Norman LearFilmography

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Natalie Maines, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger

Synopsis: The reflective documentary Pete Seeger: The Power of Song explores the legacy of revered American folk singer and activist Seeger - written and directed by filmmaker Jim Brown when Seeger was in his late '80s. In lieu of recounting the narrative of Seeger's life note-for-note, however, Brown uses Read More

The Gospel According to Jesus

Synopsis: This program is designed to take viewers on a spititual journey. The Gospel According to Jesus features a video montage of the enduring state of Jesus' teachings in America today. Includes discussions by everyday people on topics such as the parables, a showcase of poetry, readings from the Read More

Color Adjustment

Fried Green Tomatoes

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Cicely Tyson, Nick Searcy

Synopsis: A woman learns the value of friendship as she hears the story of two women and how their friendship shaped their lives in this warm comedy-drama. Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) is an emotionally repressed housewife with a habit of drowning her sorrows in candy bars. Her husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) Read More

All in the Family 20th Anniversary Special

Synopsis: This tribute to the long-running and very successful TV comedy series features the original cast as they take a nostalgic and respectful look back at the series, reflecting as to its impact on their lives and careers. Included too, are actual scenes from early episodes as well as viewers opinions Read More

The Princess Bride

Crew: Executive Producer, Producer

Actors: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest

Synopsis: Based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, The Princess Bride is staged as a book read by grandfather (Peter Falk) to his ill grandson (Fred Savage). Falk's character assures a romance-weary Savage that the book has much more to deliver than a simpering love story, including but not Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 11

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker, Marla Gibbs

Synopsis: By the time The Jeffersons set forth upon its eleventh season in the fall of 1984, the series had been out of the Top 25 programs for nearly two years. In fine sitcom tradition, the producers tried to remedy the situation by first changing the time slot (from Sundays to Tuesdays, beginning in Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 10

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker, Marla Gibbs

Synopsis: Season ten of The Jeffersons was marked by a pronounced drop-off in ratings. Ranking 12th in the list of most popular American TV series during its ninth season, the series didn't even make it to the top 25 the following year. This can be attributed to a problem that has plagued scores of Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 09

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker, Marla Gibbs

Synopsis: Ending its eighth season as the third top-rated TV series in America, The Jeffersons was assured its usual Sunday night CBS berth for a ninth season, beginning in the fall of 1981. Conspicuous by their absence were former series regulars Mike Evans (as Lionel Jefferson), Berlinda Tolbert (as Jenny Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 08

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker, Marla Gibbs

Synopsis: Its popularity having grown apace since its move to a Sunday night time slot in June 1979, The Jeffersons remained on CBS' Sunday Prime Time manifest as it launched its eighth season in the fall of 1981. Season eight would ultimately yield more first-run episodes than any previous season (27 in Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 07

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Mike Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: After several seasons in the ratings doldrums, The Jeffersons had enjoyed an incredible upsurge in viewership during its sixth season, due in no small part to the decision by CBS to move the series to Sunday night, traditionally the "best" TV evening of the week. Thus, it was no surprise that the Read More

All in the Family: The Best of All in the Family

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Danielle Brisebois

Synopsis: Technically speaking, this was the 199th episode of All in the Family. But because the earlier one-hour episode "California Here We Are" was conceived as two half-hour installments, "The Best of All in the Family" was heralded as the series' 200th program. Hosted by producer Norman Lear, this Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 06

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Mike Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: The biggest news attending The Jeffersons' sixth season was the return of Mike Evans as Lionel Jefferson, the role he'd created on the series' parent program, All in the Family, way back in 1971. Having been replaced by Damon Evans (no relation) from 1975 to 1979, Mike Evans stepped back into Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 05

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Damon Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: When The Jeffersons entered its fifth season in the fall of 1978, the series still enjoyed an ardent fan following, but its Top Ten ratings status was a thing of the past. Having been shifted all over the CBS prime-time schedule during its past two seasons -- Saturdays to Wednesdays, Wednesdays to Read More

Good Times: Season 06

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: Assured that the character played by her co-star Jimmie Walker, brash, budding inner-city artist J.J. Evans, had become more mature and responsible during her year-long absence, actress Esther Rolle agreed to return to the role of J.J.'s mom, Florida Evans, as Good Times launched its sixth season. Read More

A Different Approach

Fernwood 2-Night

Crew: Executive Producer

Good Times: Season 05

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: Just as season four of Good Times was marked by the defection of actor John Amos as James Evans, so too was the series' fifth season distinguished by the conspicuous absence of another leading character. Having already gone on record over the dissatisfaction with the direction in which the series Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 04

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Damon Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: Even though its ratings had dropped precipitously since its January 1975 debut, The Jeffersons remained on the CBS prime time schedule during the 1977-1978 season, if for no other reason than the "clout" of series producer Norman Lear. Having been moved all over the map during its third season Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 03

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Damon Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: Still in its regular Saturday-night time slot, The Jeffersons entered its third season on CBS. Although the cast had not undergone any radical changes since season two, there were a few differences. For one, Marla Gibbs, who'd been seen in the recurring role of the Jeffersons' sassy maid Florence Read More

Saturday Night Live: Norman Lear

Actors: Norman Lear, Boz Scaggs

Synopsis: This 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Norman Lear and features musical guest Boz Scaggs. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide Read More

Sanford and Son: Season 06

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, LaWanda Page, Marlene Clark, Lynn Hamilton

Synopsis: Season six of Sanford and Son was launched on September 24, 1976, with the series' only two-part episode -- and also one of its funniest -- "The Hawaiian Connection," largely filmed on location in Honolulu and its environs. Then it was back to South Central Los Angeles, where irascible Fred Read More

Good Times: Season 04

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: Season four of Good Times marked the first of the series' significant cast changes -- or, to be more precise, cast deletions. Long disenchanted with the way in which the series had devolved from the weekly saga of a poor but indomitable ghetto family into a vehicle for the brash buffoonery of Jimmie Walker Read More

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman [TV Series]

Crew: Executive Producer

Hot L Baltimore [TV Series]

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: James Cromwell, Richard Masur, Conchata Ferrell, Alan Freeman, Jeannie Linero, Gloria Le Roy, Robin Wilson, Stanley Gottlieb, Lee Bergere, Henry Calvert, Charlotte Rae

Sanford and Son: Season 05

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, LaWanda Page, Marlene Clark, Hal Williams

Synopsis: Beginning its fifth successful season on Friday, September 12, 1975, Sanford and Son was essentially the mixture as before with most of the familiar regulars firmly in place. His well-publicized contract disputes more or less receding into memory, Redd Foxx was back as cantankerous Watts junk Read More

Good Times: Season 03

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie "J.J." Walker, BernNadette Stanis, Ralph Carter

Synopsis: By the time Good Times had begun its third season on CBS, the program had pretty much given up being a realistic (albeit basically humorous) depiction of life in the urban ghetto, and had evolved -- or, as some would claim, devolved -- into a vehicle for brash African-American standup comedian Jimmie Walker Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 02

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Damon Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: Having wrapped up its first season as the fourth highest-rated network series, CBS' The Jeffersons was a shoe-in for a second-season renewal. The series remained a Saturday-night fixture, albeit in a slightly earlier time slot -- replacing its parent series All in the Family, which had moved to Read More

The Jeffersons: Season 01

Crew: Show Creator

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Mike Evans, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker

Synopsis: The second Norman Lear-produced TV series to be spun off from All in the Family (Maude was the first), The Jeffersons grew out of a character who appeared on the very first episode of Family -- college student Lionel Jefferson (originally played by Mike Evans), the young African-American friend of Read More

Good Times: Season 01

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: Like so many other Norman Lear-produced efforts, Good Times made its network bow as a mid-season replacement, taking over the Friday-night time slot previously occupied by the failed wartime sitcom Roll Out. Although only Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) was familiar to audiences by virtue of her Read More

Sanford and Son: Season 04

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Whitman Mayo, LaWanda Page, Hal Williams

Synopsis: Season four of Sanford and Son was ushered in on Friday, September 13, 1974, with wonderful news for longtime fans of the series: after a well-publicized volley of recriminations between star Redd Foxx and the series' producers over Foxx's numerous (and somewhat bizarre) contractual demands, the Read More

Good Times: Season 02

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie "J.J." Walker, BernNadette Stanis, Ralph Carter

Synopsis: Having posted good, if not spectacular, ratings during its freshman year on CBS, Good Times was moved from Fridays to a more desirable Tuesday-night time slot as it entered its second season. Beyond an added emphasis on the minor character of usurious inner-city landlord Nathan Bookman (Johnny Brown Read More

Good Times [TV Series]

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Jimmie "J.J." Walker

Synopsis: A spin-off of a spin-off, the CBS sitcom Good Times was derived from the Norman Lear-produced comedy series Maude, which itself was spawned by another Lear project, All in the Family. The link between Maude and Good Times was the character of Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), the sharp-tongued Read More

Sanford and Son: Season 03

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Whitman Mayo, LaWanda Page, Hal Williams

Synopsis: Still riding high in the ratings, Sanford and Son returned to its by then traditional Friday-night NBC time slot for a third successful season on September 14, 1973. The basic premise -- crotchety old Fred Sanford running a rundown Los Angeles junk business with his restless son Lamont -- was Read More

Sanford and Son: Season 02

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, LaWanda Page, Hal Williams, Howard Platt

Synopsis: A confirmed hit in its inaugural 14-episode season, the NBC sitcom Sanford and Son returned to its familiar Friday-night berth for a second batch of 24 episodes beginning September 15, 1972. In true "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" tradition, producer Norman Lear made virtually no changes in the Read More

Sanford and Son: Season 01

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Hal Williams, Noam Pitlik, Lynn Hamilton

Synopsis: With All in the Family reaping huge ratings and even huger controversy on CBS, producer Norman Lear was able to sell another "chancy" sitcom project to rival network NBC. Like Family, which was inspired by the British comedy series Till Death Us Do Part, Lear's Sanford and Son was based on a Read More

Sanford and Son [TV Series]

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, LaWanda Page, Marlene Clark, Lynn Hamilton

Synopsis: Like his previous smash hit All in the Family, producer Norman Lear's NBC sitcom Sanford and Son was based on a British original, in this instance Steptoe and Son, the story of an elderly, irascible cockney junk dealer and his cloddish bachelor son and business partner. In the initial development Read More

All in the Family: The Bunkers and the Swingers

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Vincent Gardenia

Synopsis: Naïve Edith answers a classified advertisement requesting a pair of "fun pen pals." Before long, the Bunkers are visited by Mr. and Mrs. Rempley, a couple of middle-aged "swingers" who invite Archie and Edith to participate in a wife-swapping party. Curtis Rempley is played by Vincent Gardenia Read More

All in the Family: Gloria Poses in the Nude

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Mike Evans

Synopsis: Mike's let-it-all-hang-out liberalism is again put to the test when Gloria agrees to pose in the nude for the Stivics' artist friend Szabo Daborba (a pre-Starsky and Hutch David Soul). Naturally, Archie is outraged that Gloria would be willing to appear in the altogether in front of a stranger Read More

Cold Turkey

Crew: Book Author, Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Edward Everett Horton, Jean Stapleton, Dick Van Dyke, Pippa Scott, Bob Newhart

Synopsis: This comedy is notable as the final onscreen appearance (non-speaking) of Edward Everett Horton, a staple comic supporting actor from the early '30s onward. Dick Van Dyke plays an ambitious small-town minister who rallies the whole town to meet a challenge bet by a tobacco corporation. Cooked up Read More

All in the Family [TV Series]

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter, Show Creator

Synopsis: "The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show -- in a mature fashion -- just how absurd they are." With this carefully worded disclaimer, the CBS Read More

All in the Family: Meet the Bunkers

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Mike Evans

Synopsis: The sitcom that changed the face of American television premiered on January 12, 1971, with the last of three pilot episodes filmed between 1968 and 1970 (during which time the property underwent two near-complete cast overhauls and three title changes). Written by series co-producer Norman Lear Read More

All in the Family: Judging Books By Covers

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Philip Carey

Synopsis: Archie thinks he knows a homosexual when he sees one, and when Mike invites his flamboyant photographer friend Roger to the Bunker household, Archie automatically assumes that Roger is a "flamer." Retreating to the safety of Kelsey's Bar, Arch chooses to spend some time with his "he-man" pals Read More

All in the Family: Archie Is Worried About His Job

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Hollis Irving

Synopsis: This episode offers a few clues as to what makes Archie Bunker "tick." Worried that he will be fired from his job, Arch spends a nervous evening seated at the telephone, while a steady stream of eccentric characters -- a nosy cop (Sandy Kenyon), a noisy drunk (Jack Perkins), and a confused Read More

All in the Family: Gloria Discovers Women's Lib

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Mike Evans

Synopsis: A "showcase" episode for series co-star Sally Struthers, "Gloria Discovers Women's Lib" delivers exactly what its title promises. Upset that even her liberal husband Mike refuses to regard her as an equal, Gloria angrily leaves the Bunker household. As upsetting as this is to Archie, the prospect Read More

All in the Family: Writing the President

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Helen Page Camp

Synopsis: Incensed that Mike has written a stern and critical letter to President Nixon, super-patriotic Archie tries to set things right by penning his own missive to the Chief Executive. "Dear Mr. President...Your Honor...Sir..." -- and Archie even dons a clean shirt and tie for the occasion. Scripted by Paul Harrison Read More

All in the Family: The Saga of Cousin Oscar

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Isabel Sanford

Synopsis: Season two of All in the Family commenced on September 18, 1971 with yet another taboo-banning episode. Scripted by Burt Styler and Norman Lear from a story by Styler, "The Saga of Cousin Oscar" dared to turn a subject as serious as death into a joke. No one in the Bunker family can abide Read More

All in the Family: Archie Gives Blood

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Mike Evans

Synopsis: Archie balks at the notion of donating blood at the local Red Cross. When Mike accuses him of being chicken, Archie protests that he doesn't want to give up a precious pint of his own "pure" blood unless he can be certain that the recipient will not be a member of a minority group. Archie's Read More

Start the Revolution Without Me

Crew: Executive Producer, Producer

Actors: Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Billie Whitelaw

Synopsis: Two French peasants are mistaken for a pair of aristocratic nobles in this historical situation comedy. Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland play the dual roles. Happy to be taken for nobles, the pair soon runs to escape the guillotine in the wake of the French Revolution's blood purge of the upper Read More

The Night They Raided Minsky's

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Jason Robards, Jr., Britt Ekland, Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews

Synopsis: Narrator Rudy Vallee announces that he knows we are a "real high class audience," thus he has "some swell story to tell." Thus begins The Night They Raided Minsky's, set in the rarefied world of burlesque in the 1920s. Amish girl Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland) comes to New York in hopes of Read More

Divorce American Style

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jason Robards, Jr., Jean Simmons, Van Johnson

Synopsis: An unhappy couple discover breaking up really is hard to do in this satiric comedy. Richard Harmon (Dick Van Dyke) and his wife, Barbara (Debbie Reynolds), are a typical married couple in American Suburbia -- which is to say they're not very happy with each other. After 15 years together, Richard Read More

Never Too Late

Crew: Producer

Actors: Paul Ford, Connie Stevens, Maureen O'Sullivan, Jim Hutton, Jane Wyatt

Synopsis: In this comedy, a middle-aged woman discovers that she is pregnant, to the dismay of her husband and surprise of the town. The husband doesn't feel up to the challenge, and their daughter is now forced to cook and clean around the house, and meanwhile, tries to get pregnant herself. After a Read More

Come Blow Your Horn

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Lee J. Cobb, Molly Picon, Barbara Rush, Jill St. John

Synopsis: This filmization of Neil Simon's first Broadway hit was adapted for the screen by Norman Lear. Once we get past the illogical casting of middle-aged Frank Sinatra and twentysomething Tony Bill as brothers, we're home free. Sinatra, a swinger supreme, uses his New York apartment as a harem of sorts Read More

Scared Stiff

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lizabeth Scott, Carmen Miranda, Dorothy Malone, George Dolenz

Synopsis: Scared Stiff is the 1953 remake of the 1940 Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard vehicle The Ghost Breakers, reupholstered for the talents of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. While Martin handles the straight plot scenes, just as Hope did in the earlier film, the Hope-like wisecracks are fairly evenly divided Read More