Moore, Mary Tyler (1936-2017), was a popular American actress known for her perky personality. Moore starred in two of the most popular comedy series in television history, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-1966) and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (1970-1977). She also appeared in motion pictures. Moore won acclaim for her performance in Ordinary People (1980) as a mother who grows cold toward her youngest son after the accidental death of her oldest son.
Moore was born on Dec. 29, 1936, in the Brooklyn section of New York City. She began her show business career as a dancer before appearing in her first TV series, “Richard Diamond, Private Eye” (1959). She made her motion-picture debut in X-15 in 1961, the year she began “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” In the TV series, Moore played Laura Petrie, the housewife of a successful comedy writer. In “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” she played Mary Richards, producer of a newscast at a Minneapolis television station. Her character was one of the first portrayals on television of a successful, independent career woman.
Moore formed MTM Enterprises, a television production company, in 1970. From the late 1970’s to the 1990’s, Moore concentrated on television movies, including First You Cry (1978) and Heart Sounds (1984). She also appeared on Broadway in the drama Whose Life Is It, Anyway? (1980) and in a few Hollywood films, notably Six Weeks (1982), Just Between Friends (1986), and Flirting with Disaster (1996). She wrote an autobiography, After All (1995). Moore died on Jan. 25, 2017.
See also Van Dyke, Dick ; White, Betty .
