Welcome to Keller’s Korner. This week I am writing about television and movie actor Ed Asner. He is most well-known for his role on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Ed played Mary’s boss, Lou Grant, and they worked in a television newsroom. It was a football photo on Lou Grant’s office wall which caught my eye and moved me to form a close relationship with Ed over the years.
Ed was born in 1929 and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. Belonging to an Orthodox synagogue as a kid, Ed was a very proud Jew. The first time I spoke to Ed on the phone, I asked him if the football photo on his “Lou Grant wall” in the TV show was actually him. Ed responded, “Yes, that’s my real football photo when I played for Wyandotte High School. That was fun times playing for the Bulldogs.”
While I loved the first autographed photo that Ed sent where he wrote, “Neil, Mazel tov, well done and the best of life, Ed Asner,” I told him I had to have that high school photo. Ed had no idea where it was, but his daughter Liza mailed me back two autographs that are among my favorites in my entire collection. One autograph said, “Neil, c’mon, let’s kick some … Best, Ed Asner” and the other photo said, “Neil, what great times I had before I went bald. Best of life, Ed Asner.” For the next month, I will post these three photos on my website, www.NeilKeller.com, under Jews in entertainment.
After high school, Ed went to the University of Chicago. His acting debut was in college in a T. S. Eliot play called, “Murder in the Cathedral.” During the Korean War, he served in the Army. After his military service, Ed became interested in acting. He stayed in Chicago for a few years before moving to New York City in 1955 to try and make it on Broadway.
His very first television appearance was in a show called “The Defender” in 1957, where he played a juror. Jewish actors Martin Balsam and William Shatner also appeared in the show. In the early 1960s, Ed appeared on the scary TV show “The Outer Limits” and on the sci-fi TV show, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.” Other TV show appearances included the 1960’s “Gunsmoke” and “Mission: Impossible.”
In my opinion, Ed’s biggest break came on September 19, 1970, with the pilot episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” where Ed played the grouchy but lovable producer of WJM-TV news. The show went from 1970 until 1977. Ed won Emmy Awards in 1971, 1972, and 1975 for Outstanding Comedy Performance by An Actor in a Supporting Role.
After the last episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Ed was quickly picked up by CBS in the one hour drama, “Lou Grant.” It debuted on September 20, 1977, and was about Ed being fired by WJM and taking a job as an Editor of a Los Angeles newspaper. Ed won two more Emmys for “Lou Grant” as the Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series. Ed is one of the few actors or actresses to ever play the same character in a comedy and a drama TV show. The last episode of “Lou Grant” was on September 13, 1982.
Ed won five Emmys as Lou Grant and won his sixth Emmy in the 1976 TV miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man.” I spoke to Ed about his role as a ship captain that brought Kunta Kinte from Africa to the United States. He said, “Yes, that was a more difficult role to play, but it was simply acting.” I brought up Ed’s role in “Roots” because it earned him a seventh Emmy. The seven Emmy awards are the most ever won by a male actor.
Ed appeared in many acting roles since playing Lou Grant, but I did want to mention his role in 2016 for portraying a Holocaust survivor in the play “The Soap Myth.” Finally, I cannot thank Ed enough for helping me talk to Mary Tyler Moore on the phone. I had to ask Mary if she converted to Judaism as she was married to Dr. Robert Levine from 1983 until her death in 2017. Mary told me, “No, I never converted but I knew the words to the prayer over the bread and wine.” Ed was an amazing person who passed away in 2021.
Neil Keller is a CPA and a Jewish historian. Visit his website www.NeilKeller.com to learn who is Jewish in the world.
