Current:Home > BackRemembering Norman Lear: "The soundtrack of my life has been laughter"-InfoLens
Remembering Norman Lear: "The soundtrack of my life has been laughter"
View Date:2024-12-23 11:27:25
Norman Lear, who died this week at the age of 101, didn't invent the situation comedy. But, more than anyone else, he made sure that it said something important. In 1999 he told "CBS This Morning," "My slide rule is, if I care, you care. If I laugh, you laugh. If I think it's serious, you'll think it's serious."
Without him it's unlikely we would have ever met Sanford and his son, Maude, the Jeffersons, the families from "Good Times" and "One Day at a Time," or that grumpy, grandstanding daddy of them all, Archie Bunker.
He told "Sunday Morning" in 2016, "When I began to cast 'All in the Family,' my first thought, the only one I had in mind, that was a name I knew and a face I knew and a personality I understood, was Mickey Rooney. And he thought it was ridiculous that I was thinking of doing a show about a bigot. 'You're going to get killed in the streets,' he told me. 'They're going to shoot you dead!'"
But Lear understood that the America of 1971 was ready for the warts-and-all realness of Archie Bunker. As he told CBS News chief medical correspondent (and his own son-in-law) Jonathan LaPook in 2021, "There's nothing that unites people more or better than laughter."
LaPook asked, "'All in the Family,' in particular, when I think about that, there were people on either side of the political spectrum who saw something in it for them."
"I like to think what they saw was the foolishness of the human condition," Lear said.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Norman Lear on the power of laughter (YouTube Video)
Finding the funny in the serious began early for Lear, when he was growing up working class in Connecticut. He was nine years old when he learned that his adored father was going to prison – sent away for three years after being convicted of selling fake bonds. Lear still remembers a neighbor's "words of wisdom": "Puts his hand on my shoulder and says: 'Well, you're the man of the house now, Norman. And uh, there there, a man doesn't cry!' Nine years old, I'm hearing that! Ultimately, it taught me there's humor everywhere, in every situation."
Lear's worldview was also shaped by trips to New York City, looking out the train window into the apartments of Harlem. "They felt like they were eight feet away; they were probably 30 feet, they were very close," he said. "And the windows leading into the apartments were very visible, and life inside those windows. And they were largely African-American. And I used to wonder about them. Who were these families? What were they thinking? What were their problems? I also had something in common with them. I knew by then that as a Jewish kid, there were people who hated me simply for that reason. And I understood, certainly by then, that Black people had it worse than I had it."
Just a few years later, Lear would look out different windows a world away. During World War II, Lear served as a radio operator and gunner, flying more than 50 bombing missions over Germany and Italy. His escort during some of these dangerous flights: the famed all-Black Tuskegee Airmen.
In 2015 Lear met one of them, Professor Roscoe Brown, face-to-face for the first time. "I shot down a jet over Berlin on a mission that you were on, March 24, 1945," said Brown.
"How amazing is it that the two of us flew the same mission, over Berlin, no less!" said Lear.
Lear understood the price of freedom, and was willing to pay real money for it. In 2000 he and internet entrepreneur David Hayden spent more than $8 million for one of 25 surviving copies of the Declaration of Independence … not for himself, but for the public. It was exhibited across the country for more than three years.
"This is an investment in sharing something that's a part [of us], that belongs to all of us," he said then. "The price of freedom is citizen participation, not 8.4-whatever million dollars."
In 1981 Lear founded the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, which ran public service announcements to spread their message. "Oh, the pleasure of being part of 250,000 people who are seeking to remind America of the tradition of religious liberty and pluralism and diversity in this country," he told "CBS Morning News" in 1986.
Lear was not the retiring type. On most mornings, well into his nineties, he was up early, working out.
And he kept close connection with his large extended family, including his wife, Lyn, his six children, and four grandchildren.
"The soundtrack of my life has been laughter," he said.
"And laughter, for you, is a kind of medicine, isn't it?" asked Dr. LaPook.
"Well, I happen to believe it has everything to do with a long life."
Norman Lear kept creating to the very end, even during the pandemic, inspiring his followers over social media, and sharing this with his daughter, Kate, and his son-in-law: "When thinking about the death, I don't mind the going. It's the leaving that is the problem for me! Going? Who knows what's out there that … it can't be all bad. But leaving? I can't think anything good about leaving."
WEB EXTRA: Mo Rocca's conversation with Norman Lear (Podcast)
For more info:
- Norman Lear's official pages on Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
- "All in the Family: The Complete Series" on DVD
- People for the American Way
Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Chad Cardin.
See also:
- Remembering Norman Lear: Friends and celebs share stories on social media
- Norman Lear's son-in-law, Dr. Jon LaPook, reflects on the legendary TV producer's final moments: "He was one of my best friends" ("CBS Mornings")
- Norman Lear wants to know: Where are the old people on TV? ("Sunday Morning")
- In:
- Norman Lear
veryGood! (3937)
Related
- 25 monkeys caught but more still missing after escape from research facility in SC
- At Climate Week NYC, Advocates for Plant-Based Diets Make Their Case for the Climate
- Powerball winning numbers for September 28: Jackpot at $258 million
- California Cities Planned to Shut off Gas in New Buildings, but a Lawsuit Turned it Back On. Now What?
- Manhattan rooftop fire sends plumes of dark smoke into skyline
- Handing out MLB's 2024 awards: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge earn MVPs for all-time seasons
- Every Bombshell From This Season of Sister Wives: Family Feuds, Money Disagreements and More
- Red Sox honor radio voice Joe Castiglione who is retiring after 42 years
- Medical King recalls 222,000 adult bed assistance rails after one reported death
- Tom Brady responds to Bucs QB Baker Mayfield's critical remarks: 'This wasn't daycare'
Ranking
- Steelers' Mike Tomlin shuts down Jayden Daniels Lamar comparison: 'That's Mr. Jackson'
- An asteroid known as a 'mini-moon' will join Earth's orbit for 2 months starting Sunday
- Attorneys for NYC Mayor Eric Adams seek dismissal of bribery charge brought by ‘zealous prosecutors’
- Heisman watch: Who are the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy after Week 5?
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Rashee Rice's injury opens the door for Travis Kelce, Xavier Worthy
- Conservative Christians were skeptical of mail-in ballots. Now they are gathering them in churches
- Death of Stanford goalie Katie Meyer in 2022 leads to new law in California
Recommendation
-
What to know about Mississippi Valley State football player Ryan Quinney, who died Friday
-
Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick upset with controversial unnecessary roughness penalty in loss
-
Handing out MLB's 2024 awards: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge earn MVPs for all-time seasons
-
Budget-Strapped Wyoming Towns Race for Federal Funds To Fix Aging Water, Sewer Systems
-
Are Ciara Ready and Russell Wilson Ready For Another Baby? She Says…
-
Tom Brady responds to Bucs QB Baker Mayfield's critical remarks: 'This wasn't daycare'
-
Rebel Wilson Marries Ramona Agruma in Italian Wedding Ceremony
-
Kathie Lee Gifford says Hoda Kotb's 'Today' show exit is 'bittersweet'