Tyler Moore dies at 80
EMMY-WINNING actress Mary Tyler Moore, who brightened American television screens as the perky suburban housewife on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, and then as a fledgling feminist on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died on Wednesday at the age of 80, a representative said.
Moore, who won seven Emmy Awards for her television work, died in the company of friends and her husband, Dr S Robert Levine, representative Mara Buxbaum said in a statement. She had been seriously ill over the past two years, when she was in and out of hospitals and suffered from heart and kidney problems, close friends said. She was a diabetic, and in 2011 she had a benign brain tumour removed.
Moore also was nominated in 1981 for an Academy Award for the film Ordinary People, playing a character very different from her TV roles - an icy woman coping with a suicide attempt by her 18-year-old son. Robert Redford, who directed the movie, said in a statement that her “energy, spirit and talent created a new bright spot in the television landscape and she will be very much missed. The courage she displayed in taking on a role darker than anything she had ever done was brave and enormously powerful.”
Moore’s eponymous show and The Dick Van Dyke Show were both among the most popular sitcoms of their time, with the former ranking seventh and the latter No. 20 on TV Guide’s 2013 list of best television shows. “There are no words. She was THE BEST!,” actor Dick Van Dyke said on Twitter. “We always said that we changed each other’s lives for the better.”
Moore, asked by Reuters in 2012 when she was given the SAG lifetime achievement award how she wanted to be remembered, said: “As a good chum. As somebody who was happy most of the time and took great pride in making people laugh when I was able to pull that off.”
Ed Asner, who acted alongside Moore in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, mourned her death on Twitter, writing: “#marytylermoore my heart goes out to you and your family. Know that I love you and believe in your strength.” Longtime TV interviewer Larry King on Twitter called Moore “a dear friend and a truly great person. A fighter.”
Moore had emerged on television in the early 1960s when many of the women in leading roles were traditional, apron-wearing stay-at-home moms like June Cleaver on “Leave It to Beaver”. Moore’s bright-eyed Laura Petrie character was prone to moaning “Oh, Rob!” at her husband in moments of exasperation on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” but she chipped away at that stereotype. For one thing, she wore stylish pants rather than house dresses and styled her hair like Jacqueline Kennedy’s.
Moore’s Mary Richards character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” went even farther. Mary Richards focused on her career as an assistant producer for the news show at television station WJM in Minneapolis and was determined to fulfill the lyrics of the show’s theme song - “You’re going to make it after all” - as she joyously flung her beret into the air in the show’s opening credits.
While she may have had conservative Midwestern values and been a bit naive and prim, 30-ish Mary Richards was, by 1970s television sitcom standards, a budding feminist. She lived on her own, was not hunting a husband and protested that she was not being paid as much as a male counterpart.
Asner, playing Mary’s gruff boss, Lou Grant, summed up her character and their relationship in the show’s first episode. “You know what?” he growled at her. “You’ve got spunk. I hate spunk!”
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, whose seven-year run ended in 1977, had a solid cast and great writers and won the Emmy for best comedy in each of its final three seasons. It was the cornerstone of MTM Enterprises, the company Moore and then-husband Grant Tinker used to launch three spin-offs - “Lou Grant,” “Rhoda” and “Phyllis” - as well as other hit shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St Elsewhere.
One of New York-born Moore’s first entertainment jobs was appearing as Happy Hotpoint, a singing and dancing pixie in television commercials for Hotpoint appliances. In 1961 she was cast on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. Moore won two supporting actress Emmys for that show and four best-actress Emmys for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
“I’m not an innately funny person,” she told The New York Times.
“I find it an almost overbearing responsibility when I think about having to be funny. I like simply standing next to the funny person. Just being part of what caused the laughter is great fun for me.” — Agencies. THERE is nothing wrong with a musician signing a deal with any music stable of his/her choice, but Andy Muridzo’s move to join the Jah Prayzah-run Military Touch Movement is not just a deal. It has connotations. It smells of a hidden agenda.
It is well known that, despite their claim to be close ‘brothers’, the two were heading for a serious head-on contest.
In fact, the competition has already gained momentum, with most fans that did not like Jah Prayzah’s change of music style turning to Andy to satisfy their music taste.
Andy entered the music scene with a copycat label weighing heavily on his shoulders and got a good share of criticism. Then, the move by Jah Prayzah to target a different market gave him space. It came as a blessing in disguise.
The young man took advantage of his idol’s change of plan and fell into a vacant place.
Yes, he admits he takes inspiration from Jah Prayzah and by virtue of growing up in the same neighbourhood in Uzumba, they should surely be assisting each other in the music industry.
Yes, Andy says he has taken advice on several occasions from Jah Prayzah and he is not happy about people that want turn them against each other hence he should lean on his brother’s shoulder.
Indeed, any colleagues from the same area pursuing similar dreams should assist each other and stand together through thick and thin.
But, these scenarios take a different shape in the Andy-Jah Prayzah setup. The absorption of Andy into MTM is not just about business.
Here is a serious competitor who has been taken under the wings of a rival. Jah Prayzah is indeed feeling the pressure and is using every trick in the book to avoid being thrown off the throne.
Jah Prayzah rarely visits other musicians’ shows when he is not performing, but last week he went to attend Andy’s show. The plot was already underway.
The world is made to believe that the deal was discussed after Andy’s social visit to Jah Prayzah’s office, but everything around the issue points to a pre-conceived arrangement.
It is unfortunate that Andy did not sense the danger of playing into a rival’s territory and sign a contract that binds him to that area for six years.
He seems to have done it innocently and valued their personal relationship at the expense analysing the nature of the deal.
In as much as Jah Prayzah may want to present the deal as emanating from a genuine concern, the background makes the whole issue suspicious.
Andy might be swallowed. He has already angered a big section of his fans that have been following him to get what they miss from Jah Prayzah and numbers to his show might soon begin falling.
That would be a sad scenario for a young man with so much potential that saw him outwitting an experienced musician like Suluman Chimbetu when they had shows at adjacent venues last week.
Andy got more fans that Sulu and it was a big statement about his capacity. His fans were happy to see Jah Prayzah coming to support the young man, but they did not know that the MTM boss has something up his sleeve.
Now, Andy is not being clear about the deal and arguing the whole issue was misread. It might be too late for that statement because, if he indeed signed the deal to record his album under Jah Prayzah, his rise has been compromised.
No competitor can caress a rival genuinely in this tightly-contested music industry. Even blood brothers like the Chimbetus could not do so.