Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was a social activist, actress, and producer from the United States. Her roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) “helped define a new vision of American womanhood” and “appealed to an audience facing the new trials of modern-day existence.” Moore received seven Primetime Emmys and three Golden Globes. For her role in Ordinary People, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Moore is also noted for her supporting role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, a musical film. Moore was an outspoken supporter of animal rights, vegetarianism, and diabetes prevention.
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Early Life
Moore was born to Marjorie (née Hackett) and George Tyler Moore on December 29, 1936, in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He worked as a clerk. Her Irish-Catholic family resided in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The Moores later resided at 144-16 35th Avenue in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
Moore was the oldest of three children, with younger brothers John and Elizabeth. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Tilghman Moore, Moore’s paternal great-grandfather, held the house that is now the Stonewall Jackson’s Headquarters Museum in Winchester, Virginia.
Moore’s family moved to Los Angeles, California, when she was eight years old, on the advice of her uncle, who worked for MCA. She was raised Catholic and attended Brooklyn’s St. Rose of Lima Parochial School through the third grade. Moore attended Saint Ambrose School and Immaculate Heart High School in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles.
Moore’s younger sister Elizabeth died at the age of 21 “from a combination of… painkillers and alcohol.” Her brother died of renal cancer at the age of 47.
Mary Tyler Moore Spouse
Moore married Richard Carleton Meeker in 1955, and their son was born less than a year later. The pair separated in 1962, and she eventually married CBS executive Grant Tinker. MTM Enterprises, their production firm, was founded in 1970. They divorced in 1981, and she married doctor Robert Levine two years later. They were married till she died in 2017. Moore’s kid was killed by an unintentional shooting while holding a tiny firearm in 1980. The model was eventually recalled due to the presence of a hair trigger. She had been an animal rights activist and a pescatarian her entire life. She donated to organizations such as the ASPCA and Farm Sanctuary.
Mary Tyler Moore Career
Moore’s first television role was as “Happy Hotpoint,” a dancing elf who appeared in Hotpoint Appliance advertisements. The commercials played during the episode of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” She made $6,000 in five days at Happy Hotpoint, which is roughly the equivalent of $58,300 in current USD. She became pregnant shortly after finishing the advertisements and reduced her workload for a few years. She modelled anonymously for record album covers and had a few uncredited film roles in the mid-1960s.
The Dick Van Dyke Show
In 1961, Carl Reiner cast Moore in his new television series “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” portrayed the titular character’s life as he balances his job as a comedy writer with his personal life. From 1961 to 1966, the show won fifteen Emmy Awards and received twenty-five nominations. Moore received two Emmy Awards for her role on the show. Her character on the show frequently dressed like Jackie Kennedy, which increased the character’s popularity.
A year after the performance ended, she co-starred in the Oscar-winning comedy musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” with Julie Andrews. In 1969, she co-starred in the crime drama film “Change of Habit” with Elvis Presley.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Moore had her spin-off of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” named “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1970. Moore’s character worked in a newsroom, and Ed Asner played her stern employer, Lou Grant, in the sitcom, which followed a similar concept. The show was a major success, winning twenty-nine Emmy Awards over its seven-year existence. Its success paralleled that of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and it resulted in spin-off programs for three other cast members: Ed Asner, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman. Moore received three Emmy Awards for her work.
She appeared as a guest on the television shows “Phyllis,” “Rhoda,” and “Mary” while filming “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the one-season television series “The Mary Tyler Moore Hour” in 1979. The next year, she starred in “Ordinary People,” which won four Academy Awards. She was cast in the CBS sitcom “Mary” in 1985, but it barely lasted a season due to internal turmoil and low ratings. She ended the decade with cameos in “Annie McGuire” and the television mini-series “Lincoln.”
Mary Tyler Moore Health Issues and Death
In 1969, Moore was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She underwent surgery in 2011 to remove a meningioma, a benign brain tumour. Moore had heart and kidney difficulties and was practically blind from diabetes complications, according to friends in 2014.
Moore died on January 25, 2017, at the age of 80, at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, of cardiac arrest worsened by pneumonia following a week on a ventilator. In a private ceremony, she was laid to rest at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Mary Tyler Moore Net Worth
Mary Tyler Moore was an American actress, model, producer, and humanitarian who had a net worth of $60 million as of the time of her death. She was well-known for her appearances on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and as the main character in her show, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”