Television pioneer Norman Lear died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 101. Lara Bergthold, a spokesperson for the family, confirmed to the New York Times on December 6. Lear created and developed many iconic television sitcoms such as All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. His work on All in the Family won him four Emmy awards and is one of four television shows where all the lead actors have won Emmys for their performances. Lear created The Lear Family Foundation in 1997, dedicated to supporting various nonprofits around the country that focus on civil liberties, education, and the environment. He received the Carol Burnett Award for his work in television and advocacy, in addition to the National Medal of Arts, and was a Kennedy Center honoree.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, his Jewish upbringing would influence his storytelling, addressing controversial issues such as antisemitism, racism, and abortion on network television. He joined the United States Air Force during World War II at the age of 20, which influences many of his onscreen performers: Archie Bunker in All in the Family and Penelope Alvarez in One Day at a Time. Lear’s progressive ideology about the American family paved the way for groundbreaking television. Good Times, developed by Lear, became America’s first television show depicting a two-parent Black household in 1974. The Jeffersons, also developed by Lear, became one of the longest-running sitcoms in history and the second-longest-running sitcom with a predominately Black cast.
Almost two decades after his last television project, he co-created the revival of One Day at a Time in 2017 alongside Gloria Calderon-Kellett, centering around three generations of a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles. The Emmy-winning series starred Rita Moreno, Justina Machado, Todd Grinnell, Isabella Gomez, Marcel Ruiz, and Stephen Tobolowsky. In addition to ODAAT, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Facts of Life, All in the Family, and The Jeffersons have all been rebooted in various stages, from star-studded live broadcasts to development announcements for future projects.