Legendary TV Producer Norman Lear Reflects on Turning 101: ‘Entering My Second Childhood’

Talk about a milestone birthday! Legendary TV producer Norman Lear reflected on turning 101 years old in an Instagram video posted on Thursday, July 27.

In the clip, Norman wore his signature fedora as he discussed starting his next chapter of life surrounded by family and friends. 

“It’s Norman Lear here, dribbling a bit because he’s entering his second childhood,” the All in the Family producer said. “I’ve just turned 101, and that is, they tell me, my second childhood.”

He went on to explain that it feels like he is reliving his childhood because of the “kind of care” he has been getting. 

“I get the kind of care at this age that I see children getting, toddlers getting,” Norman continued through laughter. “And so, I am now a 101-year-old toddler.”

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Norman, who was born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, concluded the video with a touching realization about life. 

“I’m thinking about two little words we don’t think about often enough, we don’t pay enough attention to: over and next,” he explained. “When something is over, it’s over, and we have the joy and privilege of getting onto the next. If there were a hammock between those two words, it would be the best way I know of defining living in the moment.” 

He added, “I am living in that moment now with all of you and bless all of you and our America.”

A month ahead of his birthday, Norman voiced his support for the writers on the picket lines amid the WGA strike. 

“I wrote in the very first year of television when writers were revered,” he reflected on Instagram. “I now watch talented writers struggle to earn a living wage without the path to a career like mine. The stories we tell, the stories I can now watch on any device, are the stories that connect us, engage us, make us laugh and cry together and inspire understanding and compassion. That is something to be protected and cherished.”

Norman, who is a dad of six kids from his three marriages, began his entertainment career in the early ‘50s after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is the man behind shows like Maude, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and its revival. 

“I do believe laughter adds time to your life,” he once reflected on the longevity of his life and decades-long career.