THE LIKEABLE GROUCH (REMEMBERING ED ASNER)
Fame was hard earned by Ed Asner. Born in Kansas City in 1929, he didn't really become a recognisable face until his forties - thanks to the breakthrough role of Lou Grant in 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. But he would go on to make his mark as a left of centre political voice as well as appearing in films like Oliver Stone's 'JFK,' Jon Favreau's 'Elf' and Pete Docter's Disney Pixar classic 'Up'. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish immigrant household, Asner's Russian mother was a housewife as her Lithuanian husband ran a second-hand shop and junkyard. His birth name was Yitzhak Asner and he attended Wyandotte High School before studying journalism at the University of Chicago. A star pupil in Hebrew school, his first taste of acting came on a radio station as a teenager, performing in 15 minute dramas created with his classmates and teacher Florence Moore. Asner's interest in journalism waned after a Professor told him there was no mone