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Mary Tyler Moore, Emmy award winning, Oscar nominated actress/producer/singer and dancer, has passed away at the age of 80.

She began her career as a dancer appearing as Happy Hotpoint, a dancing elf, in a series of commercials for Hotpoint Appliances that ran during The Ozzie and Harriet Show. 

From 1961-1966 Ms. Moore starred in The Dick Van Dyke show and won an Emmy for her portrayal of Laura Petrie. She then went on to produce and star in The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970-1977, winning 29 Emmys. This was produced by a company that she and her second husband, Grant Tinker, created called MTM Enterprises. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a trailblazer for its time, because the lead character was female in her thirties, who wasn’t married and was a successful, working woman, living independently in NYC.

MTM produced other shows including Lou Grant, Rhoda, Phyllis, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP IN Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere and several Broadway shows. Tinker and Moore sold MTM to a British Company in 1988 for $320 million.

Later on she would appear in her own variety show called The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, and starred in several movies.

She received an Oscar nomination for Ordinary People, Robert Redford’s directorial debut, won a total of six Emmys  and a Tony Award for Whose Life Is It Anyway?

On a personal note, I looked up to this former dancer turned comedic actress. I loved and was inspired to create my own variety show because of The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. I know Thoroughly Modern Millie like the back of my hand and there is a dismal, sad, but loving movie called Six Weeks, costarring Dudley Moore and Katherine Healy, that I watched constantly. She was charming, funny, graceful and quirky. She was dealt some pretty serious blows in life, like dealing with Type 1 diabetes from the age of 33 on, and the death of her only son who accidentally shot himself at the age of 24. Mary Tyler Moore, despite all of the curveballs thrown at her, managed to bring so many of us joy.

She is survived by her husband, Robert Levine.

RIP, Mary Tyler Moore.

 

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