The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Elf actor Ed Asner dies aged 91

Ed Asner died ‘peacefully’ on Sunday (Picture: Getty Images)

Emmy-winning actor Ed Asner has died at the age of 91.

The TV icon, who was best known for starring in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died ‘peacefully’ on Sunday morning surrounded by his family, Deadline reports.

A cause of death was not given.

Asner, who enjoyed an esteemed career, was the most awarded male performer in Emmy history winning seven times, with five of those being for his role as Lou Grant.

More modern audiences will remember Asner for his appearances in the Christmas movie Elf, in which he played Elf, animation Up! and Netflix series Cobra Kai.

He also received the Screen Actors Guild life achievement award in 2001.

Asner was cast as Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. When the series ended, his character receieved his own spin-off in the hour-long drama Lou Grant, which ran from 1977-82.

Asner was the most awarded male performer in Emmy history (Picture: Getty Images)

The TV star also played the character in two other shows, Rhoda and Roseanne.

Asner boasted a long list of TV credits, which also included Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Spider-Man, Batman: The Animated Series, The Boondocks, Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, and Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

In Cobra Kai, he played Johnny Lawrence’s step-father, Sid Weinberg.

In 2016, Asner began appearing as Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman in Jeff Cohen’s play The Soap Myth at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Theatre in New York.

He continued in the role for three years until the production was halted due to the Covid pandemic.

More: US TV news

Asner’s death comes just months after The Mary Tyler Moore Show star Cloris Leachman died aged 94. The famed actress died from natural causes in January.

His co-star made a name for herself playing the nosy and cunning landlady Phyllis Lindstrom between 1970 and 1975, and won the Primetime Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in both 1974 and 1975.

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