TV Legend Norman Lear Celebrates His 101st Birthday With Touching Message: “I Am Now A 101-Year-Old Toddler”

By Radhamely De Leon
Published July 27, 2023, 5:37 p.m. ET

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One Day At A Time (2017)

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Prolific television producer Norman Lear turned 101 years old on Thursday (July 27). To celebrate, the industry titan shared a sweet message to his supporters on social media about growing old and enjoying life.

“Norman Lear here, dribbling a bit because he’s entering his second childhood,” he joked in a video shared on Instagram. “I have just turned 101, and that is, they tell me, my second childhood. It feels like that, in terms of the care I am getting. I get the kind of care at this age that I see children getting.”

He continued, “I am thinking about two little words that we don’t think about often enough: over and next. When something is over, it’s over, and we have the joy and privilege of getting on to the next [thing]. And if there were a hammock in between those two words, it would be the best way I know of identifying living in the moment.”

Lear closed out the video with one final message. “I am living in that moment now, with all of you,” he said. “Bless all of you, and our America.”

Celebrities flooded his comments to show their support for the producer, including Judd Apatow, Alyssa Milano, Marisa Tomei, and many others.

Lear made his name as a producer on a variety of classic sitcoms and television shows including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. He was also a producer on the original One Day At A Time and its 2017 reboot on Netflix, which starred Justina Machado and Rita Moreno.

At the age of 100, he said he had no plans of retiring.

“I don’t consider retirement, not so long as there’s something I want to do when I wake up in the morning. And there always is,”  Lear said, per USA Today. “Some people run. I don’t run. I wake up and do the things that please me. That’s my present to myself. That’s my prayer. That’s everything.”

Even at 101 years old, Lear has a number of projects coming down the pipeline.

Most recently, Lear was credited as an executive producer on I Got A Monster. He also has five projects coming up, according to IMDb.