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Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist. Known as the creator of Archie Bunker and All in the Family, Lear’s television credits include Sanford & Son; Maude, Good Times; The Jeffersons; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Fernwood 2Nite; and the dramatic series Palmerstown U.S.A. His motion picture credits include Cold Turkey, Divorce American Style, Fried Green Tomatoes, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride. In 1982, he produced the two-hour special “I Love Liberty” for ABC.
In 1999, President Clinton bestowed the National Medal of Arts on Mr. Lear, nothing that “Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.” He has the distinction of being among the first seven television pioneers inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame (1984). He received four Emmy Awards (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973) and a Peabody Award (1977) for All in the Family, as well as awards from the International Platform Association (1977), the Writers Guild of America (1977) and many other professional and civic organizations.
Beyond the entertainment world, Mr. Lear has brought his distinctive vision to politics, academia and business by founding several nonprofit organizations including People for the American Way (1980-present); the Normal Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication (2000-present), a multidisciplinary research and public policy center dedicated to exploring the convergence of entertainment, commerce and society; and the Business Enterprise Trust (1989-2000), an educational program that used annual awards, business school case studies and videos to cast a spotlight on exemplary social innovations in American business.
—From the Normal Lear Center
Recommended Reading
Being God’s Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link Between Spirituality and Your Work by Jeffrey K. Salkin, introduction by Norman Lear (1997).
Click here to view Supplemental Reading to Norman Lear on Amazon.
