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Ed Asner: Man
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Following a strike by actors and writers that delayed the 1980 – 1981 TV season, Ed Asner was elected president of the Screen Actor's Guild in 1981. In the 1980s, Asner became an outspoken critic of the Reagan administration's support of right-wing death squads in El Salvador, as well as many other causes. Asner admits that his political activism adversely affected his acting career.
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Asner was born in Kansas City, Kansas to Lizzie Seliger, a housewife, and Morris David Asner, who ran a second-hand shop. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family.[1] Asner attended historic Wyandotte High school located at 2501 Minnesota Ave and spent many hours up the street at 10th and Minnesota Ave at the Granada movie theater in Kansas City, Kansas. Asner attended the University of Chicago.
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Throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s, Asner worked on a variety of projects. He returned to series television several times, including Hearts Afire with John Ritter, Thunder Alley with Haley Joel Osment, and The Closer with Tom Selleck. But none of these shows really caught on with audiences. He ... has lent his trademark low, gruff voice to a number of animated series, such as Fish Police, The Magic School Bus, and Spider-Man. A popular actor, Asner has appeared in many television movies and miniseries as well.
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In Asner's view, the Bush administration has manipulated public fear -- "They love to identify people as 'the enemy'" -- to chip away at personal freedoms and civil rights. Attorney General John Ashcroft is, in Asner's view, "a madman."
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