Obituaries

Remembering Norman Lear, who died this week at the age of 101

10:43am December 07, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep recalls a 2008 conversation with TV producer and activist Norman Lear, who revolutionized network television. He worked social commentary into sitcoms that usually avoided it.

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Legendary television producer Norman Lear has died at 101

12:18am December 07, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Writer/producer Norman Lear has died. The legendary figure in television created All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude and other shows that spoke to the political moment with humor and compassion.

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The legacy of visionary TV producer Norman Lear, dead at 101

5:48pm December 06, 2023

by Eric Deggans

Norman Lear, who addressed serious issues in humorous sitcoms, died Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 101. He leaves behind a legacy of hit 1970s sitcoms that revolutionized television.

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Lear dropped out of college and enlisted in the Air Force to fight in World War II. In his late 20s, he moved to Los Angeles where he struggled for several years, selling furniture door to door and taking baby pictures. He's shown above in his Los Angeles office in March 1979.

Arts

Norman Lear, who made funny sitcoms about serious topics, dies at 101

10:04am December 06, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Lear's revolutionary comedies, including All in the Family and The Jeffersons, didn't shy away from issues of race, struggle and inequality. He believed that all people are "versions of each other."

Music & Culture

Denny Laine, co-founder of the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings, dies at 79

10:26pm December 05, 2023

by The Associated Press

Laine joined Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder to form the Moody Blues and sang lead on the group's first hit, "Go Now." His death comes 50 years after the release of McCartney's "Band on the Run" album.

Maria Emilia Martin created the radio show Latino USA.

Pioneering Latina public radio journalist Maria Martin dies at 72

4:51pm December 04, 2023

by Mandalit del Barco

Maria Martin created the public radio program Latino USA in 1993, was a reporter and helped train generations of radio journalists in the U.S. and Latin America.

Books
Arts

Author John Nichols, who believed that writing was a radical act, dies at 83

9:57am December 03, 2023

by Tom Vitale

Nichols created more than 20 works of fiction and non-fiction, most centered around his adopted home of Northern New Mexico. He is best known for The Milagro Beanfield War and The Sterile Cuckoo.