Another of television’s beloved icon – Mary Tyler Moore – has passed away.
Such unfortunate news.
You might know her from her turn on The Dick Van Dyke Show or The Mary Tyler Moore Show; where she played two iconic characters that will forever be etched in American Television history.
While it may be instinctive to mourn the loss of a great talent, we should also remember that Mary Tyler Moore left an amazing legacy behind.
With that in mind, we should probably also focus on the positivity of her life.
To help with that, we’ll provide a few fast facts about Mary Tyler Moore:
- Mary was born on the 29th of December, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York to Majorie and George Tyler Moore.
- Mary Tyler Moore starred opposite Elvis Presley as his love interest in his last movie – Change of Habit.
In the movie, she played a nun in training who is conflicted by her developing feelings for Elvis Presley’s character and her devotion to her faith.
- The actress was an advocate for Type 1 diabetes causes.
This stemmed as a result of her own diagnosis which she discussed extensively in her book – Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes.
She also testified in front of congress for stem cell research as a solution for Diabetes after she became an International chair for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
- Mary Tyler Moore was a New York Times Best-Selling Author as two of her books made it on the famed ‘New York Times Best Selling’ list.
- She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the 1980 coming of age drama Ordinary People.
- The Oscar-nominated actress has won over seven Emmy for the duration of her career. Which to be honest, is pretty impressive.
- So impressive that there’s a statue of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis tossing her beret in the air just as her character – Mary Richards – does in the intro of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The Statue was commissioned by TV Land. TV land is a cable network that specializes in the re-runs of classic television programs.
- Mary Tyler Moore was married 3 times.
She first got married at 18, to Richard Carlton Meeker whom she dubbed the ‘boy next door’.
She gave birth to her first and only child – Richard Jr in 1956.
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Richard Meeker and Mary got divorced in 1961.
Their only son, Richard Junior, died in 1980 when he was only 24 from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.
He shot himself in the head when inspecting a sawed-off shotgun.
That model was eventually taken off the market due to its ‘hair trigger’.
- Mary Tyler Moore’s second marriage was to a CBS excutive – Grant Tinker
Tinker would go on to become the chairman of NBC.
In 1970, Moore and Tinker formed a production company – MTM Enterprises which not only created but only produced the hugely successful Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The company also had a record label – MTM Records.
They also produced quite a range of television sitcoms and dramas including Lou Grant, Phyllis, The Texas Wheelers, St. Elsewhere, Rhoda, Friends and Lovers, The Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, WKRP in Cincinnati and The White Shadow.
The MTM logo was tribute to that of Metro Goldwyn Mayer but it featured Mary’s cat instead of a lion.
The company was sold to Television South in 1988.
The couple divorced in 1981.
- She met her third husband, a cardiologist – Dr Robert Levine – when he was treating her mother.
The pair tied the knot in 1983.
- Mary Tyler Moore’s family struggled with substance abuse.
Mary’s mother was an alcoholic. Her sister was a drug addict who died of a drug overdose.
Mary herself drank to the point she had to go the Betty Ford center for rehabilitation.
- Mary Tyler Moore stated in her book After All that she had tried to help her brother, John, commit suicide by giving him drugged ice cream.
Her brother who had cancer survived the suicide attempt but he died of the disease three months later.
- Besides her statue in Minneapolis, Moore has been recognized many times over for her contribution to television.
She awarded the Screen Actors Guild’s Lifetime achievement award in 2011.
She was also recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992.
- Mary Tyler Moore passed away at the age of 80 at the Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut, on the 25th of January 2017 from a cardiopulmonary arrest made complicated by Pneumonia.
May her soul rest in peace.
