"To know him was one of my greatest honors": Jennifer Aniston on Norman Lear

Actor Jennifer Aniston paid a touching tribute to Norman Lear writerproducerdeveloper following his demiseTaking to Instagram Jennifer shared a string of images with a TV writer along with a noteThe note read Norman Lear His shows shaped my childhood and getting to know him was one of my greatest honors He made such a difference A huge impact on television and humanity He was able to tackle and discuss heated political conversations during difficult and charged times and we were able to laugh and learn I yearn for those days When creativity was a learning tool and could inspire people to maybe think just a little bit differently And of course to laugh Our greatest source of healingView this post on InstagramA post shared by Jennifer Aniston jenniferanistonShe remembered Lear as the kindest and gentlest man recalling how he use to make people feel like they were the only one in the roomHe was the kindest and gentlest man When you were in his presence you were the only one in the room He made everyone feel this Even when someone believed differently than him Thats what made life and people interesting to him To have discussions and really take in how people felt and hear their point of view He knew how to give voice to all sides and somehow in the process bring people closer together May we take a page from Normans playbook as a way of honoring his life An extraordinary life Rest in peace Norman It was a gift to stand in your light Friends actor addedNorman breathed his last on Tuesday He was 101 years oldNorman revolutionised American comedy with such bold hugely popular early70s sitcoms such as All in the Family and Sanford and SonHe died of natural causes at his Los Angeles residence A private service for immediate family members will be held in the coming days Lears publicist confirmed to VarietyAs per Variety quoted Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband father and grandfather Lears family said in a statement Norman lived a life of creativity tenacity and empathy He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human beingWhen Lear came up with the idea for a new sitcom based on a popular British show about a conservative outspokenly bigoted workingclass man and his fractious Queens family he had already established himself as a top comedy writer having received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for Divorce American Style in 1968 All in the Family was an instant smash reportedly with viewers of all political stripesLears shows were the first to address the important political cultural and social issues of the day racism abortion homosexuality and the Vietnam War by incorporating incisive new wrinkles into the classic domestic comedy formula Two 1977 episodes of All in the Family dealt with the attempted rape of lead character Archie Bunkers wife EdithTheir fresh outrageousness made them into great ratings successes Family and Sanford both based on a Los Angeles Black family rated first and second in the country for a while All in the Family spawned no less than six spinoffs Family received four Emmys in 197173 as well as a Peabody Award in 1977 for Lear for giving us comedy with a social conscience In 2016 he got a second Peabody Award for his career achievementsSome of Lears other works challenged TV traditions One Day at a Time 197584 a new concept for a sitcom with a single mother of two young girls as its lead Similarly Diffrent Strokes 19781986 depicted the maturation of two Black children adopted by a wealthy white businessmanOther series created by Lear were meta long before the phrase existed Mary Hartman Mary Hartman 197677 parodied the distorted drama of daytime soaps while the show was never picked up by a network it became a beloved offthewall entry in syndication Hartman had its own eccentric spinoff Fernwood 2 Night a parody chat show set in a small Ohio town the show was eventually retooled as America 2Night with the setting shifted to Los AngelesLear always insisted that the underlying formula for his comedies was always the same keep em laughingHis extensive career was documented in the 2016 documentary Norman Lear Just Another Version of You He later hosted the podcast All of the Above With Norman Lear and wrote a memoir Even This I Get to Experience was released in 2014 He was also an executive producer for the documentary Rita Moreno Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For ItHe is survived by his third wife Lyn Davis six children and four grandchildren reported VarietyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter 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