The actor best known for his role as Lou Grant has died at 91.<\/b>
\nCBS News (\u201c Ed Asner, TV legend who won 7 Emmys, dies at age 91 \u201c): Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show\u201d and later in the drama \u201cLou Grant,\u201d died Sunday. He was 91. [\u2026] Built like the football lineman he once was, the balding Asner was a journeyman actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.\u201d For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore\u2019s ebullient Mary Richards (He called her \u201cMary,\u201d she called him \u201cMr. Grant\u201d) at the fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on \u201cLou Grant.\u201d The part brought Asner three best supporting actor Emmys on \u201cMary Tyler Moore\u201d and two best actor awards on \u201cLou Grant.\u201d He also won Emmys for his roles in the miniseries \u201cRich Man, Poor Man\u201d (1975-1976) and \u201cRoots\u201d (1976-1977). He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles. In 2003, he played Santa Claus in Will Ferrell\u2019s hit film \u201cElf.\u201d He was John Goodman\u2019s father in the short-lived 2004 CBS comedy \u201cCenter of the Universe\u201d and the voice of the elderly hero in the hit 2009 Pixar release, \u201cUp.\u201d More recently, he was in such TV series as \u201cForgive Me\u201d and \u201cDead to Me.\u201d Nonetheless, Asner told The Associated Press in 2009 that interesting roles were hard to come by. \u201cI never get enough work,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the history of my career. There just isn\u2019t anything to turn down, let me put it that way.\u201d \u201cI\u2019d say most people are probably in that same boat, old people, and it\u2019s a shame,\u201d he said. As Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president, the liberal Asner was caught up in a political controversy in 1982 when he spoke out against U.S. involvement with repressive governments in Latin America. \u201cLou Grant\u201d was canceled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985. NYT (\u201c Ed Asner, Emmy-Winning Star of \u2018Lou Grant\u2019 and \u2018Up,\u2019 Dies at 91 \u201c): Ed Asner, the burly character actor who won seven Emmy Awards \u2014 five of them for playing the same character, the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, introduced on \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show\u201d \u2014 and later starred in film hits like \u201cUp\u201d and \u201cElf\u201d \u2014 died on Sunday at his home in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91. [\u2026] Mr. Asner was 40 when he was approached for the role of Lou Grant, the irascible but idealistic head of the fictional WJM television newsroom in Minneapolis and the boss of Ms. Moore\u2019s Mary Richards. His place in television comedy history was secured when, during the first episode, he told Ms. Moore, an eager young job seeker, \u201cYou\u2019ve got spunk,\u201d then paused and added, \u201cI hate spunk.\u201d \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show\u201d ran on CBS from 1970 to 1977, and Mr. Asner was nominated for the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy series every year. He won in 1971,1972 and 1975. He went on to win twice for best lead actor, in 1978 and 1980, for the spinoff \u201cLou Grant,\u201d making him the first performer to have received Emmys for playing the same character in both a comedy and a drama series. \u201cLou Grant\u201d (1977-82) itself was an unusual case, a drama series developed around a sitcom character. In the show, Mr. Grant returned to his first love, editing a big-city newspaper, and the scripts tackled serious issues that included, in the first season alone, domestic abuse, gang rivalries, neo-Nazi groups, nursing-home scandals and cults. In between playing Lou Grant, Mr. Asner also won Emmys for his appearances in the 1976 mini-series \u201cRich Man, Poor Man,\u201d as Nick Nolte\u2019s bitter immigrant father, and the groundbreaking, lavishly lauded 1977 mini-series \u201cRoots,\u201d in which he played a slave-ship captain with scruples. He also won five Golden Globes, one for \u201cRich Man, Poor Man\u201d and two each for the two series in which he played Lou Grant. WaPo (\u201c Ed Asner, actor who twice had the role of a lifetime as newsman Lou Grant, dies at 91 \u201c): Ed Asner, an actor and liberal activist who twice had the role of a lifetime in the character of Lou Grant, the irascible newsman he played first on the hit 1970s sitcom \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show\u201d and then on an acclaimed spin-off series, died Aug.29 at his home in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Charles Sherman. Additional detials were not available. The son of an immigrant junk dealer, Mr. Asner had a fireplug build, jowly countenance and workingman\u2019s appearance that are not traditionally considered the raw materials of stardom. Those attributes were perfect, however, for the gruff, middle-aged news director of WJM-TV, the fictional Minneapolis television station at the center of \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.\u201d Widely regarded as one of the finest sitcoms in TV history, the program aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977 and starred Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, an earnest assistant producer who became a generational ideal of the single working woman. Mr. Asner, then in his 40s, played Mary\u2019s crusty boss and was catapulted to fame in the midst of a decades-long acting career that would include hundreds of TV and movie credits. [\u2026] Between its original broadcast and reruns, the show endeared itself to millions and ended with a plotline in which new management fires the newsroom crew, with the ludicrous exception of Ted. After a tearful speech by Lou \u2014 \u201cI treasure you people\u201d \u2014 the staff shuffles in a group-hug to a box of Kleenex and then files out, with Mary left to turn off the lights. When \u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show\u201d ended in 1977, Mr. Asner\u2019s character was re-imagined as a hard-charging Los Angeles newspaper editor in\u201dLou Grant,\u201d a CBS drama that addressed issues such as overseas dictatorship, nuclear power and the mental health of Vietnam War veterans. Nancy Marchand played a fictional publisher modeled in part on Katharine Graham of The Washington Post. Mr. Asner\u2019s comedic role turned into one with serious themes and dramatic nuance. He received five Primetime Emmy awards as Lou Grant \u2014 three for supporting actor in a comedy and two for lead actor in a drama. \u201d \u2018Lou Grant\u2019 is the best new show of the season,\u201d Washington Post television critic Tom Shales wrote in 1977. \u201cLike the man in the title, it is a bracing, reassuring combination of an essentially gentle spirit and good, old-fashioned guts. This may be not only what television needs, but what America needs.\u201d CBS canceled \u201cLou Grant\u201d in 1982, citing declining ratings. Many observers, including Mr. Asner, suspected that the true cause was his real-world political activism. All of the above reports rightly mention the point that I would have made myself: how extraordinary the transition of the Lou Grant character from a sitcom to a hard-hitting drama was. Largely, that was a function of Asner\u2019s talents as an actor and some great writing. While the \u201cMary Tyler Moore Show\u201d wasn\u2019t the first sitcom to have characters who weren\u2019t played just for laughs, it took it to a different level. MTM\u2019s Grant was perhaps a little more over-the-top in his grumpiness but the idea that he could run a big city newsroom wasn\u2019t by any means silly. I had of course remembered Asner\u2019s role as SAG president and his antiwar activism but, even though I was already pretty interested in politics, I don\u2019t think I ever connected the demise of \u201cLou Grant\u201d to the actor\u2019s real-life controversies. It\u2019s absolutely plausible, though.<\/p>\n