Ed Asner

Eddie Asner (/ˈæznər/; born November 15, 1929), known generally as Ed Asner and sometimes Edward Asner, is an American actor, voice artist, and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama. He is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series). His other Emmys were for performances in two of the most significant mini-television series of the 1970s: Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), where he won for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a TV series, and Roots (1977), for which he won for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a TV series.

He played John Wayne's adversary Bart Jason in the 1966 Western El Dorado. He has played Santa Claus in several films, notably in 2003's Elf. In 2009, he starred as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up and made a guest appearance on CSI: NY in the episode "Yahrzeit." In early 2011, Asner returned to television as butcher Hank Greziak in Working Class, the first original sitcom on cable channel CMT. He starred in Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, on CBC Television and appeared in The Glades. Asner guest-starred as Guy Redmayne, a homophobic billionaire who supports Alicia Florrick's campaign, in the sixth season of The Good Wife. In 2020 he guest starred in an episode of Modern Family and had a recurring role as James Staghorne Sr. on Briarpatch.