Editing Norman Lear (section)

==Early life and education==
Norman Milton Lear was born on July 27, 1922, in [[New Haven, Connecticut]],<ref name=biography.com>{{cite web| url= http://www.biography.com/people/norman-lear-9376137| title= Norman Lear Biography: Screenwriter, Television Producer, Pilot (1922–)|publisher=[[Biography.com]] ([[FYI (TV network)|FYI]] / [[A&E Networks]])| access-date= July 8, 2016| archive-date= April 30, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160430084235/http://www.biography.com/people/norman-lear-9376137 }}</ref><ref name=cnnfast/> to Jeanette (''née'' Seicol) and Hyman "Herman" Lear, a traveling salesman.<ref name=cnnfast>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/us/norman-lear-fast-facts/|title=Norman Lear Fast Facts|publisher=CNN|date=September 30, 2016|access-date=May 30, 2017|archive-date=April 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429005704/https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/us/norman-lear-fast-facts|url-status=live}}</ref> Both parents were of Russian-Jewish descent.<ref name=FamilySearch-Census-1930>{{cite web|title=Norman Lear – United States Census, 1930|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XQR5-HR5|website=[[FamilySearch]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=October 16, 2014|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103418/https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XQR5-HR5}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=WeRelate-HermanJeanette-1921>{{cite web|title=Family:Herman Lear and Jeanette Seicol (1)|url=http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Herman_Lear_and_Jeanette_Seicol_(1)|website=[[WeRelate]]|access-date=October 16, 2014|archive-date=October 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023054130/http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Herman_Lear_and_Jeanette_Seicol_(1)|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=fdnr1>Stated on ''[[Finding Your Roots]]'', January 26, 2016, PBS</ref>
He had a younger sister, Claire Lear Brown (1925–2015).<ref name=Courant-SisterMarriage-2006>{{cite news|last1=Lynch|first1=M.A.C.|title=Their Junior High Romance Has Lasted 60 Happy Years|url=http://articles.courant.com/2006-03-12/features/0603100717_1_yearbook-san-diego-people|access-date=October 16, 2014|work=[[Hartford Courant]]|date=March 12, 2006|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224238/http://articles.courant.com/2006-03-12/features/0603100717_1_yearbook-san-diego-people|url-status=live}}</ref> Lear grew up in a Jewish household in Connecticut and had a [[bar mitzvah]] ceremony.<ref name=Aish-2001>{{cite web |url=http://www.aish.com/ci/be/48880147.html |title=An Interview with Norman Lear |website=[[Aish HaTorah]] |date=March 6, 2001 |access-date=December 29, 2013 |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231000535/http://www.aish.com/ci/be/48880147.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

When Lear was nine years old, he was living with his family in [[Chelsea, Massachusetts]],<ref>[https://archive.org/details/WGBH_89_7_FM_20220116_170000?start=562 Radio interview with Norman Lear, January 16 2022] archived from [[WGBH (FM)]] broadcast</ref> his father went to prison for selling fake bonds.<ref name=WNYC-Lopate-2014>{{cite news|last1=Lopate|first1=Leonard|title=Norman Lear's Storytelling, the Brooklyn Museum's Killer Heels|url=http://www.wnyc.org/story/the-leonard-lopate-show-2014-10-15/|access-date=October 16, 2014|work=[[The Leonard Lopate Show]]|publisher=[[WNYC]]|date=October 15, 2014|archive-date=October 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016062357/http://www.wnyc.org/story/the-leonard-lopate-show-2014-10-15/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lear thought of his father as a "rascal" and said that the character of [[Archie Bunker]] (whom Lear depicted as white Protestant on the show) was in part inspired by his father, and the character of [[Edith Bunker]] was in part inspired by his mother.<ref name=WNYC-Lopate-2014 /> However, Lear has said the moment which inspired his lifetime of advocacy was another event which he experienced at the age of nine, when he first heard antisemitic Catholic radio priest Father [[Charles Coughlin]] while tinkering with his crystal radio set.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schneider |first1=Michael |title=How Norman Lear Devoted Himself to a Lifetime of Advocacy |url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/norman-lear-people-for-the-american-way-1203337825/ |website=Variety |date=September 17, 2019 |access-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102195058/https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/norman-lear-people-for-the-american-way-1203337825/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After hearing more of Coughlin's radio sermons, Lear said he found Coughlin would promote antisemitism by targeting people whom Jews considered to be "great heroes", such as US President Franklin Roosevelt.<ref>{{cite web |title=Norman Lear: 'Just Another Version Of You' |date=June 23, 2012 |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/155521188 |publisher=NPR |language=en |access-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102195020/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/155521188 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lear attended [[Samuel J. Tilden High School]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York,<ref>{{cite web|title=TV Legend Norman Lear on the Black Panthers, Nixon's Enemies List & What Gives Him Hope|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/25/norman_lear_on_nixons_enemies_list|website=Democracy Now|date=October 25, 2016|access-date=February 12, 2023|archive-date=February 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212171905/https://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/25/norman_lear_on_nixons_enemies_list|url-status=live}}</ref> graduated from Weaver High School in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], in 1940 and attended [[Emerson College]] in [[Boston]], but dropped out in 1942 to join the [[United States Army Air Forces]].<ref name=TCM-Bio>{{cite web|title=Overview for Norman Lear|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/110472%7C118487/Norman-Lear/|website=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=October 16, 2014|archive-date=November 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103002127/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/110472%7C118487/Norman-Lear/|url-status=live}}</ref>