- Served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II who flew 52 missions over Germany.
- He once explained that the reason he is almost never seen without his hat, is because early in his career when he used to write for up to 18 hours a day, he would scratch his head so much he developed a scab. His wife Frances was so bothered by this, she bought him the hat and Norman and his hat became inseparable thereafter.
- Godfather to actress Katey Sagal.
- Friends with Carl Reiner, Carroll O'Connor, Mel Brooks, Redd Foxx, Doris Roberts, Esther Rolle, Robert Guillaume and Charlotte Rae.
- Was a mentor to Seth MacFarlane.
- Acted as a consultant for Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park (1997) at the age of 80 years old. He assisted on Cancelled (2003) and came up with the idea of the giant talking taco. He also worked on the episode I'm a Little Bit Country (2003).
- He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C. (1999).
- In 1959, Lear produced a pilot for a situation comedy called "Band of Gold" in which James Franciscus and Suzanne Pleshette played a different couple each week. The program was considered too "experimental" and was never broadcast.
- Contrary to popular belief, it was actually African American screenwriter Eric Monte, not Norman Lear, who created the characters George Jefferson and Louise Jefferson.
- Long a renowned supporter of liberal political causes, he changed his party registration to Republican in 1980 and endorsed John Anderson for President, after calling the administration of Jimmy Carter a "complete disaster".
- Is a brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity based out of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
- First cousin of David Susskind.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6615 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on July 16, 1975.
- His sitcom All in the Family (1971) inspired Seth MacFarlane to write for television. Seth MacFarlane was his protege.
- Is a recipient of the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors. Others honored that year were Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J, Carmen De Lavallade, and Lionel Richie.
- In 2004, Lear established Declare Yourself which is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign created to empower and encourage eligible 18- to 29-year-olds in America to register and vote. It has registered almost 4 million young people.
- In 1980, he founded a public interest group "People for the American Way" which is a liberal group.
- In 2014, Lear published Even This I Get To Experience, a memoir.
- Lear enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in September 1942. He served in the Mediterranean theater as a radio operator/gunner on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with the 772nd Bomb Squadron, 463rd Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force.
- Lear was one of 98 "prominent members of Los Angeles' Jewish community" who signed an open letter supporting the proposed nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers led by the United States. The letter called for the passage of the bill and warned that the ending of the agreement by Congress would be a "tragic mistake".
- Lear plays the protagonist in the video to "Happy Birthday to Me," the first single on musician and actor Paul Hipp's 2015 album The Remote Distance.
- In 1981, Lear founded People for the American Way (PFAW), a progressive advocacy organization formed in reaction to the politics of the Christian right. PFAW ran several advertising campaigns opposing the interjection of religion in politics. PFAW and other like-minded groups succeeded in their efforts to block Reagan's 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Lear, a longtime critic of the Religious Right, was an advocate for the advancement of secularism.
- His first night in Los Angeles, Lear stumbled upon a production of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara at the 90-seat theater-in-the-round Circle Theater off Sunset Boulevard. One of the actors in the play was Sydney Chaplin, the son of actors Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. Charlie Chaplin, Alan Mowbray, and Dame Gladys Cooper sat in front of Lear, and after the show was over, Charlie Chaplin performed.
- In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded Lear the National Medal of Arts, noting: "Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.".
- Lear had a first cousin in Los Angeles, Elaine, who was married to an aspiring comedy writer named Ed Simmons. Simmons and Lear teamed up to sell home furnishings door-to-door for a company called The Gans Brothers and later sold family photos door-to-door. Throughout the 1950s, Lear and Simmons turned out comedy sketches for television appearances of Martin and Lewis, Rowan and Martin, and others.
- He and Bud Yorkin received in 1999 "the Women in Film Lucy Award" in recognition of excellence and innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.
- A 1953 article from Billboard magazine stated that Lear and Ed Simmons were guaranteed a record-breaking $52,000 (equivalent to $568,766 in 2022) each to write for five additional Martin and Lewis appearances on the Colgate Comedy Hour that year. In a 2015 interview with Variety, Lear said that Jerry Lewis had hired him and Simmons as writers for Martin and Lewis three weeks before the comedy duo made their first appearance on the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1950. Lear also acknowledged in 1986 that he and Simmons were the main writers for The Martin and Lewis Show for three years.
- At the time of his death in 2023, he was overseeing multiple shows in development, including a planned reboot of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
- Lear served on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation.
- In 2017, he was awarded the fourth annual Woody Guthrie Prize presented by the Woody Guthrie Center, recognizing an artist whose work represents the spirit of Woody Guthrie "as a positive force for social change". He became the oldest recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors later that year at the age of 95.
- In 1959, Lear created his first television series, a half-hour western for Revue Studios called The Deputy, starring Henry Fonda.
- The Producers Guild of America awarded Lear its Achievement Award in Television in 2006; by the next year, the honor was named the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television.
- His shows introduced political and social themes to the sitcom.
- Upon his death, Norman Lear's body was cremated, his ashes was given to his family and/or his friend.
- Lear was an outspoken supporter of First Amendment and liberal causes. The only time that he did not support the Democratic candidate for President was in 1980 when he supported John Anderson over Jimmy Carter because he considered the Carter administration to be "a complete disaster".
- After World War II Lear had a career in public relations. The career choice was inspired by his Uncle Jack.
- In 1954, Lear was enlisted as a writer and asked to salvage the new CBS sitcom starring Celeste Holm, Honestly, Celeste!, but the program was canceled after eight episodes.
- He was married to Frances Loeb, publisher of Lear's magazine, from 1956 to 1985. They separated in 1983, with Loeb eventually receiving $112 million from Lear in their divorce settlement.
- Lear attended Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Weaver High School in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1940 and attended Emerson College in Boston, but dropped out in 1942 to join the United States Army Air Forces.
- In 2014, Lear published Even This I Get to Experience, a memoir.
- In 1989, Lear founded the Business Enterprise Trust, an educational program that used annual awards, business school case studies, and videos to spotlight exemplary social innovations in American business until it ended in 1998.
- Norman Lear passed away on December 5, 2023, at age 101, only 7 months, after the coronavirus pandemic had ended.
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