Ed Asner
Actor, Activist
Previously Aired On: September 12, 2006 - Listen to this Show!
Edward “Ed” Asner (born November 15, 1929 in Kansas City, Kansas) is an American Actor best known for his Emmy-winning role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and later continued in a spinoff series, Lou Grant. He is also internationally known as the slaver Captain Davies, from the mini-series Roots, who kidnapped Kunta Kinte into bondage.
A vocal leftist, Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity he opposed US policy in Central America. He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and is a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His political position may also have motivated him to play the voice of the pig-like villain Hoggish Greedly on the pro-environmental animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers and the voice for the sinister Ed Wuncler in The Boondocks (TV series).
