Ed Asner: Seven-Time Emmy Winner and Lou Grant Star Dies at 91
Ed Asner was an American actor best known for playing the gruff newsroom boss Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Lou Grant, and for voicing Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's Up. Born Eddie Asner on November 15, 1929, in Kansas City, Missouri, he acted for more than six decades.
Asner played Lou Grant from 1970 to 1982 and won seven Emmy Awards, the most of any male performer, including awards for the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1981 to 1985. In 2009 he voiced Carl in Up.
Asner was one of only two actors to win Emmys for both a comedy and a drama playing the same character. He married Nancy Sykes in 1959 and had three children, and he also had a son, Charles. He was a lifelong activist and a parent and grandparent of children with autism. He died of natural causes at his home in Tarzana, California, on August 29, 2021, at age 91.
Achievements: Played Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant (1970-1982), won seven Emmy Awards, president of the Screen Actors Guild (1981-1985), voiced Carl in Pixar's Up (2009).
Birth: November 15, 1929 - Kansas City, Missouri.
Profession: Actor.
Interesting Facts: He preferred to be credited as Edward because he felt it looked better on screen. He was a parent and grandparent of children with autism.
