Norman Milton Lear

Norman Milton Lear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to a Jewish family. He dropped out of Emerson College during World War II to enlist in the United States Army Air Forces, flying 52 combat bombing missions over Europe on a B-17 Flying Fortress. After the war, he moved to Los Angeles, writing for comedy legends like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

In 1971, Lear revolutionized television with the premiere of All in the Family, introducing the bigoted working-class patriarch Archie Bunker. The show shattered broadcasting taboos by tackling racism, sexism, homosexuality, abortion, and the Vietnam War through biting humor. Lear followed with a succession of cultural juggernauts: Sanford and Son, Maude, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, which featured television's first wealthy African American family and first interracial married couple. In 1981, alarmed by religious fundamentalism in politics, Lear founded People for the American Way to defend constitutional liberties. He won six Emmy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors.