Meet the Ed Asner You Didn’t Know as He Looks Back at ‘Mary Tyler Moore,’ ‘Up’ and So Much More

If you were to look back at Ed Asner‘s acting career, there would be few who would argue that his greatest success — both critically and from the audience’s point of view — came from the years he spent playing newsman Lou Grant on the Classic TV series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the character’s self-titled dramatic spinoff, which ran collectively from 1970-82. By anybody’s standards, that’s one hell of a run. While he may not have achieved that sort of sustained success again, this is a guy who’s still working all these years later. And at the age of 89, that is an accomplishment deserving of respect.

“Well, I’ve got to pay off my bills,” he exclusively tells Closer Weekly in a voice that still resonates his most famous character. “I hit a dry spell when I first started out. I used to get the Los Angeles Times on Saturday night to look at the Want Ads for Sunday. I never could find anything else that I was suited for, and I didn’t have the adequate preparation to apply for the jobs, so I limped on until I finally began to make some money — and I haven’t had to go back to the Want Ads yet.” He pauses a moment before letting out an ironic laugh, “I’ve just been around too long for people to avoid me.”

Please scroll down for so much more of our interview with Ed Asner.