Her name was identifiable. Her smile infections. Mary Tyler Moore, a TV legend and icon, has sadly passed away. She was 80 years old.
A longtime rep for Moore issued the following statement:
“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. 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.”
Mary Tyler Moore is best associated with a pair of television roles. First as the sexy housewife Laura Petrie, who made her husband, Rob (Dick Van Dyke), careen over an ottoman as part of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Then she starred as the single, career-driven Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 33, Moore had been suffering from a myriad of health problems these past few years, and in May 2011 underwent elective surgery to remove a benign tumor of the lining tissue of the brain. Since her diagnosis, Moore has been a tireless advocate in juvenile diabetes research. She was also big on animal rights.
Much like the legendary Lucille Ball, in the 1970s Mary Tyler Moore was a major player behind the scenes with her company MTM Enterprises producing such television programs as Rhoda, The Bob Newhart Show, Lou Grant, and Hill Street Blues.
A year after The Mary Tyler Moore Show went off the air, she appeared in Robert Redford’s directorial debut, Ordinary People, where she played the bitter mother Beth. It was a performance that got critical raves and she received an Academy Award nomination.
Dealing with personal tragedies (including a 1980 accident in which her son 24-year-old Richie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound), Moore sought help in the form of a psychotherapist. The outpouring of condolences sent from fans helped the starlet convalesce; she would spend hundreds of hours responding to more than 6,000 letters (this, according to PEOPLE’s obit).
Becoming less active after the success of Ordinary People, Mary Tyler Moore would do the occasional TV project, most recently turning up as a jail cellmate to Betty White on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland.
In 2012, Moore was given an award for Lifetime Achievement at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and remarked, “after having the privilege of working with the most creative and talented people imaginable, I, too, am happy, after all.”
LOS ANGELES – OCTOBER 10: Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Image dated October 10, 1962. Hollywood, CA. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
