Los Angeles: Norman Lear made history by becoming the oldest Emmy winner at the age of 97. The television icon registered a win at the Creative Arts Emmys in the ‘Outstanding Variety Special’ (Live) category for ‘Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons’. Norman Lear accepted the award with fellow executive producer Jimmy Kimmel.
“Thank you, thank you, and holy sh..,” laughed Norman Lear, who executive produced and wrote the special.
“I got a great reaction, saying that when opening a Christmas present when I was seven years old. Its 90 years later, and I feel much the same,” Lear was quoted as saying ‘The Hollywood Reporter’.
Lear called the show ‘one of the greatest things that ever happened to me’ and gave much of the credit for the victory to Jimmy Kimmel. “It was all Jimmy Kimmel’s idea,” said Lear.
The nonagenarian also thanked ‘all the farmers and the ranchers across the globe that have nourished me for all these years, and gotten me here tonight’ (Saturday).
In a reference to his age, Lear said backstage, “The fact of my life is, I don’t think about it a lot. I suppose I’m thinking about it more now… I’m 96 (fellow executive producer Jimmy Kimmel corrected him, saying he was 97). I like waking up in the morning…” he added.
Lear beat ‘Our Planet’ narrator David Attenborough, 93, who also won an Emmy Saturday, for the title of oldest Emmy winner. Attenborough would have held the record had Lear not won.
In his almost 70 years career in showbiz, Lear has been nominated 15 times, winning four Emmys for ‘All in the Family’.’
AFP