RIP To The Legendary Ed Asner…

Incredibly sad news: the iconic Ed Asner, one of the entertainment’s great talents of all time, has died…I am going to share a very personal story about my interaction with him, but first, as Deadline.com reported:

“Ed Asner, legendary actor, activist and philanthropist, passed away peacefully Sunday morning, surrounded by family. He was 91.

Asner, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, is best known for his role as Lou Grant on both “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff “Lou Grant”, pulling off the rare feat of playing the same character in both a comedy and a drama series.”

“He is the most awarded male performer in Emmy history with seven wins — five of them for playing Grant, the irascible but loving newsman. He also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2001.”

Asner had such an incredible life in film, everything from John Wayne’s nemesis in “El Dorado” to the tough new Precinct Chief dealing with Paul Newman in “Fort Apache The Bronx” – and so much more.

Asner is well known by modern audiences for playing Santa Claus opposite Will Ferrel’s “Elf” and he was the sad widow who is lifted away by balloons in Pixar’s Oscar-winning “Up”.

“You Got Spunk…I HATE Spunk!”

It’s his most famous line, delivered with perfect timing on the very first episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, when a young Mary Richards interviews for a job in the WJM-newsroom…but if you wonder how he felt about it, here’s my personal “spunk” moment…

The Icon was a special guest on “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, where he revealed that at first, Mary didn’t want him not he show!

Take a look:

When Asner appeared on my wife’s show, he brought a copy of his memoir and signed it to me, with a special note inside:

You see? He LOVED spunk!

I will cherish this book now, and you know what, it reminds me of the episode when Ed quotes from one of the greatest writers of all time…

“Killer In The Rain” was a collection of Raymond Chandler’s short stories, released in 1964. Chandler was the great “Noir” Writer of fiction like “The Big Sleep” and “The Long Goodbye.” On one epode of “The Marry Tyler Moore Show” they paid homage to the Writer!

Yes, the opening paragraph from Chandler’s 1938 short story “Red Wind” was read aloud on the show by Lou Grant to Mary Richards – this happened because Mary gave Lou Grant a short story she wrote, and it was awful – she argued and he asked her if she wanted to hear good writing – then he read this:

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.”

There is a pause and then Mary says: “he writes well about the weather.”

Oh, and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was one of the most controversial and important TV shows of the early 70’s…why? Well, read my story here to find out:

RIP to the legendary Ed Asner…he was the genuine thing, a compassionate person and an incredibly gifted Artist…

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