Ed Asner, Who Helped Relight Pasadena Playhouse, Dies at 91

The man who starred in the first show at the Pasadena Playhouse after it emerged from Chapter 11bankrupty protection over a decade ago has died.

Ed Asner, the seven-time Emmy-winning TV star who played newsman Lou Grant on the comedy hit “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” sitcom, and later its award-winning serious-minded eponymous spinoff, died on Sunday.

He was 91.

Asner starred as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the one-man-show “FDR” at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2010.

The production marked the official re-lighting of the venue following the organization’s early 2010 bankruptcy filing.
He later also performed the show at Caltech in 2013. At that time he said he found the playhouse experience “unsatisfying,” because the troubled theater was lacking in its promotion of the show amid its recovery.

“We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully,” his family said on Twitter. “Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head — Goodnight dad. We love you.”

According to NBC News, Asner won five Emmy Awards for portraying Grant, including consecutive Emmys for best supporting actor in a comedy series in 1971 and 1972.

For his role as Grant, Asner earned three Emmy awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and two for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first actor to win an Emmy in both comedy and drama genres for the same role.

A new generation was introduced to his work when he played a grumpy Santa in the 2003 movie “Elf.”

Asner was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Following his military service, Asner helped found the Playwrights Theatre Co. in Chicago in the 1950s before heading to New York where he starred on Broadway opposite Jack Lemmon.

Soon after he began his television career. In 1962, he made his film debut in “Kid Galahad,” an Elvis Presley movie.

But the magic happened when he won the role of the grumpy, no-nonsense Grant opposite the kindhearted Mary Richards played by Moore.

A representative for Asner, Charles Sherman, told NBC News in a statement on Sunday that he “passed away today peacefully surrounded by family.”