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The Man Behind the Laughs: How Norman Lear Turned Personal Stories Into Television History


Tripp Whetsell, author of the biography 'Norman Lear: His Life & Times' speaks exclusively to Closer about the late producer's life and legendary career.

The son of a con artist who spent time in prison, Norman left college to enlist in the Air Force. “You looked around television in [the 1950s and 1960s], and the biggest problem any family faced was ‘Mother dented the car, and how do you keep Dad from finding out,’ ” Norman said. When Herman went to prison for selling fake bonds, young Norman watched as his mother sold their furniture to pay bills.

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