HOLLYWOOD -- Television producer Norman Lear, who established People For The American Way, is a leading national figure in a battle to neutralize what he calls 'the new religious right.'
Lear, 59, a long-time political liberal whose TV series, 'Maude' and 'All in The Family' broke new ground and espoused a variety of causes, has emerged as a major Hollywood political activist.
He has been labeled 'the No. 1 enemy of the American family' by Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority.
Falwell accused Lear of inserting incest, adultery and homosexualty in his sitcoms. He and others single out Lear for producing shows with leering sexual double entendres in 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,' 'Hot L Baltimore' and 'Fernwood 2 Night.'
The soft-spoken, balding producer doubtless has not endeared himself to the new right with his activities in the American Civil Liberties Foundation and as a member of the board of the California Citizens Action Group.
Lear, through his hit TV series, has been one of the most influential men in the country for the past decade. Millions of viewers doted on 'Sanford and Son' and 'Good Times' and continue to enjoy 'Archie Bunker's Place,' 'Diff'rnt Strokes,' 'Facts of Life,' 'The Jeffersons' and 'One Day at a Time.'
As head of Embassy Communications, Inc., with partner Jerry Perenchio, Lear oversees a considerable entertainment empire with plans to expand into feature films. His influence in Hollywood is considerable.
On March 21 Lear's clout will be evident in 'I Love Liberty,' a two-hour special which he calls 'a patriotic reaffirmation, a paean, a tribute to the guaranteed liberties in this country that is unique in the world.'
Lear and his oft-time partner, Bud Yorkin, are the producers but the show is listed as a production of People For The American Way.
'I Love Liberty' stars Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Rod Steiger, Bonnie Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Lou Gossett, Valerie Harper, Judd Hirsch, Burt Lancaster, Hal Linden, Walter Matthau, Mary Tyler Moore, Kenny Rogers and many more.
People for the American Way has 61,000 contributing members with contributions ranging from small change to thousands of dollars. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., with branches in New York and Los Angeles.
More than one-third of its income is spent on media projects, masterminded by Lear, TV spots singing the praises of U.S. diversity and freedom of thought.
Lear says, 'People For is to help people work and enjoy their liberties by using them. The country needs to know what people feel about the issues. And we want to motivate Americans to express themselves for a healthier society.
'People For the American Way welcomes all walks of life, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, Catholics, Protestants and Jews and all the races that make up this country. It welcomes rich and poor and middle class.'
Lear believes People For can be an effective political tool to offset the activities of the new right, including the Christian Voice, the Religious Roundtable, Moral Majority and the Christian Patriots Defense League.
He credits the religious new right with contributing to the defeat of such liberal legislators as Birch Bayh, Frank Church, George McGovern and Jon Brademas in the 1980 elections.
'The Moral Majority is one small organization -- a mind set -- not all that persuasive,' Lear said.
'They have the right to express themselves, and that's to their credit when most of the rest of America is passive, which is the ultimate disservice. When one voice and only once voice is heard, that influence becomes disproportionate.
'People For is another voice with 30-40 individuals speaking around the country. It's financed by donations and there is no real membership structure.'
But it is Lear who calls the shots from his plush offices in Century City or from his Brentwood mansion, complete with swimming pool and tennis court.
Lear may be perceived as the ultimate Hollywood capitalist with a conscience. The extent of his wealth is not public knowledge but it is conceded that he is one of the richest men in a rich town.
As he approaches his 60th birthday, Lear is appalled by television's hold on Americans. The medium that enriched him beyond his wildest dreams has become a monster in his eyes.
'What worries me,' he says, 'is that amount of time people in this country spend watching the tube -- six hours on the average. That kind of passivity cannot be good for the human spirit, no matter what the quality of the shows.
'We must encourage people to reach out to each other and participate in life, not be spectators.'
After producing more than 2,600 hours of TV espisodes, Lear is tackling feature movies 'to stretch into new directions.'
TV's most prolific producer says his own three daughters were limited to one hour of television a day when they were growing up and did not bother to take TV sets to college. Lear himself rarely watches the tube these days.
He's too busy. He's stopped playing tennis on weekends to write and attend meetings for new projects.
The press of business, too, prevents him from spending as much time as he'd like at his Vermont hideaway.
'I've done more traveling in the past year and a half than I've ever done before,' Lear said. 'It involved setting up People For, among other things.
'Now that Jerry and I are operating Embassy Communications, we have a thousand people working for us, not including the TV shows' crews and actors. The day-to-day operations of the business are handled by Jerry.
'If Jerry Perencho hadn't come into my life there would never have been a veritable pile of TV shows going for us. He's helped diversify our company by bringing in cable and syndication operations. His creative business sense is the foundation of Embassy.
'I still think of myself as a writer. I get up every day at six and I'm at the office by nine. I rarely get home before seven in the evening. If I'm not in the office, I'm at home writing.
'Right now I aspire to making good motion pictures and helping others make them.'
Lear seldom gets to bed before midnight, then reads until he falls asleep. He and his wife, Frances, entertain at small, elegant dinner parties and occasionally attend industry functions and private parties.
Their friends include many behind-the-scenes show folk, including Yorkin, Stanley Sheinbaum, playwright Herb Gardner, producer David Picker and author Gore Vidal.
Sunday nights often include a light dinner with friends followed by a new movie, via the Bel Air circuit, in the Lear's home projection room.
Lear is no longer involved in his TV series unless there is a vital change in a show's direction or a new major character introduced or replaced.
'My family and associates were surprised that I could walk away from supervising the series,' he said, grinning. 'I never doubted I could do it myself. I never look back.
'Yes, I'm aware that many people say I've wielded considerable influence on viewers by the number and content of our shows. Some say the influence is subconscious and some say it is obvious.
'But I say a show's influence on viewers can be compared to tossing a pebble into water. I can't really relate to my personal impact on viewers.
'If I've enjoyed some success as a TV producer it's because I've learned a basic lesson of show business -- don't try to out-guess the public.
'When I'm creating a show or writing a script I go with a gut feeling. What makes me laugh or cry is what makes you laugh or cry.
'What I CAN relate to is Archie Bunker's chair in the Smithsonian Institute. That chair was patterned after my father's chair in our home when I was a boy. When I see that chair in the Smithsonian it brings tears to my eyes.'
Lear, a slender man who obviously takes care of himself physically, has given no thought to retirement. Neither does he seem particularly interested in building a greater fortune.
There is a motto prominently displayed behind his office desk which, he says, represents his reason for continued activity:
'Happiness is the exercise of your vital abilities along lines of excellence in a life that affords them scope.'
'I find much joy in my work,' Lear said. 'But work isn't everything. I indulge myself by spending as much time as I can with Frances (to whom he has been married 25 years) and my daughters (Ellen, Kate and Maggie).'
One suspects that Lear enjoys his participation with People For as much as anything else. It provides a forum for his political beliefs.
In a recent edition of Screen Actor, a publication of the Screen Actors Guild, Lear excoriated the new right saying:
'Our founding fathers never treated the God they worshipped as the creator of a political platform -- or as a rubber stamp to imprint private doctrines on public policy. They all believed, as Abraham Lincoln later warned, that we should never assume God is on our side - but should always seek, as best we can, to be on God's side.'
Lear, it would seem, likes to think he has lined up on the right (excuse the expression) side of the Lord.
