The world has lost the woman who truly turned the world on with her smile – and her talent. Actress and entertainer Mary Tyler Moore passed away yesterday at the age of 80.
Mary was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 29, 1936. Her family moved to Los Angeles when Mary was eight. After graduating high school, Mary pursed a career as a dancer and landed her first part at age 17 as a dancing elf named “Hoppy Hotpoint” for Hotpoint appliances. She went on to supporting roles on a number of television shows and in 1961, was cast as Dick Van Dyke’s wife on The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966. She won two Emmy awards as well as the hearts of TV viewers across the country.
In 1970, Mary cemented her role as a TV icon by starring on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Playing single news producer Mary Richards, the actress was responsible for some of TV’s most memorable moments – most notably the funeral of the station’s TV kids show host, Chuckles the Clown. The show’s finale in 1977 was one of the most watched in TV history and Mary earned three nominations and two Emmys for her role. Even more impressive than the ratings and awards is the fact that Mary produced the show, along with business partner and former husband Grant Tinker. The pair founded their production company, MTM, in 1969 (you may remember the meowing kitten, Mary’s own cat Mimsie, in the company’s logo, seen at the end of every episode). MTM went on to produce such classic TV shows as WKRP in Cincinnati, The Bob Newhart Show, St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues.
Mary was also an accomplished film actress, starring in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie and co-starring (as a nun) with Elvis Presley in Change of Habit. Mary’s intense performance in the 1980 film Ordinary People earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress as well as a Golden Globe for Best actress in a Drama. She also delivered an unforgettable comedic performance alongside Ben Stiller and Tea Leoni in 1996’s Flirting with Disaster.
The multi-talented Mary also performed on Broadway in several plays and wrote two memoirs, After All in 1995 and Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes in 2009. She also continued to work in television after The Mary Tyler Moore Show, starring in sitcoms, TV movies and variety shows. Among her accolades, Mary was awarded the Screen Actors Guild’s lifetime achievement award in 2011 and a statue of her recreating the hat-throwing pose that was seen every week in the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show was erected in Minneapolis, where the series took place. If all of this wasn’t enough, Mary was a passionate advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She will truly be missed.
Soon after the news of Mary’s death broke, celebrities shared their tributes to her on social media, including former co-stars Dick Van Dyke, Ed Asner and Rose Marie. Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson shared a photo of Mary on one of her last TV appearances on the TV show Hot in Cleveland, where she reunited with Betty White, Georgia Engel, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman.
There are no words.
She was THE BEST!
We always said that we changed each other's lives for the better.
I… https://t.co/Xm8OBbQQ8j— Dick Van Dyke (@iammrvandy) January 26, 2017
A great lady I loved and owe so much to has left us. I will miss her. I will never be able to repay her for the blessings that she gave me.
— Ed Asner (@TheOnlyEdAsner) January 25, 2017
#marytylermoore I shall miss you. We had remarkable & unforgettable experiences along with @carlreiner & @iammrvandy. Rest well my friend. pic.twitter.com/GfIPdHrqEs
— Rose Marie-Official (@RoseMarie4Real) January 25, 2017
Mary was a hero to many a little girl growing up, including yours truly. I remember watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show with my parents on Saturday nights. At the time, I was too young to appreciate that she was representing a successful woman in a male-dominated business world getting it done on her own, but as I grew older, the message surely resonated in me – and may have played a small part in why I ended up working in television news for a few years. When I moved back to Atlanta a few years ago, after my divorce, my Mom sent me a knit cap with a picture of Mary pinned to it, and the photo was captioned with the unforgettable lyrics to the show’s theme song, “You’re Gonna Make It After All.” I have that cap, with the picture still attached to it, hanging in a shadow box in my entryway. I see it every morning when I head out and every evening when I come home and it gives me a little bit of happiness each time I see it. Mary is still, and will always be a hero to me. Rest in peace.
photos credit: WENN.com
Awww Corey.
That is a very sweet and well written tribute.
Rest Well Mary.
Apparently there’s an onion chopping competition in my vicinity….
Beautiful words, Corey ❤️
Wonderful tribute Corey. By all reports, she was a lovely person inside and out. Sigh, another icon gone. Rest well Mary. Thank you for your contribution to art and entertainment.
A genius comedienne, right up there with Ball and Burnett. A treasure. She will be missed.
For any younger Celebitches who are unfamiliar with Moore’s work, find the “Chuckles the Clown Bites the Dust” episode of her MTM show and enjoy comedic brilliance, as well as a good cry/laugh.
I remembered the “Chuckles” episode vividly and how I laughed hysterically but thinking something like that could never happen. I was childless when I saw that show.
Many years later, my 5-year-old daughter and I attended my grandmother’s funeral (a grandmother I ADORED) when something struck us both and we began laughing hysterically during her service…we could not stop laughing. It was so embarrassing and I immediately thought of Chuckles the Clown. It had happened to me.
Nice post. Everyone loved Mary Tyler Moore
“She can turn the world on with a smile.” Mary was such a ground-breaking woman and sooo funny. I remember watching the MTM show when I was young in the Seventies as well. Mary Richards was such an inspiration! So sad……The Juvenile Diabetes Association has lost their greatest champion. R.I.P. Mary.
Wonderful tribute…I loved her too. Let’s all throw our hats in the air today for MTM!
I remember living in Amarillo, Texas, in my 20s working for a law firm. I’d rush home every Monday night anxious to watch MTM. It was the tv night I most looked forward to. Loved her.
She gave an interview where she said in whatever afterlife there may be, she hoped she would be reunited in some form with her late son. Hopefully that’s come to pass for her.
RIP. I saw Ordinary People last Sunday and I was thinking why she didn’t win and Timothy Hutton did. Maybe that year Meryl Streep or Sally Field were nominated too. I don’t know.(Googled it, she lost to Sissy Spacek, fair enough) She was so good.
I remember watching the MTM Show before leaving for school. I can’t even remember the years it was on in Germany, just that it was very early in the morning (between 5 and 6 am, I think). I got up specifically to watch the show, because I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Welp, that made me cry a bit, then I saw your shadow box! 😭 Beautiful tribute, Corey. And the bloopers are awesome! How adorable was Ted Knight??? The DVD Show was in my daily after-school/before-dinner TV lineup as a kid. Classic for a reason!
I only knew her by name (hey, I’m just a kid), but she seemed like an amazing lady, from what I’ve read about her. May she Rest in Peace.
Oh @lucy you must go find the chuckles the clown episode!
My adult liberal heart began beating long ago as a child watching Mary Tyler Moore. She showed me that a woman could be a force in her own right.
Aside from not understanding why her character couldn’t go out some nights because she was “washing her hair” (huh? Lol), Mary resonated and inspired me then and to this day.
I just loved her show and loved her.
Rest In Peace Mary.
Loved MTM. 🙁
Beautiful tribute, Corey.
Reading this made me tear up again. Obviously, we all die at some point, but after all the losses last year still so fresh, this one is hard. MTM was always a favorite of mine, from Laura Petrie to Mary Richards… she was such an inspiration. I read a tribute to her yesterday; I didn’t realise what a hard life she had, growing up with alcoholic parents, choosing to live with an aunt to get away from that, her son’s death, her own alcoholism. And yet, who’d ever had known it, with that smile.
RIP Mary. You will be missed. ❤
What a lovely tribute. ☺💜
Remember when Saturday night was THE night for great tv in the 70’s? This was the lineup:
All in the Family – The Jeffersons – Mary Tyler Moore – The Bob Newhart Show – The Carol Burnett Show
When my family and I visited Hollywood in July ’76 we attended a taping of the MTM Show. That’s a very special memory. RIP, Mary – you were the best, professionally and personally.
Yes!!!!
I was a little girl and We, as a family, would gather and watch. Those shows gifted me with my father’s hearty, laugh till you cry laughter. This is one of the things I miss most about him.
I will miss her. Just knowing she was in this world brought me comfort.
I will continue to avidly watch the MTM Show reruns. I’ve got about 20 waiting for me on my DVR. In her honor I need to find me a pom pom beret to wear as I watch!
I love her. Just love her. <3 RIP, classy MTM.
Yes, classy describes her perfectly. So few deserve that description in today’s world.
A beautiful, perfect tribute, Corey. We all have a little Mary Richards in us.
RIP the theme song just brings me back to childhood. What a great impact she had.
Rest in Peace Mary Tyler Moore. 🕊️
Missing Mary already.
I was born in 1975 and watched Mary in reruns as a young girl. I can still remember all of the words to “You’re Gonna Make it After All”
Always loved her. Loved watching her appearances with David Letterman. He was in awe of her. She was a great commedian.
She was the epitome of American chic for me and my sisters in 1970s Ireland. We watched her show religiously.
And I just watched an episode again on YouTube. It’s as funny as ever, I’m glad to say.
Although I am 37 years old, I discovered the Mary Tyler Moore show only a couple of years ago. However, I fell in love with Mary – right from the first episode! I even joked with family and friends that “when I grew up” I wanted to be Mary Richards, because she was everything I was trying to be – professionally successful, happy with being single and strong willed but kind hearted. Mary Tyler Moore was beautiful but, as I discovered, she was also flawed – she suffered from alcoholism and married multiple times. I read her autobiography and was amazed at how human she was and her admittance of her struggles made me feel better about the fact that Mary Tyler Moore was far from the perfect person that Mary Richards was. That made me feel okay that I was also imperfect and had my struggles and mistakes.
I will miss Mary but hope she has been reunited with her beloved son, Ritchie, as well as her sister and parents.
I will forever love Mary Tyler Moore!
This is such a nice tribute. Rest in peace Mary.
Of all the celebrity deaths this year, this one really hit me the hardest. MTM was probably my all-time favorite actress and that show was absolutely groundbreaking and did have a tremendous impact on me. I have a cherished photo of myself taken in Minneapolis several years ago next to her statue where the famous hat toss was filmed downtown. We are both pretending to toss our hats. RIP Mary. I hope you’re tossing your hat for joy and freedom wherever you are.
That is a wonderful story about your hat, Corey.
A lovely tribute to a lovely woman. RIP, MTM.
I will be watching one of my all time favorite movies Thoroughly Modern Millie. RIP I truly am a fan.
What a sweet tribute! The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of my favorite shows to watch in reruns as a little girl. I wonder how much of an impact this show had on young girls watching it at the time Before MTM I believe female characters on TV were primarily pigeonholed as homemakers, romantic interests, or girl fridays waiting for the “right man to come along”. They were almost always playing support to the men (with one or two exceptions). Nothing more. I suspect MTM had a bigger impact than we realize.
Mary’s death made me think of another thing I appreciate about the show. It had a variety of female characters on it with distinct POVs – traditional (Georgette), non-traditional (Rhoda, Mary) and some that were outwardly traditional but actually not (Sue Anne, Phyllis). It may seem a little dated watching it but it’s still enjoyable and I think it was an important show.
Oh one last thing – Mary Tyler Moore was excellent in Ordinary People. I watched it as a child and hated her character but the older I get the more sympathetic I am toward Beth.
This morning, on the KTLA news (CW channel 5 here in the L.A.area), Sam Rubin (the entertainment reporter) was talking to Carl Reiner (another treasure!) about MTM. Reiner said that she was so warm, and so charming; he was so shocked when he found out her backround (her mother was abusive/alcoholic, and her father was so cold and barely spoke to her. MTM said the only compliment she ever had from her father was when he saw her dressed up for a high school dance, and said, “Mary, you look “handsome”” She was beautiful!) MTM said she based her cold, emotionally detached character, Beth, in “Ordinary People” on her father. So very sad.
OT: Carl Reiner also said that Mel Brooks (another treasure!) comes over to his home almost every night to watch movies. Wouldn’t you LOVE to be sitting in on that!! To Whomever/Whatever moniters our time on earth: please let these two comic geniuses stick around for quite a while longer! We need a LOT more laughter in our lives to get through the next 4 years!!
I was shocked to read that about MTM’s background too @imqrious2. But you know, if I’m not mistaken one of MTM’s TV contemporaries, Carol Burnett, came from a home of alcoholics as well. It makes you wonder if that type of childhood dysfunction drove them.
I think I saw that little tidbit about Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner on a recent Mel Brooks documentary. How cool is that? I want an invitation!! lol Yeah we’ll need alot of laughter for get through the next 4 years.
Lovely tribute! Teary as I read about your shadowbox. Love that!
Great post-thanks Corey!