Mary Tyler Moore dies aged 80
LEGENDARY actress Mary Tyler Moore, who delighted millions with her energetic comic performances and broke barriers with her iconic portrayal of a single career woman, died on Wednesday at the age of 80, after years of ill health.
Moore’s eponymous sitcom – set in Minneapolis – ran for seven seasons in the 1970s and was named by Time Magazine as one of 17 shows that changed television.
She died in hospital in Connecticut, media reports said, after battling diabetes for years and undergoing brain surgery in 2011.
“Today, beloved icon Mary Tyler Moore passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr S Robert Levine,” her longtime representative Mara Buxbaum said.
“A groundbreaking actress, producer and passionate advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mary will be remembered as a fearless visionary who turned the world on with her smile.”
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was radical in its time – featuring a single woman, living on her own, and chasing her dream as a television reporter.
It also spawned numerous spinoffs for its popular supporting cast of quirky, slightly neurotic characters.
As top executives of MTM Enterprises, Moore and then husband Grant Tinker created and produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoffs, and were also responsible for hit shows including Hill Street Blues, St Elsewhere and Remington Steele.
“A minute’s silence as we remembered one of the true greats of TV comedy,” tweeted actor Stephen Fry, who was rehearsing on the Hollywood stage made famous by Moore’s show.
Michael Keaton described her as “iconic, my boss, castmate and a friend” while filmmaker Kevin Smith said she was a tireless defender of animals, and scourge of diabetes.
“Truly she turned the world on with her smile,” he said, referring to her show’s theme song lyrics.
Talk show host and actress Ellen de Generes said Moore had changed the world for all women.
Moore’s first big break came in 1961, when she played spunky stay-at-home wife Laura Petrie on The Dick van Dyke Show.
On the big screen, she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Change
of Habit, and with Julie Andrews in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Ordinary People.
She also took home numerous Emmy awards for her television work and a Tony Award for a Broadway performance in Whose Life Is It Anyway