NEWS, NEW YORK. NOW, LEAR HAD STRONG TIES TO OUR STATE. IN 1971, HE SHOT HIS MOVIE COLD TURKEY IN AND AROUND GREENFIELD AND WINTERSET. LEAR RETURNED TO CENTRAL IOWA IN 2014 FOR THE CELEBRATE IOWA GALA. HE SAYS HE CONSIDERS IOWA HIS SPIRITUAL HOME. WHEN I MADE COLD TURKEY HERE, I FELT I CAME TO KNOW THE IOWAN PEOPLE. I FELT LIKE I LEFT AS AN IOWAN. LEAR SAID HE KEPT IN TOUCH WITH
Norman Lear, famous writer and producer, called Iowa his 'spiritual home'
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Updated: 3:12 PM CST Jan 15, 2025
Legendary comedy director and producer Norman Lear said he found a home away from home when he filmed a movie in Iowa. Lear spent weeks in Iowa — Greenfield and Winterset, mostly — directing “Cold Turkey,” a 1971 satire starring Dick Van Dyke about a small town that takes on a tobacco company’s offer of $25 million to quit smoking for 30 days.He made lasting relationships with the people of Iowa and called the state his "spiritual home." He returned numerous times over the next five decades before his death on Dec. 5, 2023, at the age of 101 — notably as a self-proclaimed observer of Sen. Edward Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1979 (photo below) and as the guest of honor for the Department of Cultural Affairs' Celebrate Iowa Gala in 2014."When I made 'Cold Turkey' here, I felt I came to know the Iowan people," Lear said in a 2014 interview with vlog. "I felt like I left as an Iowan."'Live with Norman Lear': Watch vlog's 2014 interview with Lear in IowaPhoto: Lear above Iowa on the campaign trail
DES MOINES, Iowa — Legendary comedy director and producer Norman Lear said he found a home away from home when he filmed a movie in Iowa.
Lear spent weeks in Iowa — Greenfield and Winterset, mostly — directing “Cold Turkey,” a 1971 satire starring Dick Van Dyke about a small town that takes on a tobacco company’s offer of $25 million to quit smoking for 30 days.
He made lasting relationships with the people of Iowa and called the state his "spiritual home." He returned numerous times over the next five decades before his death on Dec. 5, 2023, at the age of 101 — notably as a self-proclaimed observer of Sen. Edward Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1979 (photo below) and as the guest of honor for the Department of Cultural Affairs' Celebrate Iowa Gala in 2014.
"When I made 'Cold Turkey' here, I felt I came to know the Iowan people," Lear said in a 2014 interview with vlog. "I felt like I left as an Iowan."
'Live with Norman Lear': Watch vlog's 2014 interview with Lear in Iowa
Photo: Lear above Iowa on the campaign trail
Bettmann
Television comedy producer Norman Lear, left, gets a laugh from Senator Edward Kennedy as the two talk aboard Kennedy’s campaign plane flying over Iowa. Lear joined the Kennedy entourage during the Democratic presidential candidate’s Iowa swing in December 1979, traveling as what Lear termed "an observer."
