i wrote archie bunker and caroled inhabited it so he is a product as was mary hart. i did not imagine it at all what archie bunker could be intel carroll o'connor took him. or the same thing with the very heart -- mary hart. >> host: had not realized carroll o'connor that there was an impasse between new -- you he died relatively young. >> guest: i tell the story we had a difficult time. he was a fabulous actor and gifted it anyways but he was fearful of the role he had to play every week i tell a story of one particular show where he was caught in an elevator with the black dude reading "the new york times" while he had "the daily news". [laughter] then a latino woman and her husband got on the elevator she was extremely pregnant and the elevator stalls and she panics and a the baby is going to be born. [laughter] on either the "wall street journal" or the news -- and "the daily news" it would take place in one space and carol thought it was terrible. he would not do it it was unthinkable. i was totally in love with the idea of the baby being born how to explain tha

who did you have in mind when you created the character of archie bunker? >> an amalgam of people i had known and heard about and the people we lived with and a piece of my father. my father called me the laziest white kid he ever met. >> that line became famous in "all in the family." >> i used to scold him for putting down a race of people. he said, "you are also the dumbest white kid i've ever met." that part was homegrown but the rest of it is just what i felt, read, saw among family and neighbors and so forth. >> you said carol connor gave it a lot, that he helped enhance archie bunker. >> i cannot begin to tell you the personality i had in mind because it depended so on the character who would perform it. carol o'connor walked into the room, sat down and read five sentences and that's the guy. i wrote the words and he inhabited the character. >> take a look there. here's a clip from "all in the family" where archie asked sammy davis junior a question. >> they always tell me i'm prejudiced. listen. you're a guy who's been around a lot. you've seen a lo

connor helpedrol enhance archie bunker in any measurable way. to tell youbegin the personality i had in mind because it depended so on the character who would perform it. he sat down and read five sentences and that's the guy. i wrote the words and he inhabited the character. >> here's a clip from "all in the family" where he asked sammy davis junior in question. me i'm always tell prejudiced. listen. you're a guy who's been around a lot. you've seen a lot of people. do you think of me a prejudiced guy? >> don't tell me you are really paying attention to those young kids. what do they know? you prejudiced? if you are prejudiced, if i commend your house you would have called me a [blee]. right straight out you said "colored." >> that's what i done, all right. >> if you were prejudiced, you would close your eyes to what's going on in this great country we live in. but not you. he you can tell the difference between black and white. i have a deep-rooted feeling that you will always be able to tell the difference between black and white. and if you

. >> charlie: who did you have in mind when you created archie bunker? >> an amal gum of people i had known and heard about and the people we lived with as neighbors and a piece of my father. my father called me the laysiest white kid he ever met. >> charlie: that line became famous in all in the family. >> it became well known in all of the family. and i used to scold him for putting down race, and he also said you're also the dumbest kid i've ever known. that part of it is homegrown, so i understood that. the rest of it is just what i felt and read and saw among family and friends and naibth. >> charlie: and carroll o'connor enhanced the personality of archie bunker in a big way. >> i couldn't begin to tell you the personality i had in mind because it depend opened the actor who performed it. carroll o'connor came in, sat down, read five sentences -- >> charlie: you said, he's the guy. >> yeah, i wrote the words, he inhabited the character. >> charlie: a clip from all in the family. archie asked sammy davis, jr. a question. >> they're always telling me

many people saw archie bunker as a racist.onder if that character would survive on a tv show today. >> i think the character would survive on a tv show today. i'm told by people who run shows, show runners, that a lot of the subjects we touched, they can't touch today. but i have not had that direct experience myself. >> so, you think he would survive? there would not be a bunch of backlash? >> well, let me put it this way. i'm going to try again. i haven't said this out loud before, but we're talking about doing something about "all in the family 2015." entirely different family, but -- >> but you could still get that same sort of bunker character out there? >> not necessarily the same, but 2015 version. >> modern version. >> a modern version. one of those topics i wonder if writers -- show writers could touch today is in "maude" back in 1972, maude made the decision to have an abortion. that was a year before roe versus wade. pretty remarkable stuff. i mean, you still don't see much discussion of or certainly someone decidin

. >> archie bnker bunker's buddy, was the great character actor, james -- uh.ld. >> they do sell a little version -- stretch dolls. >> little stressed out. >> james cromwell played stretch cunningham on the old archie bunker. >> not to be mistaken with stretch armstrong, which is what we were talking about. >> got it. i'm following. >> after they get the dolls, the video games, the toys, do they say thank you? >> i hope so. >> do they? >> they've been drilled like marines. >> for the most part. >> i did a birthday party for my son. sleepover, pizza party, the whole thing, not a thank you. i was like, josh, you didn't say thank you. you spent a day and a half with your friends. he said oh, i said thank you to dad. who am i? >> he said it to someone. >> he figured that counts. >> on "time" magazine's website, why kids don't thank you for can gifts. they don't offer you as much gratitude as you would like them to because they expect parents to always be there to serve their needs. >> really? >> kids say they think it's their parents' responsibility to take care of

archie bunker called. >> still has his sense of humor. >> in case you missed, just about an hour ago,, we should point out. still doing his forecast when he hit 34 hours. unbelievable. >> over the time, al, you've lost your voice a little bit, starting to sound, as we've said all morning, like harvey firestein. give you a dry erase board if you need it. still want you to communicate with us. >> how does it feel right now? >> i actually feel pretty good. and what i really feel best about is that the team effort, everybody that came together within our organization, jackie levin kind of spearheaded it and we had sean reece and matt greenfield and, you know, all these great folks, all of our p.a.s and a.p.s and on our weather side, don really led a great team. and then all the viewers who called in and went on crowdrise.com/roker to raise money for the uso. you know, made these small contributions that put us over the top. it just, really is a good feeling. >> you're over $70,000 in donations. i'm impressed, you know, when people win the oscars, they have to have a piece of paper to reme