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Along with other 9/11 Truth movement activists, like [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Woody Harrelson]], he will be appearing in a movie, ''[[September Morn (film)|September Morn]]'', that will reflect such concerns.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rory |last=Carroll |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/oct/17/martin-sheen-woody-harrelson-9-11-truther |title=Martin Sheen and Woody Harrelson set for 9/11 'truther' film September Morn |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=October 17, 2012 |accessdate=October 21, 2012 |quote=Martin Sheen, Woody Harrelson and Ed Asner, who have all supported conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks, have signed up to the movie, which is entitled September Morn. }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Matt |last=Patches |url=http://www.hollywood.com/news/September_Morn_Woody_Harrelson_Martin_Sheen_911_Conspiracy_Theories_Truthers_Movie/42602709 |title=Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen Take 9/11 Conspiracy Theories to Big Screen in 'September Morn' |publisher=[[Hollywood.com]] |date=October 19, 2012 |accessdate=October 21, 2012 |quote=Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen, and Ed Asner are all attached to star in the project, which Fleur De Lis' site describes as being "in the vein of ''[[Twelve Angry Men]]''." |archiveurl=http://archive.is/TknPu|archivedate=January 3, 2013}}</ref>
Along with other 9/11 Truth movement activists, like [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Woody Harrelson]], he will be appearing in a movie, ''[[September Morn (film)|September Morn]]'', that will reflect such concerns.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rory |last=Carroll |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/oct/17/martin-sheen-woody-harrelson-9-11-truther |title=Martin Sheen and Woody Harrelson set for 9/11 'truther' film September Morn |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=October 17, 2012 |accessdate=October 21, 2012 |quote=Martin Sheen, Woody Harrelson and Ed Asner, who have all supported conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks, have signed up to the movie, which is entitled September Morn. }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Matt |last=Patches |url=http://www.hollywood.com/news/September_Morn_Woody_Harrelson_Martin_Sheen_911_Conspiracy_Theories_Truthers_Movie/42602709 |title=Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen Take 9/11 Conspiracy Theories to Big Screen in 'September Morn' |publisher=[[Hollywood.com]] |date=October 19, 2012 |accessdate=October 21, 2012 |quote=Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen, and Ed Asner are all attached to star in the project, which Fleur De Lis' site describes as being "in the vein of ''[[Twelve Angry Men]]''." |archiveurl=http://archive.is/TknPu|archivedate=January 3, 2013}}</ref>


===Anti SAG/AFTRA merger===
===Opposition to SAG/AFTRA merger===
[[File:Ed Asner by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|Asner at the 2012 [[Phoenix Comicon]]]]
[[File:Ed Asner by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|Asner at the 2012 [[Phoenix Comicon]]]]
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 is adamantly opposed to such a merger, citing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfUfqXWKuA Former SAG President Edward Asner speaks out against the SAG-AFTRA merger]</ref> Asner and a group fellow actors and voice-actors including [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Ed Harris]], filed a lawsuit against SAG President [[Ken Howard]] and several SAG Vice Presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned, and the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/sag-aftra-anti-merger-lawsuit-drops-demand-295573 Hollywood Reporter - SAG/AFTRA Anti Merger Lawsuit Drops Demands.]</ref> The lawsuit is currently working its way through the court system.
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 is adamantly opposed to such a merger, citing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfUfqXWKuA Former SAG President Edward Asner speaks out against the SAG-AFTRA merger]</ref> Asner and a group fellow actors and voice-actors including [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Ed Harris]], filed a lawsuit against SAG President [[Ken Howard]] and several SAG Vice Presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned, and the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/sag-aftra-anti-merger-lawsuit-drops-demand-295573 Hollywood Reporter - SAG/AFTRA Anti Merger Lawsuit Drops Demands.]</ref> The lawsuit is currently working its way through the court system.

Revision as of 07:52, 3 April 2014

Ed Asner
Asner in 1985, aged 56
President of the Screen Actors Guild
In office
1981–1985
Preceded byWilliam Schallert
Succeeded byPatty Duke
Personal details
Born (1929-11-15) November 15, 1929 (age 94)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.[1]
Political partyDemocratic Party, Democratic Socialists of America[2][3]
Spouse(s)Nancy Sykes (1959–1988, divorced)
Cindy Gilmore (1998–2007, divorced)
ChildrenMatthew
Liza
Kate
Charles
Residence(s)Santa Monica, California, United States
EducationWyandotte High School
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
OccupationActor, political activist

Edward "Ed" Asner (born November 15, 1929) is an American film, television, stage, and voice actor and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is primarily known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same leading character in both a comedy and a drama.

In 2009, he starred as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's award-winning animated film Up. In early 2011, Asner returned to television as butcher Hank Greziak in Working Class, the first original sitcom on cable channel CMT. He starred in the Canadian television series Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, on CBC Television and has appeared in the 2013 television series The Glades, in the episode "Killer Barbecue".

Early life and education

Asner was born in Kansas City, Missouri, His Russian-born parents, Lizzie (née Seliger, 1885–January 16, 1967[4]), a housewife; and David Morris Asner[5](1877–May 19, 1957[6]) ran a second-hand shop.[7] He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family.[8][9]

Asner attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.

He worked on the assembly line for General Motors.[10] Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and appeared in plays that toured Army camps in Europe.[citation needed]

Career

Main article: Ed Asner filmography

Following his military service, Asner joined 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. He later made guest appearances with the successor to Compass, The Second City, and is considered part of The Second City extended family. In New York City, Asner played Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum in the Broadway revival of Threepenny Opera, and began to make inroads as a television actor.

Asner (1977)

Before he landed his role with Mary Tyler Moore, Asner guest-starred in such television series as the syndicated crime drama Decoy, starring Beverly Garland, and the NBC western series The Outlaws. He was also 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, Mission: Impossible,The Invaders. Asner also played a minor character in children's television show W.I.T.C.H. (Napoleon- Cornelia's younger sister's cat).

Asner is best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after the series, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore show, a thirty-minute comedy, the Lou Grant show was an hour-long award-winning drama about journalism. (For his role as Grant, Asner is the only actor to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role.) Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also portrayed 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.

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. That role earned Asner an Emmy Award, as did the similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the mini-series 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 miniseries for RAI.

Asner has also had an extensive voice acting career. He 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 (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 (2005–10); and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series.

Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). He received great critical praise 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."[11]

He has appeared in a recurring segment, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?"

He was cast in a Country Music Television comedy pilot, Regular Joe.[12]

Asner in May 2013

In 2001, Asner was the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.[13]

Asner has 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.[14][15]

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.[16] Also in 2010, Asner played the title role in "FDR", a stage production about the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt[17] he has 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 small but pivotal role as billionaire Warren Buffett in HBO's 2011 economy drama Too Big to Fail.

Asner has also provided voice-over narration for many documentaries and films of social activism.

Activism

Political views

Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity during the 1980s he opposed US policy in Central America, working closely with the Alliance for Survival. He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike.[18] He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the movement to establish single-payer health care in California, California One Care, for which he created a television advertisement. He endorsed Barack Obama during the United States presidential election, 2008.

The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had high ratings—the level of which should have justified its ongoing presence in primetime (it was in the ACNielsen top ten throughout its final month on the air). However, the CBS television network declined to renew it. It has been Asner's consistent position that his political views, as well as the publicity surrounding, were the actual root causes for the show's cancellation.[18]

Ed Asner endorsed Democratic Candidate Marcy Winograd in the 2011 California 36th Congressional district special election.[19]

In 2012, Asner came under fire from conservatives for narrating an animation promotional video for the California Federation of Teachers, Tax the Rich: An Animated Fairy Tale.[20]

Charity work

Asner is 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 serves 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 as a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.

Asner is also a member of the Honorary Board of Directors for the homeless respite service center Fresh Start WC in Walnut Creek, California.

September 11 attacks

Asner signed a statement released by the organization 9/11 Truth in 2004 that calls for a new investigation into the September 11 attacks. A brief summary of the reasons for his position appears in a video available on YouTube.[21] Asner confirmed his support for the statement in 2009.[22] Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.[23]

Asner served as the spokesman for 2004 Racism Watch. In April 2004, he wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9-11 truth" through the organization 9-11 Visibility Project.[24]

Along with other 9/11 Truth movement activists, like Martin Sheen and Woody Harrelson, he will be appearing in a movie, September Morn, that will reflect such concerns.[25][26]

Opposition to SAG/AFTRA merger

Asner at the 2012 Phoenix Comicon

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 is adamantly opposed to such a merger, citing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors.[27] Asner and a group fellow actors and voice-actors including Martin Sheen and Ed Harris, filed a lawsuit against SAG President Ken Howard and several SAG Vice Presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned, and the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.[28] The lawsuit is currently working its way through the court system.

Personal life

Asner was married to Nancy Sykes from 1959 until 1988. Together they have three children: twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. In 1987, he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman.[citation needed] Asner is a parent and a grandparent of a child with autism and is deeply involved with the autism nonprofit Autism Speaks.[29] He also serves on the advisory board of a suburban Chicago firm that employs persons with autistic spectrum disorders to test and program software.[30]

Engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991, he married her on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for divorce on November 7, 2007. Model and television personality Jules Asner is his former daughter-in-law. Gavin Newsom, his ex-nephew-in-law,[31] was a former mayor of San Francisco and is the current Lieutenant Governor of California.

On March 12, 2013, while performing in FDR at the Marquette Pavilion in Gary, Indiana, Asner began having trouble with his lines, and appeared to be disoriented, he was reportedly walked off stage by emergency medical personnel about 15 minutes into the performance. He was subsequently hospitalized in a Chicago-area hospital for exhaustion, and was released the following day.[32] Commenting on his Twitter page Asner said, "Reports of my imminent demise are greatly exaggerated, They tell me I am suffering from exhaustion. Thanks for the good wishes!"[33] He was expected to return to his home in Los Angeles, and postponed any further shows.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Asner clearly explains his birthplace at 0:0:45 of his Archive of American Television interview for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, available at [1].
  2. ^ Mark Tapson (December 11, 2012). "Ed Asner's 'Occupy' Attack on the Rich". frontpagemag.com. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  3. ^ http://www.pbs.org/lifepart2/season-1-extras/ed-asner
  4. ^ [2]. Find a Grave.
  5. ^ "Edward Asner Biography (1929-)".
  6. ^ [3]. Find a Grave.
  7. ^ Asner interview, Archive of American Television, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
  8. ^ Zager, Norma (August 5, 2005). "Outspoken Asner's Activism Is No Act". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved December 13, 2006.
  9. ^ Horwitz, Simi (September 27, 2012). "Ed Asner's Still Crusty After All These Years". The Forward.
  10. ^ [4].
  11. ^ "Keith Cohen review of "Up"". Entertainment Spectrum. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  12. ^ "Ed Asner Signs On to CMT Comedy Pilot". TVGuide.com.
  13. ^ Edward Asner - 2001 Life Achievement Recipient | Screen Actors Guild Awards
  14. ^ Hall of Fame Archives: Inductees | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
  15. ^ "Television Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List".
  16. ^ "IMDB » Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders (2011)". Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  17. ^ [5].
  18. ^ a b Kassel, Michael B. (November 29, 2007). "Asner, Ed". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  19. ^ Staff (April 28, 2011). "Ed Asner Urges Voters to 'Protect Social Security & Medicare from Robber Barons Who Looted America to Pay for the Wars'". Winograd For Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  20. ^ [6]. The Hollywood Reporter.
  21. ^ "Ed Asner's message to the 9/11 truth movement".
  22. ^ Rossmeier, Vincent (September 11, 2009). "Would you still sign the 9/11 Truth petition?". Salon. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  23. ^ [7].
  24. ^ Asner, Ed (April 26, 2004). "A letter to the Peace and Justice movement from Ed Asner". 911 Visibility Project. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
  25. ^ Carroll, Rory (October 17, 2012). "Martin Sheen and Woody Harrelson set for 9/11 'truther' film September Morn". The Guardian. Retrieved October 21, 2012. Martin Sheen, Woody Harrelson and Ed Asner, who have all supported conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks, have signed up to the movie, which is entitled September Morn.
  26. ^ Patches, Matt (October 19, 2012). "Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen Take 9/11 Conspiracy Theories to Big Screen in 'September Morn'". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2012. Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen, and Ed Asner are all attached to star in the project, which Fleur De Lis' site describes as being "in the vein of Twelve Angry Men."
  27. ^ Former SAG President Edward Asner speaks out against the SAG-AFTRA merger
  28. ^ Hollywood Reporter - SAG/AFTRA Anti Merger Lawsuit Drops Demands.
  29. ^ mickeynews.com, 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."
  30. ^ Aspiritech Board of Directors
  31. ^ 4/26: 'Lou Grant' star Ed Asner brings 'FDR' to Arizona, "Actually, he's my wife's nephew."
  32. ^ "Ed Asner Hospitalized: Actor Treated For Exhaustion In Indiana". The Huffington Post. Marcy 13, 2013. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ Wetherbe, Jamie (March 14, 2013). "Ed Asner Hospitalized, Tweets He's Suffering from Exhaustion". Los Angeles Times.
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