Television producer Norman Lear, whose sitcom spin-offs included “All in the Family,” died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 101.
"Norman passed away peacefully on December 5, 2023, surrounded by his family as we told stories and sang songs until the very end," his family wrote.
In more than six decades of work, Lear’s shows dominated television, with shows like “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” and more pouring into homes across the country on a daily basis.
Lear is also credited with breaking barriers with his work, using his topical sitcoms to help America as it battled fierce culture wars.
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The shows, while at times leaned more comedic, never shied away from hotter topics, like racism, sexism, anti-semitism, the women’s liberation movement, abortion, the Vietnam War, and more.
Bob Thompson, a Syracuse University director for Television and Popular Culture, cited “All in the Family” as an example.
“There was swearing which you didn't hear on television before it was shot on videotape,” he said. “Everybody was screaming at one another. It seems very old-fashioned now. It's an old, old show, but there was nothing like the Lear world on television before he came along with that batch of shows.”
Lear was one of the first inductees of the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1999 from then-President Bill Clinton. In 2017, Lear received both the Peabody Life Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honor.
Tributes began pouring out for Lear, including from filmmaker Rob Reiner, who starred in "All in the Family."
"I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father," he wrote on X. "Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family."
Jimmy Kimmel, who co-produced 'Live in Front of a Studio Audience' with Lear, praised his "bravery, integrity, and unmatched moral compass."
"He was a great American, a hero in every way and so funny, smart, and such a lovely man you almost couldn’t believe it," Kimmel said. "The privilege of working alongside Norman and the opportunity he gave me and my wife to get to know him and his beautiful family has been among the great honors and pleasures of my life."
Rita Moreno, who starred in the reboot of "One Day at a Time," wrote, "I am cut to the quick and already lonesome for my dear friend, Norman. Our nation has lost a treasured looking glass."
The cause of death has not yet been shared.
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