17 Facts About Lou Grant

Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Ed Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS.

Lou Grant was the son of John Simpson Grant and Ellen Hammersmith Grant; his grandfather was a pharmacist.

Lou Grant served in both the Pacific and European Theatres.

Lou Grant was part of a unit that liberated an unknown town in Germany.

Lou Grant attended college, likely after the war.

Lou Grant started his career in print journalism as a copy boy but it is unclear whether this was in Detroit, Minneapolis or San Francisco as he worked for papers in all three cities.

Lou Grant eventually became the head of the WJM news department.

Lou Grant was a heavy drinker, with a penchant for hiding whole bottles of scotch in his desk drawers.

Lou Grant had a nasty habit of letting one of his hands slide south.

Lou Grant's personality was outwardly that of a tough loner and a workaholic man's man.

Lou Grant was quick to anger and had a violent streak, at times threatening the barely competent Ted Baxter and once causing him physical injury.

Lou Grant's marriage began to slide as he and Edie both adjusted to life after parenthood.

Lou Grant, who had been consistently portrayed as a devoted husband, tentatively began to date again.

Lou Grant went out with a woman named Charlene in particularly Season 5; Mary's best friend Rhoda Morgenstern in Season 4; Mary's next-door neighbor, Paula Kovacks in Season 6; Mary's Aunt Flo in Seasons 6 and 7; and even with Mary herself in the penultimate episode.

Lou Grant and Sue Ann Nivens almost had a relationship as well.

Soon thereafter, he wrote to his former co-worker, Charlie Hume, inquiring about the possibility of work; when Hume confirmed that he knew of a position for him, Lou Grant relocated to Los Angeles, to work with him at the fictitious Los Angeles Tribune, as the paper's City Editor, returning him to newspaper work.

Lou Grant stomped out, but quickly returned and was then played by Asner.