Mary Tyler Moore, Emmy-Winning TV Legend, Dies at 80

Actress’ spokeswoman says that she “passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years”

Mary Tyler Moore, the six-time Emmy-winning star of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the “Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died at age 80, TheWrap has learned.

“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 publicist, Mara Buxbaum said in a statement. “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.”

Moore’s family told the New York Times that the actress died of cardiopulmonary arrest after she contracted pneumonia.

Born in Brooklyn in 1936, Moore made appearances on series including “The Tab Hunter Show” and “77 Sunset Strip” before landing the role of Laura Petrie, the wife of Rob Petrie, on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

The role earned Moore an Emmy award in 1964, one of six Emmys she would win throughout her career.

She was also nominated for an Oscar for playing an affluent mother whose son commits suicide in Robert Redford’s 1980 film “Ordinary People.”

Following “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Moore stepped into the title role of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which premiered in 1970 and starred Moore as Mary Richards, a single woman working as a news producer in Minneapolis.

The series, which ran until 1977, gave birth to multiple spinoffs for the characters Lou Grant (Ed Asner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) and Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman).

It was around the time of the sitcom that Moore was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

In 2015, her Van Dyke told Larry King that the illness had “taken a toll on her, she’s not well at all.”

Moore became heavily involved in raising awareness of the disease and served as the international chairman of JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

The actress was married three times. In 1955, she wed Richard Carleton Meeker; the pair divorced in 1961. Moore married CBS executive (and later chairman of NBC) Grant Tinker in 1962.

Together they formed the production company MTM Enterprises, which was responsible for her namesake show as well as other hits like “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Remington Steele” and “Hill Street Blues.”

The couple divorced in 1981, following the death of Moore’s son Richard, who died of an accidental gunshot to the head incurred while handling a shotgun.

Moore married Dr. Robert Levine in 1993.

 

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