was published in 2014, and the 2016 documentary Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You received an Emmy nomination as the representative program for the PBS American Masters series. In 2017, Lear received a Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award and was a Kennedy Center Honoree.
He was the father of six, the grandfather of four, and the husband of Lyn Davis Lear.- IMDb mini biography by: USC Annenberg Official Site Bio
- SpousesLyn Davis Lear(September 5, 1987 - December 5, 2023) (his death, 3 children)Frances Lear(December 7, 1956 - 1986) (divorced, 2 children)Charlotte Edith Rosen(October 21, 1943 - 1947) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsHerman King LearJeanette Seicol
- RelativesClaire Lear(Sibling)David Susskind(Cousin)Dr. Harold Lear(Cousin)Solomon Lear(Grandparent)Anna Lear(Grandparent)Noah LaPook(Grandchild)
- Best known for his ground breaking situation comedies that featured families that regularly confronted major political and social issues of the day.
- Ubiquitous boat hat
- Served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II who flew 52 missions over Germany.
- He once explained that the reason he is almost never seen without his hat, is because early in his career when he used to write for up to 18 hours a day, he would scratch his head so much he developed a scab. His wife Frances was so bothered by this, she bought him the hat and Norman and his hat became inseparable thereafter.
- Godfather to actress Katey Sagal.
- Friends with Carl Reiner, Carroll O'Connor, Mel Brooks, Redd Foxx, Doris Roberts, Esther Rolle, Robert Guillaume and Charlotte Rae.
- Was a mentor to Seth MacFarlane.
- Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of these tiny successes. And big ones come too infrequently. And if you don' t collect all those tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything.
- [ on being 90 years old] Suddenly I walk into a room, they're ready to applaud. I'm told how great I look all the time, and they don't mean beautiful. They mean, You're alive.
- The best gift I've ever gotten, I've gotten every day of my life, and that's waking up. I love waking up. I'm a morning afternoon and evening person. There are two small words that are the most important words in the English language: 'over' and 'next'.
- [on "joyful stress" while making shows] We had the joy of doing something we cared about; the joy of seeing it score and hearing people laugh.
- I think I learned early that it's hard to be a human being. I don't care what the circumstances of one's birth, it's hard. If life hasn't made mischief for us, we'll make it for ourselves. But that's the game of life.
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