Mary Tyler Moore died of diabetes-linked heart attack
LOS ANGELES: When comedienne Mary Tyler Moore died aged 80 last Wednesday, no details were given as to the cause of her death. The details have just emerged. According to her death certificate, Moore had died of a heart attack brought on by pneumonia and diabetes.
Moore had died in a Connecticut hospital on Jan 25.
She was laid to rest in a private funeral service, attended by close family and friends, at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield last Sunday.
The certificate, obtained by TMZ, reveals that her official cause was cardiopulmonary arrest brought on three prior conditions.
The actress suffered from aspiration pneumonia, diabetes and hypoxia — a lack of oxygen reaching the tissue — which all contributed to her passing.
About 50 people attended the private memorial.
Moore had long suffered from a host of problems, including diabetes which she was diagnosed with at age 33.
The acclaimed comedienne captured the hearts of millions of viewers in the 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and then The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s.
Moore emerged on screen at a time when actresses were traditionally cast as housewives – but with her fashionable trousers and Jackie Kennedystyle hair, she became heralded by Time Magazine as one of women who ‘changed television’ for ever.
She went on to play the groundbreaking role of Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore show from 1970 to 1977, where she portrayed a single career woman working in a Minneapolis TV newsroom determined to make a success of herself.
It won 29 Emmys, a record that stood for a quarter century until Frasier broke it in 2002.