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He had a good run. I saw a semi-recent brief interview with him and he looked good and still sounded sharp as a tack. I think it was on one of those CNN's "The History of Sitcoms" episodes. I also watched a few "Mary Tyler Moore" shows recently on Hulu. Still funny as hell and what a cast.

He owned the Crotchety Old Man block for like 40 years. What a great run he had. He was fantastic even a couple of years ago in Briarpatch

Betty won.

He didn't look so good on Cobra Kai. I loved that he was still doing voicework for DC fairly recent iirc.

I hate spunk.





I love Ed Asner. He was one of the all time television greats. But he did some really good film work, too. He was a really, REALLY talented actor. He could do comedy and drama equally well.

And, yeah, he DID have a great run. I hope I live that long.

RIP Ed

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Against the MTM cast and the Golden Girls cast.

She shouldn't win against the Hot in Cleveland cast, but with Betty White - I'm not betting against her.

I find it kind of depressing when the whole cast of a show you grew up with while it aired (whether you watched it or not) passes away. I don't think that's happened to me yet (I'm 52). But when Betty While eventually dies, that'll close out 2 shows right there.

That's the 3rd cast member of MTM who died this year, and the 5th in 2 years (6th in 4 years if you include MTM herself).

Sad news though I guess not completely unexpected. Ed Asner is one of those Wilford Brimley types who has seemed “old” since the 70s.

I always enjoyed his crotchety humor.

He was fantastic as Guy Banister in JFK.

I'm the same age as you and barely remember watching any first run MTM. I think the only time I can recall watching it is with my parents.

RIP I remember him from the Spiderman cartoons

Yeah, I basically watched most of the last 2 seasons as I was 7-8 years old. I only watched because my brother was watching it (4 years older than me).
Then I watched the repeats afterwards.

MASH is one of these shows as the cast has a shot of being wiped out in the next 5-10 years.

Saw it earlier on ABC News after David Muir's usual tease of not telling you the person who died only "up next, the passing of a TV legend" then devoting an entire 15 seconds to this TV legend. God I hate that crap. Evening news used to devote entire segments to people with long memorable careers.

In any case Ed Asner was awesome. I'm glad he was able to continue working and not afflicted by the range of truly awful illnesses that get people and especially bum you out.

He had a tremendous career and life. RIP.

He was definitely sharp to the end. I guess it's better to go out quickly than to linger in poor health.

RIP to a great actor!

I loved Ed Asner, what a great actor. 17 Emmy nominations and 7 wins. Lou Grant was one of the best TV characters of all time.

R.I.P.

According to the googles he was the first actor to win emmys for both comedy and drama for playing the same character.

I remember meeting him in the 80s at a ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the Touro Synagogue in Newport discussing the history of Ashkenazi Jews. What a kind, gentle, talented man.

Yeah, it was a weird transition for the character - going from a comedy to a drama with the same character played by the same actor.
I only watched a few episodes when it aired and haven't seen it since - does anyone know if they referenced the MTM series at all? I can't remember.

The only other character/show that did that was Trapper John M.D. Although played by a different actor, Trapper John went from being in a comedy (back when MASH was mostly a comedy) to being in a drama in a timeline shift of almost 30 years. I remember they referenced MASH a few times on TJMD, but it was pretty irrelevant. It was obvious the show was trying to siphon some of the MASH audience. The lead character didn't have to have served in Korea, nevermind didn't have to be Trapper John.

Crazy Eyes Susan, played by Uzo Aduba is the only other character / actor to win Emmys for both Comedy and Drama, but that was a case of re-categorization of the series rather than switching shows.

He was also my favorite on-screen Santa. He is such a wonderful comic foil in Elf in his little screen time.

I don't think there's still that many tv characters that have gone from a comedy show to a drama or vice versa weather played by the same actor or not. The only other instance I can think of right now is the short lived Bradys hour drama that came after the Brady Bunch and a few other earlier spinoffs/ sequels.

Nice piece in The Hollywood Reporter from the writer and photographer who had the last interview with Ed Asner only a few weeks ago.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...ew-1235004836/

Asner definitely had the Wilford Brimley thing going on.
In the first season of MTM, Asner was only 41 years old. He looked mid-50's. Although I'm 52 and look younger than him at 41. Men sure looked older back then.