Quotes About Norman Lear

Nobody doubts my partisanship, but a lot of the activity is nonpartisan.

I guess because the shows were activist in their own way - the marriage of my public activism and my career activism, you know - people understand me very well. They also understand there's a very strong bipartisan part in all of this.

That's the heart of it: My shows were not that controversial with the American people. They were controversial with the people who think for the American people.

There was no real controversy with All In The Family. That came from the people on the business end.

As far as getting my start, it was really Norman Lear, even aside from being on 'All in the Family.' He helped me get my start as a director. He was the one who said, 'Let him do 'Spinal Tap.' Let him give it a try,' because I had been trying for years to get that thing off the ground.

'Hollywood maids' are so idiotic. They grin at everything. I told Norman Lear I didn't want to play a maid because of that 'hee-hee/grin-grin' attitude, and he said, 'Who said I wanted that?' He told me he wanted two strong women that are the black and white of the same coin. I said, 'Oh, well - in that case, I'll be right there!'

I was with Lanford Wilson in Philadelphia watching a play of his when the call came from Hollywood. 'Norman Lear wants to do 'Baltimore' on television,' Lanford said. 'What do you think?'

Ed Simmons and I became stars in the emerging medium of television. We were new and fresh, just like TV at the time, so we automatically became 'THE' comedy writers for television.

I was discovered, or mentored, by Norman Lear, who plucked me from the grinder of relative obscurity.

The movies had a slogan at the time, to distinguish themselves from TV, that said 'movies are better than ever.'

I remember the great work that Norman Lear did. That was an incredible heyday to be a black actor.

Robert Frost had a house in Bennington, Vermont, and I had a friend, the poet Mary Ruefle, who was the caretaker of it when it was owned by Norman Lear, the TV producer. She got a grant to go to Scotland, and she had to be gone six or nine months, so I moved in, and my job was just to make sure the ravage didn't overtake the place.

Norman Lear considers almost any Christian who speaks up for and acts on his or her faith to be 'dangerous.'

I guess because the shows were activist in their own way - the marriage of my public activism and my career activism, you know - people understand me very well. They also understand there's a very strong bipartisan part in all of this.