Watch Archie Bunker Explain Why America Is Great And then Lear managed to wrap all of this in a brand of comedy that runs high and low, broad and intelligent, bawdy and gentle. It was also to surround Archie with a family that would fight back against his prejudice, creating the double effect of highlighting the immorality of that prejudice while also allowing the viewer to see its psychological sources in fear, insecurity, economic anxiety, personal history and difficulty adapting to an evolving world. It was the sort of character that attracted controversy even then, so much so that actor Mickey Rooney, who was Lear's first choice for the role, turned down the part because he was afraid of damaging his career.īut Lear's genius – inspired by the original British show – was not simply in creating a character that would give voice to all of the bigotry haunting American society. Bunker is more than just a stereotype of an angry old conservative he's the kind of person who immediately attacks any viewpoint that differs in any degree from his own.
He set his version in Queens, and came up with the character of Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor) as his aggrieved patriarch. Immediately seeing the similarities between the show and his own upbringing, and also sensing a way to write about the contemporary social upheavals in America, Lear bought the rights to develop a U.S. Forty years later, Lear was working as a comedy writer and director in Hollywood when he came across an article about a long-running British TV show called Till Death Do Us Part, about an aging conservative who berates his harried wife and daughter, and engages in fiery debates with his socialist son-in-law.
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