Norman Lear, Legendary TV Producer, Dies At Age 101

Norman Lear, the legendary television producer who created groundbreaking series such as "All in the Family," "Maude," "The Jeffersons" and "One Day at a Time," has died, CBS News has confirmed. He was 101.

Lear, who got his start as a writer for radio and TV in the post-war years, was responsible for a string of hit series in the 1970s that broke taboos on broadcast entertainment and helped define a generation. His shows routinely tackled serious social issues, some rarely seen on TV before, from racism, rape and abortion to menopause, homosexuality and religion. 

The show that put Lear on the map was "All in the Family," which premiered on CBS in 1971. It starred Carroll O'Connor as the working-class loudmouth Archie Bunker, who spouted narrow-minded opinions and raged against social change. He often butted heads against his liberal son-in-law, Michael (played by Rob Reiner), while Archie's kind-hearted wife, Edith (Jean Stapleton), tried to keep the peace. 

In a 2021 interview on "CBS Sunday Morning," Lear said people on both ends of the political spectrum found something to connect with in the show. 

"I like to think what they saw was the foolishness of the human condition," he told CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, who is married to Lear's daughter, Kate.