Norman Lear, legendary TV producer, dies at 101. [View all]

Source: NBC News

Norman Lear, the influential television impresario who dominated the American prime-time comedy lineup in the 1970s and smashed barriers with topical sitcoms that wrung humor out of the country's fierce culture wars, has died, his family said Wednesday.

He was 101.

In an astonishingly prolific career that spanned more than six decades, Lear created or developed some of the most seminal comedies in television history, including "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," "Maude," "Good Times," "The Jeffersons" and "One Day at a Time," as well as its 2017 reboot anchored by a Latino cast.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/norman-lear-family-creator-dies-101-rcna42283

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Lear's hugely popular shows tackled hot-button issues that network executives and some viewers had long considered taboo, such as racism, sexism, the women's liberation movement, antisemitism, abortion, homophobia, the Vietnam War and class conflict. In his off-screen life, Lear was a committed progressive and outspoken champion of civic responsibility.



Lear then turned his attention to progressive activism. In the early 1980s, at the dawn of the Reagan era, he founded the People for the American Way, a nonprofit advocacy group that was meant to counterbalance the nascent Christian right movement, particularly Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority.

Lear strongly opposed the growing influence of organized religion in American politics and rallied for liberal causes over the decades. He was especially passionate about the First Amendment and civic awareness; in the early 2000s, he purchased a copy of the Declaration of Independence for a national tour of the document.