Who Could Turn the World on with His Snarl?/Rest in Power, Ed Asner

[tinselwolverine]

Ed Asner departed, age 91.

 

[Michchamp]

Rest In Power, Ed Asner

I had no idea he was such a mensch (link):

At the peak of his fame, Asner ramped up his activism. When Lou Grant was one of the best-rated shows on TV in 1981, he ran for and was elected as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Under his leadership, the union took militant stances in defense of its own members and in solidarity with the broader labor movement. ?There have been few actors of Ed Asner?s prominence who risked their status to fight for social causes the way Ed did,? said current SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. ?He fought passionately for his fellow actors, both before, during, and after his SAG presidency. But his concern did not stop with performers. He fought for victims of poverty, violence, war, and legal and social injustice, both in the United States and around the globe.?​

He actually did this stuff!

When Reagan fired striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, Asner joined their picket line in Los Angeles. A former GM assembly-line worker, he preached an old-school gospel of labor solidarity, telling members, ?Our union is our bill of rights.?

Asner?s battles with Reagan became legendary. ?I was brought up believing that the presidency was a very honorable office,? Asner said in 1985. ?I would prefer being able to trust the guy. But I can?t and I don?t.? That was especially the case when it came to foreign policy. Asner was an outspoken critic of apartheid in South Africa. And he came to be known as one of the most prominent foes of the Reagan administration?s support for right-wing regimes in Central America. Asner cofounded the group Medical Aid for El Salvador and was active with the Committee of Concern for Central America. When he and a group of actors and activists appeared outside the US State Department in February 1982 to announce that they had raised $25,000 to aid Salvadorans who were victimized by the regime, The Washington Post described Asner as ?the most articulate and the most politically savvy? of the group.​

And because of all that... they CANCELLED him, Literally:

Though Lou Grant won 13 Emmy awards for its groundbreaking examinations of issues ranging from nuclear proliferation to LGBTQ rights, and was garnering top ratings for CBS, it was canceled in the fall of 1982. ?CBS has never convincingly denied that the cancellation was based partly on Asner?s politics?his sponsorship of a medical relief committee for war victims in El Salvador and his activist rampage as president of the Screen Actors Guild,? observed TV critic Tom Shales. Asner shared that view, telling the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, ?Most insiders seem to think that the show would not have been canceled had it not been for the controversy that arose over my stand on El Salvador. I thought at the time that I?d never work again.?​

add an asterisk to the First Amendment

 

[Mitchrapp]

Rest in peace Mister Ed Asner, 91 years young. You can finally get to paradise mountain.

 

[Michchamp]

oh damn, was there already a thread? I missed it

 

[tomdalton22]

I had no idea he was such a mensch (link):

At the peak of his fame, Asner ramped up his activism. When Lou Grant was one of the best-rated shows on TV in 1981, he ran for and was elected as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Under his leadership, the union took militant stances in defense of its own members and in solidarity with the broader labor movement. ?There have been few actors of Ed Asner?s prominence who risked their status to fight for social causes the way Ed did,? said current SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. ?He fought passionately for his fellow actors, both before, during, and after his SAG presidency. But his concern did not stop with performers. He fought for victims of poverty, violence, war, and legal and social injustice, both in the United States and around the globe.?​

He actually did this stuff!

When Reagan fired striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, Asner joined their picket line in Los Angeles. A former GM assembly-line worker, he preached an old-school gospel of labor solidarity, telling members, ?Our union is our bill of rights.?

Asner?s battles with Reagan became legendary. ?I was brought up believing that the presidency was a very honorable office,? Asner said in 1985. ?I would prefer being able to trust the guy. But I can?t and I don?t.? That was especially the case when it came to foreign policy. Asner was an outspoken critic of apartheid in South Africa. And he came to be known as one of the most prominent foes of the Reagan administration?s support for right-wing regimes in Central America. Asner cofounded the group Medical Aid for El Salvador and was active with the Committee of Concern for Central America. When he and a group of actors and activists appeared outside the US State Department in February 1982 to announce that they had raised $25,000 to aid Salvadorans who were victimized by the regime, The Washington Post described Asner as ?the most articulate and the most politically savvy? of the group.​

And because of all that... they CANCELLED him, Literally:

Though Lou Grant won 13 Emmy awards for its groundbreaking examinations of issues ranging from nuclear proliferation to LGBTQ rights, and was garnering top ratings for CBS, it was canceled in the fall of 1982. ?CBS has never convincingly denied that the cancellation was based partly on Asner?s politics?his sponsorship of a medical relief committee for war victims in El Salvador and his activist rampage as president of the Screen Actors Guild,? observed TV critic Tom Shales. Asner shared that view, telling the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, ?Most insiders seem to think that the show would not have been canceled had it not been for the controversy that arose over my stand on El Salvador. I thought at the time that I?d never work again.?​

add an asterisk to the First Amendment

union guy and a socialist. He could be a candidate for your next avatar

 

[tinselwolverine]

oh damn, was there already a thread? I missed it

It?s cool. I liked way l thought they would go together.

That?s why I put them together.

EDIT: Double tribute. He deserves it. You?re right, he was mensch.

Ironically, watching an episode of Blue Bloods right now with Asner playing an old friend of Chief Reagan season10, ep. 15. He played a character who owned a movie theater where Frank went to growing up. Would have been one of his final appearances.

 

[tinselwolverine]

union guy and a socialist. He could be a candidate for your next avatar

I wouldn?t say he was socialist. He was a big bleeding heart lib, a mult-millonaire, and a philanthropist.

As union guy, he ended up having the same union job as another self-proclaimed bleeding heart liberal (Democrat at the time) had from 1947-1952; and then again from 1959-1960.

I nominate both great Americans for the candidacy of MichChamp?s next two avatars.

EDIT: Frankenstein and Dracula were also quite active in that union. So those two could go in the avatar sweepstakes.

Neither was American though.

Also after those founding SAG meetings, toes could kind of get stepped on and feathers could get a little ruffled.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtCff3EUEI

 

[byco42]

Ed Asner was prolific in performance. Axel Jordache in Rich Man, Poor Man and Guy Bannister in JFK are some less-than-known great roles he portrayed.