Norman Lear is a television and film writer/producer whose dynamic career in Hollywood has encompassed both the Golden Age and Streaming Era. At 97, Norman Lear has no plans to retire. His production banner, ACT III, has a first look deal with Sony Pictures Television. He serves as executive producer to the critically acclaimed reimagining of One Day At A Time, recently resurrected for a fourth season by PopTV and CBS after a three season run on Netflix. He also executive produces and co-hosts with Jimmy Kimmel, LIVE In Front of a Studio Audience, which set record ratings for ABC and won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, as well as Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy Special.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear attended Emerson College before flying 52 combat missions over Europe during World War II. Upon his return, he began a successful career writing and producing programs like The Colgate Comedy Hour, and The Martha Raye Show—ultimately leading to Lear captivating 120 million viewers per week with his iconic shows of the 1970s and ‘80s—All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
In 2000, Norman Lear purchased one of the original Dunlap broadside copies of the Declaration of Independence and founded “The Declaration of Independence Road Trip.” This nonprofit, nonpartisan project took the Declaration of Independence on a three-and-a-half year cross-country tour. The goal of the project was to bring the “People’s Document” directly to all Americans – especially young people – to inspire them to see citizenship as an opportunity to participate in civic life; to exercise their rights; and above all, to vote.
Norman Lear is a 2017 Kennedy Center Honoree, a recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, the Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, and a proud member of the inaugural group of inductees to the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984. He has won five Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe.