President Joe Biden paid tribute to Norman Lear, the pioneering author, producer and director who died on Tuesday at age 101.
Biden known as Lear a “transformational force in American culture” whose exhibits “redefined television with courage, conscience, and humor, opening our nation’s eyes and often our hearts.”
Lear was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 1999. At the time, Clinton mentioned that Lear “held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.”
Biden additionally famous Lear’s a long time of political advocacy, saying that he “fought directly for free speech, a woman’s right to choose, the environment, voting rights, and more.”
Biden’s full assertion is beneath:
Norman Lear was a transformational drive in American tradition, whose trailblazing exhibits redefined tv with braveness, conscience, and humor, opening our nation’s eyes and infrequently our hearts.
The solid of characters he created painted a fuller image of America – capturing our hopes and hardships, on a regular basis moments of concern and resilience. From Archie Bunker and George Jefferson to the casts of “Good Times” and “One Day at a Time,” his characters grew to become fixtures in tens of thousands and thousands of American lives, usually reminding us of household or neighbors. We liked them, disagreed with them, grew with them, rooted for them, and within the course of, modified the best way we see ourselves.
Norman left school for the Army throughout World War II, flying 52 missions in Europe, and he by no means forgot the teachings he realized there defending democracy and freedom. Arriving in Hollywood on the daybreak of tv, he helped to form the start of a medium that outlined American tradition, utilizing it to advance our nationwide dialog. Throughout his over-75-year profession – which included greater than 100 completely different exhibits and movies, as properly six Emmys, two Peabodys, a National Medal of Arts, and a Kennedy Center Honor – he by no means shied away from powerful subjects, taking up problems with racism, class, divorce, and abortion, capturing the grace and dignity in individuals’s lives. And throughout a long time of political advocacy, he fought straight totally free speech, a girl’s proper to decide on, the setting, voting rights, and extra.
Norman liked America and informed our tales with coronary heart, going through the great, the dangerous, and the reality of who we’re as a nation striving to kind a extra excellent union. He made generations of Americans care, and we are grateful.
Our love goes out to Norman’s spouse, Lyn Davis Lear; his six kids, Ellen, Kate, Maggie, Ben, Madeline, and Brianna Lear; and his 4 grandchildren.