Ed Asner, Emmy-winning Mary Tyler Moore and Lou Grant star, dies at 91

The Hollywood Reporter

The announcement of the TV icon's death Sunday was made through Asner's official Twitter account. "We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully," tweeted Asner's family. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you." Grant, a former Screen Actors Guild president, won seven Emmys, the most of any male performer. Five of the Emmys went for playing the irascible Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant -- three Emmys for best supporting actor in a comedy for Mary Tyler Moore and two for best lead actor in a drama for Lou Grant. In fact, Asner is one of two actors (Uzo Aduba being the other) to win Emmys for playing the same role in a comedy and drama. He also earned Emmys for his roles in the 1970s ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots. Asner was tapped to play Lou Grant after MTM Enterprises head and Mary Tyler Moore's husband Grant Tinker saw him play a comedic police chief in the 1971 NBC TV movie They Call It Murder. “It was such a gorgeous character, such a gorgeous script,” Asner recalled in a 1973 interview with The New York Times. “I began licking my lips over the project. I couldn’t believe a situation comedy was affecting me this way. I had never regarded myself as a comedian, and I’d deliberately stayed away from comedy parts.” Asner died three days after an interview with him was published in The Hollywood Reporter. Asked how the pandemic has impacted his life, Asner replied: "It changed my life. It seems like it’s changed everybody’s life — and I think it’s changed performing and creativity as much as anything else. My eyesight is not the greatest and my hearing is not the greatest, so I don’t go out much anyway. I sit here most of the time, bored as hell, not sure which way to turn. I don’t know. I’m waiting for the next gig, and they’re slower in coming in now, I can tell you." Asner has, however, kept busy. He appeared on a Grace and Frankie episode released two weeks ago. He also appeared on Cobra Kai earlier this year and lent his voice to a July episode of Central Park. Asner is the third Mary Tyler Moore Show star to die this year after Cloris Leachman, who died in January, and Gavin MacLeod, who died in May.

ALSO:

• Hollywood stars pay tribute to Ed Asner: "We lost a great man today who I had the honor to know and work with several times," tweeted Jason Alexander. "A passionate believer in people and democracy. And a truly gifted actor. A life well lived. Rest well, Ed."
• Watch a highlight reel of Ed Asner's career
• Watch A&E's Biography of "lovable grouch" Ed Asner
• Watch Asner's SNL monologue from 1984