Ed Asner, Primetime Emmy most honoured male performer, dies at 91

Ed Asner, popularly known for playing Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died Sunday at age 91, see 5 facts about him.

USA TODAY confirmed from his publicist, Charles Sherman, that Asner died early Sunday morning at home. He was surrounded by his family when he passed on.

His family shared a Tweet on Ed Asner’s official Twitter handle on Sunday, announcing his death. 

“We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head – Goodnight dad. We love you,” it read.

Asner is a US Army veteran who took on a broad range of roles during his acting career. His most popular role was as Lou Grant on both “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (1970 – 1977) and its spin-off series “Lou Grant” (1977 – 1982). He voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar’s animated film “Up” (2009) and most recently, he had a recurring role as James Staghorne Sr. in the USA Network television series “Briarpatch”.

5 interesting facts about Ed Asner

1. Ed Asner was born on 15 November 1929 in Kansas City, Mo, to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents and his full name was Yitzhak Edward Asner.

2. He attended the University of Chicago to obtain a degree in journalism but switched to drama after a professor told him that there was little money to be made in the field. Eventually, he made his acting debut as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral.”

3. Ed Asner got married twice. First to Nancy Sykes from 1959 to 1988 and they had three children— twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. He had a son named Charles with Carol Jean in 1987 but they were never married, instead, his second marriage was to Cindy Gilmore from 1998 to 2015. 

4. He caught his big break in 1970 when he was cast as the boss, Lou Grant, on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and he reprised his role in the spin-off series “Lou Grant”, winning five Primetime Emmy Awards for both series. Ed Asner also won two other Emmys, making him the most honoured male performer in Primetime Emmy history. Here are his Emmy wins in full:

•  Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series (1971)
•  Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series (1972)
•  Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series (1973)
•  Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series (1975)
•  Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a TV series (1977)
•  Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series (1980)
• Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a TV series

5. While Asner was committed to acting, his commitment went beyond the screen. He was the pro-union progressive’s opposition to the 1980 actors strike settlement which later on led to his candidacy and eventual election as the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild, which he held from 1981 to 1985. Also, as a parent of an autistic child, the actor was involved with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Autism Speaks and 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.

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