Gayle King (00:00):
Breaking news here. A giant in the entertainment world and American culture has sadly passed away. Legendary TV producer, that would be Norman Lear, died in his home in Los Angeles last night. He was 101 years old. (00:13) Lear brought some of the most popular, thoughtful, and controversial comedies ever to American TV. You know them: All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and One Day at a Time. That's just to name a few. (00:23) He made Americans think and he certainly made us laugh.
Norman Lear (00:28): My name is Norman Lear. (00:32) I do believe laughter adds time to your life.
Video clip (00:34): 1, 2, 3.
Speaker 4 (00:38): What may have been uncomfortable territory for some would become a trademark for producer Norman Lear.
Video clip (00:44): Come on. The weather? That's not what's bugging you. It's sex, isn't it? (00:50) Sex?
Speaker 4 (00:52): His iconic shows, like All in the Family, changed the landscape of television.
Video clip (00:58): (Singing).
Gayle King (01:00): You were fearless in terms of the topics that you tackled: bigotry, sexism, abortion, racism.
Norman Lear (01:07): Everything you have just listed, nothing was unfamiliar to every family in America. Not one subject.
Speaker 4 (01:18): Born in 1922, Lear was a World War II veteran who flew in 52 combat missions over Europe. He drew from his own life experiences. One of the most formative was back in 1931 when his father was convicted of fraud.
Gayle King (01:32): And you were nine. You were nine.
Norman Lear (01:33): And I was nine years old.
Gayle King (01:33): Yeah.
Norman Lear (01:35): You have to begin to understand something about the foolishness of the human condition.
Speaker 4 (01:41): Lear says his dad inspired All in the Family's Archie Bunker.
Video clip (01:45): You are a meathead.
Gayle King (01:48): He was described as a lovable bigot. And I always hated that term because I think, is a bigot lovable? Your intention? That was your intention?
Norman Lear (01:54): The intention was to show there's humor in everything. I never thought of him as a hater-
Video clip (02:03): [inaudible 00:02:08]
Norman Lear (02:08): ... So much as a fearful man of progress.
Video clip (02:18): (Singing).
Speaker 4 (02:18): The show won 22 Emmys over its nine season run. (02:24) Lear released Sanford and Son and All in the Family spinoff Maud in 1972, followed by hit shows The Jeffersons and Good Times. (02:37) (Music).
Norman Lear (02:40): Esther Rolle and John Amos, who played the first African-American parents, family: heavy responsibility. The country had not seen this before. They were the people representing their race to the rest of America.
Bill Clinton (02:57): Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.
Speaker 4 (03:05): Lear was honored in 1999 with a National Medal of Arts, and in 2017 he became a Kennedy Center honoree.
Norman Lear (03:14): I sometimes stood behind an audience, and when they belly laugh ... And you'll find them. They come a little bit out of their seats, they go forward like this and they come back like this. I don't know a more spiritual moment than a belly laugh.
Gayle King (03:35): Music to your ears, right?
Norman Lear (03:36): Yes. And add music to my ears and time to my life. (03:40) (Singing).
Speaker 6 (03:40): Hmm.
Gayle King (03:53): Norman Lear. I just adored him. He was 95 when we did that interview back in 2017, and he was so unafraid. He was so unafraid about what he was doing and how he was doing it. And what a legacy he's left us.
Speaker 6 (04:05): Yeah. The shows will live forever, the characters will live forever.
Gayle King (04:09): Yes. Yes.
Speaker 6 (04:09): What a life. I mean, 101.
Gayle King (04:11): 101.
Speaker 6 (04:11): Lived through the Great Depression.
Speaker 7 (04:13): Yeah. So much of what we watch on TV is living in the footprints of Norman Lear and all of the shows he created.
Speaker 6 (04:19): And a lot of range as well. So much range.
Speaker 7 (04:21): Yeah. You're right about that.
Gayle King (04:22): We're sending our thoughts to his wife, Lyn. Lyn is his wife. He's got six children. Jon LaPook is his son-in-law.
Speaker 7 (04:27): Yeah. Well said.
Gayle King (04:28): So thinking about you all today.