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sagaftra.org / SAG-AFTR A SPECIAL ISSUE 2022 / 102 him personally. He became a household name just before his 41st birthday in 1970 — after 15-plus years as a supporting actor on stage and screen — as TV news producer Lou Grant on the half-hour sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The hit show concluded in early 1977, but the Lou Grant character continued in a new award-winning 60-minute television drama, Lou Grant. Fame gave Asner the confidence to publicly act on his convictions. As Newsweek wrote in March 1982, "With the excuse of family and career concerns, he chose to listen to the 'inner voice' that warned him 'not to speak too loudly' … [but] with his career seemingly secure and his three teenage children old enough to handle his public scrutiny and vilification, Asner leaped into the fray." Leap he did: In 1980, SAG and AFTRA called a strike in film and television and Asner was prominent on the picket lines, using his celebrity to draw attention to the issues and participating in the Evening of Stars strike benefit. This involvement helped propel him to the SAG presidency in 1981. But on Feb. 15, 1982, in front of the State Department in Washington, D.C., Asner, Lee Grant, SAG National Board member Howard Hesseman and others presented a check for $25,000 to fund medical aid in civil war-wracked El Salvador for the communist guerrilla fighters opposing the United States-backed military dictatorship. Public backlash against Asner was swift. Soon, Lou Grant would be gone. On May 6, 1982, CBS announced it would not be renewing four of its shows: WKRP in Cincinnati, House Calls, Nurse and Lou Grant. The final episode aired Sept. 13, 1982. In 1984, Asner remarked, "I think the upheaval, the threats of boycott coupled with a five- point drop in [the ratings], permitted cancellation of the show … But my great regret was that CBS, such a prestigious leader in television, didn't put any effort into saving a show they had declared such pride in heretofore.'' When the last Lou Grant aired, Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote, "Tonight's finale ends with a slow camera pull-back from the old Trib newsroom. We're going to miss that place. We're going to miss it plenty." The same for Ed Asner — we're going to miss him plenty. Ed Asner TV Guide 1977 and 1978 SAG -AF TR A ARCHIVES X 2