Ed Asner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ed Asner
Born	November 15, 1929 Kansas City, Kansas

Edward "Ed" Asner (born November 15, 1929 in Kansas City, Kansas) is an American actor best known for his Emmy-winning role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and later continued in a spinoff series, Lou Grant. He is currently a recurring guest star as Wilson White on the television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

1 Biography
2 Views
3 Notable Roles
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Mr. Asner was born in Kansas City, Kansas to Lizzie and Morris David Asner. He is internationally known as the slaver Captain Davies, from the mini-series Roots, who kidnapped Kunta Kinte into bondage. While Asner's character in Roots was highly developed, full of metaphors on tortured ethics and the morality of slavery, biographer Alex Haley would later admit he had no idea who the actual Captain was who had commanded the historic slaver which had kidnapped his ancestor.

Asner has also had an extensive voice acting career. He provided the voices for J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man, Hudson on Gargoyles, Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars, Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series, Cosgrove on Freakazoid, and Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks. In 1993, he narrated the short documentary Legacy for Efrain, which explores the impact of the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.

Mr. Asner has four children: a son, Matthew and his twin sister Liza, a daughter, Kate, and a younger son, Charlie. Model and television personality Jules Asner is his former daughter-in-law.

His wife's nephew, Gavin Newsom, was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003.

Dr. Jerry Pournelle has mentioned in his weblog [1] that Mr. Asner lives nearby, having encountered him while both were on neighborhood walks, and describes him as "a good neighbor."

Ed Asner spent many hours at the Granada movie theater in Kansas City, Kansas as a young boy. That theater, featured in the new travel guide to classic movie theaters, Cinemental Journeys,(www.moonbookstore.com) has been renovated and is an operating movie theater again

[edit] Views

A vocal leftist, Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity he opposed US policy in Central America. He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and is a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His political position may also have motivated him to play the voice of the pig-like villain Hoggish Greedly on the pro-environmental animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers [2] and the voice for the sinister Ed Wuncler in The Boondocks.

He has signed the 911 Truth Statement [3] calling for new investigations of questions about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including those concerning US intelligence on upcoming attacks, the breakdown of military air defense, and the nature of the investigations. Asner has also reviewed 9/11 literature and videos, including a recent review for the film 9/11 Guilt: The Proof is in Your Hands. He's also appeared several times on Joyce Riley's The Power Hour.

Asner served as the spokesman for 2004 Racism Watch. In April 2004, he wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9-11 truth" through an organization called the "9-11 Visibility Project." Recently he has appeared in a recurring segment, on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?"

Asner also narrated the documentary film "the Oil factor: Behind the War on Terror".