Norman Lear, legendary TV writer and producer, dies at 101

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Legendary TV writer and producer Norman Lear has died.

Lear died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for the family confirmed to The New York Times. Lear was 101.

Lear's publicist told Variety that the star died of natural causes. Immediate family will attend a private service in the coming days.

Lear was born in July 1922 in New Haven, Conn., and started his career in film and television in the 1950s. His earlier works include the series The Deputy and the 1967 film Divorce American Style.

One of his most famous shows, All in the Family, aired on CBS from 1971 to 1979. He also created and produced such series as Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons and Good Times, which all premiered in the 1970s.

Lear's shows were among the first to address political, cultural and social issues including racism, abortion, homosexuality and the Vietnam War, revolutionizing TV comedy.

In more recent years, Lear produced Netflix reboots of his series One Day at a Time and Good Times.

The producer shared a message to fans in an Instagram video on his 101st birthday in July, saying he was "entering his second childhood."

"It feels like that in terms of the care I'm getting," Lear said. "I get the kind of care at this age that I see children getting, toddlers getting. So I'm now a 101-year-old toddler and I'm thinking of two little words that we don't think of often enough or pay attention to: over and next."

"When something is over, it's just over," he added. "And we have the joy and privilege of getting on to the next. If there were a hammock in the middle of -- between those two words -- it would be the best way I know to identify living in the moment."