Norman Lear Had Beef With His Biggest Sitcom Stars
While Norman Lear produced many of the most successful sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Sanford and Son, the behind-the-scenes squabbling rivaled the fights between Archie Bunker and his meathead son-in-law. Tripp Whetsall, author of the new biography Norman Lear: His Life and Times, recently talked to me about the comedy stars who got into it with Lear.
Comedy stars such as…
Carroll O’Connor
The All in the Family lead and Lear “had a very difficult, contemptuous relationship,” says Whetsell. “It was much more Carroll than Norman. Carroll was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders with Archie Bunker.”
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Lear’s “idea of comedy, I think, is at variance with mine,” O’Connor once said. “We’ve disagreed over material from the very beginning of the show over what made naturalistic comedy. I had one idea, and he had another. But my ideas prevailed.”
Whether O’Connor was All in the Family’s main idea man is definitely up for debate, but he “went into every production meeting with the red pen,” Whetsell says, “saying ‘This won't work. This won't work. This won't work.’ They had a very difficult relationship, but Norman really respected him. Deep down, they respected and loved each other, but creatively it was only challenging for them every step of the way.”
John Amos
The Good Times star was troubled by the fact that the show — originally about the struggles of a Black family in the Chicago housing projects — quickly turned its focus to Jimmy Walker and his catchphrase, “Dyn-o-mite!” Amos, who was also a writer, says he understood but that didn’t mean he liked it.
“I looked at it objectively and said, ‘I can see that he’s comic relief. We do a lot of serious issues on the show, and people don’t want to get beat over the head when they turn on the boob tube.’ … But then too much emphasis was being put on him and the balance was lost on the rest of us.”
Amos became increasingly unhappy with the show’s buffoonish storylines and took it out on Lear and the writing staff. “It had become intolerable,” he said. The feeling must have been mutual. Lear fired Amos before the show’s third season.
Bill Macy
Lear got along well with Bea Arthur and the cast of Maude, but Bill Macy, who played Maude’s husband, Walter, had a bone to pick with Lear over compensation. According to Macy, Lear had explained the concept of residuals during the show’s early days — Macy and others would get paid the first time Maude aired in reruns, with Lear getting the money for subsequent airings. “At that point, I was innocent and inexperienced and I said okay,” remembered Macy. “Now, for all these years, he’s been getting residuals — my residuals. He’s a billionaire, and I need the money.”
Lear wasn’t doing anything inherently wrong, argues Whetsell — or at least, Macy’s situation wasn’t out of the ordinary. “That was the way things were at the time,” he said. “Sitcom actors just didn't get the residuals that they get today. Norman wasn’t intentionally trying to screw them.”
Lear eventually made up with most of his stars as all recognized the golden era of television comedy they created together. In fact, Amos in particular had no hard feelings, working with Lear on subsequent pilots. “He’s the most creative person I’ve ever worked with in my career,” Amos explained, “and I feel so blessed to have been able to work with him again.”
