His most famous role was Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore show
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ed-asner-dead-lou-grant-1235004802/
A classic case of "I didn't realize he was still alive".
Probably because he looked elderly in his late 40s. Incredibly prolific talent
He had a recurring role in Dead To Me - season 1, I believe.
He also won emmys for the show Lou Grant, which was a hour-long drama playing the same character as the MTM sitcom.
One of my favorite scenes:
Mr. Grant: You know what you have Mary? You have spunk!"
Mary: (pleased by his remark) "Why... why, thank you Mr. Grant."
Mr. Grant: " I hate spunk!"
We love the scene where Mary has a dinner party and an uninvited guest comes, meaning there isn't quite enough food. Nobody tells Lou, who serves himself a double-portion. Mary asks to talk to him in private and tells him what's what, so he goes back to the table and makes a big scene as he puts one of the portions back onto the serving dish. Hilarious.
My wife and I refer to the scene every once in awhile if we're at a party, gathering or restaurant and see somebody with a ton of food on his plate. "Who is he, Lou Grant?"
A new animated short series, Dug Days, premiered on Disney+ this week. Asner voices Carl, his lovable curmudgeon character from the Pixar movie Up. Serendipitous timing as a send off for him.
Anyone else know Ed Asner best as Santa from Elf? I'll occasionally drop a "you never can tell, kid" into conversations, though it's obscure enough that I don't think anyone ever gets the reference.
Edit: 1) He had credits dating all the way back to 1957(!), what a career
2) Holy moly, Elf is from 2003.
Edit #2: Has anyone seen Fish Police? What a cast! (literally, but also a pun ba-dum-cheeee)