The award-winning American television writer, film producer, and campaigner, Norman Lear, has died at the age of 101.
According to his agents, the Hollywood legend died of natural causes on Tuesday, December 5, at his home in Los Angeles. His family has also asked for privacy at this time, and they want to arrange a private service for intimate family members.
Lear, a native of New Haven, Connecticut, is most known for inventing the revolutionary comedy series All in the Family, which tackled contentious social and political themes of the time.
Prior to his great career in show business, Lear served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 until 1945. He was released in 1945 and went on to work as a publicist, eventually relocating his profession and family to California.
Lear, who was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984, went on to create multiple iconic TV series that established a socially realistic genre and explored his democratic values, including All in the Family, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and The Jeffersons.
All in the Family, his sitcom about bigotry, menopause, rape, homosexuality, sexual dysfunction, and religion, received 55 Emmy nominations and finally won 22 of them.
Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and Fernwood 2 Night are among Lear’s other outstanding series.
Later in his career, Lear sought to find another venue to voice his political ideas, so he created People for the American Way in 1981, a liberal coalition dedicated to defending fundamental First Amendment liberties. In 1991, he founded the Business Enterprise Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing acts of integrity, bravery, and social vision in American corporations.
Following Lear are his wife Lyn, children Ellen (with ex-wife Charlotte Rosen), Kate and Maggie (with ex-wife Frances Loeb), Benjamin, Madelaine, and Brianna (with Lyn).
Lear died shortly after celebrating his 101st birthday in July. On Thursday, the legendary TV inventor celebrated his centennial plus one with a contemplative but lighthearted video uploaded on Instagram.
“Good morning, afternoon, and evening, depending on where you are and who you are,” Lear said before chuckling.
“It’s Norman Lear here, dribbling a little bit because he’s entering his second childhood,” the creator of One Day at a Time quipped. “I’ve just turned 101, and that is, they tell me, my second childhood.”
“It feels like that because of the kind of care I’m getting,” he continued. At this age, I receive the same level of attention that I observe children and toddlers receiving. As a result, I’m now a 101-year-old toddler.”
Lear also celebrated his birthday by penning an emotional op-ed in The Washington Post, in which he advocated for improved voting rights and discussed his service in the Army.
“To legislators who stand in the way of people voting, and to senators who continue the dishonorable tradition of filibustering civil rights legislation, I say this: You may pass some unjust laws.” “You can win elections by discouraging or preventing people from voting,” he wrote in the post. “But you will not, in the end, defeat the democratic spirit, the spirit that animated the Tuskegee airmen to whom I owe my life, the spirit that powers millions of Americans who give of themselves to defend voting rights, protect our environment, preserve peaceful pluralism, defeat discrimination, and expand educational and economic opportunity.”
“The right to vote is essential for addressing all of these issues.” It’s at the center of everything I’ve fought for in war and peace,” he continued. “Today’s struggle should not be to protect voting rights.” However, it is. And it means we’ll be fighting for as long as we have breath and power.”
Lear’s associates said he asked for donations to People for the American Way instead of flowers or gifts.