“Reports of my imminent demise are greatly exaggerated,” he tweeted the next day. “They tell me I am suffering from exhaustion. Thanks for the good wishes!”
Asner was taken to a Chicago-area hospital and was released two days later. A performance scheduled for March 14 was canceled.
The 83-year-old actor has been touring the country for more than three years with “FDR,” which had a 2010 stop at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Asner is best known for playing the gruff but loveable Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff “Lou Grant.” He has also appeared in numerous feature films, including “Fort Apache the Bronx” with Paul Newman, Oliver Stone’s “JFK,” and as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the Oscar-winning animated film “Up.” One of TV’s most honored actors, he has won eight Emmy Awards and five Golden Globes.
An outspoken liberal Democrat, Asner is equally known for his leftist views as he is for his acting talent. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been a staunch opponent of capital punishment, and is a 9/11 “truther.” He serves as an advisor to the Rosenberg Fund for Children, an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which provides benefits for the children of political activists.
