Ed (Asinine) Asner in San Rafael/Mill Valley CA tomorrow night. Anyone wanna FReep?

Tribute Only $20 7PM Rafael TASN10R Tribute and Reception $45 Rafael/Piatti Restaurant TASN10P

Join us for an on-stage interview with TV's favorite boss, featuring large- and smallscreen career highlights. Afterward, relax, mingle and enjoy the great foot at Piatti Restaurant, which will be paired with wines from Frei Brothers Reserve. Sponsored by American Airlines

Calling Edward Asner an important actor is like describing Mount Rushmore as a nifty stone carving. Name another television star able to play the same character convincingly on both a sitcom (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and a drama (Lou Grant). Equally admirable is his long-standing activism, both on screen and off. A leader, a legend, a force of nature-all apply to a man whose uncommon talent is matched only by his zeal for social justice. (read SOCIALISM)

Born in Kansas City, Asner studied acting in Chicago (under Mike Nichols, among others) before heading for New York. He quickly found theatre work and landed small roles on TV shows such as Naked City, Route 66 and The Untouchables. After switching coasts in 1961, Asner found himself frequently playing heavies on the small screen.

In 1970, producer James L. Brooks cast Asner as Mary Tyler Moore's newsroom boss at a Minneapolis TV station, and a classic television series was born. When the WJM staff was fired in the 1977 finale, Asner's character segued to a job as city editor for a Los Angeles daily paper. Reflecting Asner and Brooks' political concerns, Lou Grant used its investigative journalism setting to broach such hot-button topics as the environment, Vietnam vets and nursing home care.

No longer typecast, Asner showcased his range and power in feature films such as They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981), and in the acclaimed miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and Roots (1977). A well-respected performer, Asner has received seven Emmy Awards. He was inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame in 1996 and received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award this year.

In his two terms as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1981 to 1985), Asner not only lobbied for the rights of performers but used his post to oppose US involvement in Central America. He has received the Anne Frank Human Rights Award, the Eugene Debs Award and numerous other honors for his crusades against injustice. A citizen of the world and an actor of the first rank, Edward Asner has proven that entertainment doesn't have to be trivial. -M. Fox

THIS IS FROM TWO YEARS AGO ---- IT IS ALMOST TOO MUCH TO BELIEVE:

SAN FERNANDO, Calif. (APBnews.com) -- Actor Ed Asner took the witness stand to praise an award-winning screenplay written by a convicted police killer.

Asner, who has made many public appearances to protest the death penalty sentence of convicted Philadelphia police-killer Mumia Abu Jamal, on Tuesday testified in the trial of Kenneth Gay.

Gay, 42, was convicted in 1985 of helping a companion, Raynard Cummings, kill Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle Officer Paul Verna, who had stopped the car the men were driving.

In the murder trial, prosecutors declared that Gay and Cummings had shot and killed Verna because they feared he would arrest them for a string of robberies they allegedly had committed.

Both Gay and Cummings were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Arguing against death penalty

In 1998, the California Supreme Court overturned Gay's death sentence on the grounds that his attorney was incompetent. His conviction remained.

Gay's new defense team is arguing against a re-imposition of the death penalty on the grounds that he did not shoot Verna.

Though his guilt or innocence in the case is out of bounds of this week's proceedings in San Fernando Superior Court, his public defenders are arguing for a life sentence.

'Quite a refreshing story'

Asner was in court as a character witness for Gay on the basis of a screenplay Gay wrote while in prison. The play, "A Children's Story," won a $500 prize in a 1994 contest in a writer's workshop connected with the American Film Institute. Asner announced the award in a June 2 ceremony that year.

"I was highly impressed," Asner told the court Tuesday in response to questions from public defender Mark Zuckman. "It is a wonderful story about physically and mentally challenged kids who are brought together to go on an outing, camping, and it goes to very good lengths to show that they learn to trust, depend, and survive with each other under terribly adverse conditions."

Zuckman asked Asner if he had found the screenplay to be an uplifting story. "Very much so," Asner answered. "Quite a refreshing story and unique."

Pressed by prosecutor

Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Morrison asked Asner if he had known that Gay was on death row at the time he made the award presentation in 1994.

"I don't recall," Asner said. "I think I may have known that he was incarcerated, but I do not think -- I cannot say for sure that I knew he was on death row."

Morrison asked Asner if he had actually read the screenplay when he passed out the award.

"No," Asner answered.

"In fact," Morrison asked, "you made a comment during the presentation about it, didn't you?"

Asner said he did not recall the comment.

"You said something to the effect of: 'I hope he doesn't eat the kids at the end of the story,' didn't you?"

"I don't recall," Asner answered. "My charm sometimes works strangely."

Didn't know officer's name

Morrison also asked Asner if anyone had told him when he presented the award on June 2, 1994, that "it was exactly 11 years to the day when the recipient gunned down in cold blood this police officer?"

Asner said no one had told him that.

"Have you ever read a Father's Day card written by Paul Verna to his father?" Morrison asked.

"Could you possibly tell me who Paul Verna is?" Asner asked.

"You don't know, sir?" the prosecutor asked.

"No," Asner answered.

"Do you know the name of the police officer the author of this screenplay murdered?" the prosecutor asked.

"Say that again?" Asner asked.

Morrison again asked if Asner knew the name of the slain police officer. Asner said he did not know.

Asner completed his testimony Tuesday. The case continued today.

David Barry is an APBnews.com correspondent in Los Angeles.

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