Eddie Asner was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for playing Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series
Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama. He is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven â five for portraying Lou Grant. His other Emmys were for performances in two television miniseries:
Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), where he won for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a TV series, and
Roots (1977), for which he won for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a TV series.