ABC is celebrating Norman Lear’s 100th birthday with a television special on Sept. 22. Variety was on hand for exclusive interviews with Lear and his starry guests as they made their way into the H…
was on hand for exclusive interviews with Lear and his starry guests as they made their way into the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel earlier this month for the filming of the show, “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter.”
Below, Lear’s friends and the stars of his most famous sitcoms recall meeting the icon for the first time. James Burrows was six episodes into the first season of “Cheers” when he and the sitcom’s co-creators, Glen and Les Charles, received what he described as a “fan letter” from Lear. “He said he loved our show and he wanted to meet us,” Burrows told me. “He took us to the Brown Derby on Vine. This was 1982.”
Kim Fields may have become a household name when she played Tootie on “Facts of Life,” but she and her family were already close to Lear long before then. In fact, Fields refers to him as “Uncle Norman.” “My mother [actress Chip Fields] did an iconic groundbreaking series of episodes on ‘Good Times’ that dealt with child abuse, so I first met him at that point,” Fields said.
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