Norman Lear celebrates 95th birthday with Lee Daniels, Kathleen Turner, more celebs

It was good times at Norman Lear’s star-studded celebration of his 95th birthday.

On Thursday, Lee Daniels, Naomi Campbell, Don Lemon, and Kathleen Turner were among the big names to come out to honor the legendary TV producer.

“Mr. Lear encouraged me to dare to dream, to dare to tell stories,” Daniels said while introducing him. “My career I owe to this man right here. I should be so lucky to be his age. I just asked him recently: What’s the secret, Norman? He said, you. He lives off of us. All of us. I am so proud to call him my friend, my hero, and my leader.”

Taking place a few months after Lear’s July birthday, the event was put on in New York City by People for the American Way Foundation, the advocacy organization he founded more than 30 years ago.

“I am so gifted to have so many extraordinary people here because I turned 95,” Lear told those in attendance. “When I turned 90, everything changed. It did not change me; I was the same. But I started to get an applause, just when I stood up.”

The Jeffersons and All in the Family producer recently made news when he took a stand by taking a knee. Last month, as controversy swirled around NFL player protests, Lear shared a photo of himself on one knee “in solidarity w/my brothers & sisters still fighting 4 equality & justice.”

See some of the photos from Lear’s birthday celebration below.