Skylight Salute – Ed Asner (2015)

This ain't no stuffy rubber chicken affair!

Skylight Salutes the remarkable ED ASNER
Edward Asner has been an enduring presence in television, film, and on stage for over sixty years.

Developing his craft on the boards in Chicago and New York, by the 1960s, Ed had established himself as a solid and versatile performer, regularly being cast in featured roles on the big screen and in such landmark television shows as The Outer Limits, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West, Ironside, and Mission Impossible. In the 70s, his role as Lou Grant on the long-running hit sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show catapulted him to stardom; he then cemented himself as an actor’s actor, perpetuating this character in the dramatic series Lou Grant. Ed is the only actor to have ever won an acting Emmy for portraying the same role in both a comedy and a drama (five total as Lou Grant). He went on to win two more Emmy Awards for complex roles in the mega-hit mini-series Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man.

Throughout his acting career, Ed has been in great demand. In addition to his volu- minous and celebrated work in television, he has turned in unforgettable performances in films such as JFK, Elf, Up, and most recently Pacific Edge. He has returned periodically to Broadway, toured the country for many years in the one-man show FDR, co-founded L.A. Theatre Works, and only two years ago performed for Skylight Theatre in an excerpt from Terrence McNally’s Some Men. And if that weren’t enough, Ed served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild, protecting the rights and advancing the profession of working actors.