NORMAN LEAR

Commemorating
the Life & Work of Norman Lear

I write with a heavy heart, saddened by the news of Norman Lear’s passing. He made many millions of Americans laugh at our everyday foibles, and he moved our hearts and minds to embrace our common humanity and live up to what is best in us. A television pioneer, he created, wrote and produced one hit series after another, programs that brought consequential topics into what today would be an inconceivable number of homes, and he did it without ever shortchanging his showman’s promise to entertain.

One of his enduring legacies is The Norman Lear Center. Twenty-five years ago, a generous gift from the Lyn and Norman Lear Family Foundation to the USC Annenberg School made the founding of the Lear Center possible; their gift also endowed Annenberg’s Norman Lear Chair. The Lear Center’s quarter-century of informing and inspiring Hollywood’s creative community to use its power for social good, and our decades of academic research on the content and social impact of media and entertainment, are a tribute Norman’s belief that stories matter, and that we matter.

There is so much else in Norman’s 101 years to honor and recount: his love of family; his love of country (he flew 52 bomber missions as a radio operator/gunner in World War II!); his civic and philanthropic activism; and more. I hope he wouldn’t have minded my making this plug at this moment: If you’d like to hear Norman telling the hilarious, moving story of his century, in his own voice, have a listen to the audiobook of his memoir, “Even This I Get to Experience.”

“This” means life’s darker moments. I once heard him considering that title as his epitaph. The tone is pure Norman, a wink at the inevitability of his own mortality. The “get to experience” part is pure Norman, too – his gratitude for the miracle of now, even a now as sorrowful as this one. We are grateful to have known and loved him.

Sincerely,

Martin Kaplan
Director, The Norman Lear Center
Norman Lear Professor of Entertainment, Media and Society
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism