Mary Tyler Moore: Mary Richards
Mary Tyler Moore has enjoyed a prolific working career in TV and movies alike. She was born 29 December, 1936 in Brooklyn and her family relocated to the west coast around 1945. She attended a Catholic high school and shortly after graduation in 1955, married her first husband Richard Meeker. The next year, she gave birth to Richard Meeker, Jr. Two of her earliest roles on TV were in a commercial for Hotpoint Appliances, which usually played during "Ozzie and Harriet" broadcasts, and also frequent appearances as Sam on "Richard Diamond: Private Detective". Her first big break came in 1961 when Carl Reiner cast her as Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show". She won two Emmys in 1963 and 1964, and although she is eleven years Dick's junior, the age difference was indescernible.
When "Van Dyke Show" closed up shop in 1966, she was immediately slated to do two movies, "Change of Habit" with Elvis Presley and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" with Julie Andrews. Both films were quickly forgotten. Around the same time she was cast as Holly Golightly in the David Merrick Broadway version of "Breakfast at Tiffany's". The play closed before it could even officially open. In 1969, Dick Van Dyke invited her to co-star with him in a special written by "Van Dyke Show" writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff called "Dick Van Dyke and The Other Woman". It was then that CBS decided Mary could easily carry her own show. Second husband Grant Tinker, with Mary, formed MTM Enterprises, and their first project was naturally "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", which brought over 30 Emmys and Golden Globes for its cast, writers, and producers, plus many nominations. Like many other comedy series' including "The Andy Griffith Show", the title character played 'straight man' to the supporting characters. Thus, Mary Richards was "the voice of sanity"...and Mary Tyler Moore played this role remarkably, remarkably well.
The company eventually went on to produce "Rhoda", "Lou Grant", "Phyllis", "The Bob Newhart Show", "St. Elsewhere", and many other sitcoms and dramas. Following MTMS's voluntary cancellation in 1977, she appeared in the MTM productions "First You Cry" (based on a true story of writer Betty Rollin, who suffered breast cancer) and also "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour" (with Michael Keaton and Joyce Van Patten). In 1980, Robert Redford cast Mary Tyler Moore to play a dark, introspective woman named Beth Jarrett in the feature film "Ordinary People", for which she won an Oscar nomination. Shortly thereafter, she appeared in another Broadway play, "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?"
Other films in the 1980's included "Six Weeks" (with Dudley Moore) and "Just Between Friends" (with Christine Lahti and Ted Danson). In 1985, a series was done for CBS called "Mary" (also starring John Astin, Swoosie Kurtz and Katy Sagal) about Mary Brenner, head of a newspaper. The experience was so bad that Mary had them take the show off the air after only ten or so episodes. In 1988, she starred in a short-lived TV series called "Annie McGuire", where Eileen Heckart played her mother. The same year, she also appeared in the TV movie "Lincoln", directed by Gore Vidal (which came to be known as "Gore Vidal's Lincoln").
Mary Tyler Moore's seventh Emmy award came in 1993 for performance in the TV movie "Stolen Babies". In 1995, she tried her hand yet again at series television with a very short-lived series called "New York News". In 1996, Mary appeared in the feature film "Flirting With Disaster", where she and George Sagal played the neurotic Jewish parents of Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. This proved to be one of her better movie roles. Her revealing autobiography "After All" was released the same year, and in the years following, specials on her life were produced by Biography and Lifetime.
In 1997, plans were made to launch "Mary and Rhoda" as a new sitcom, but the plans were cancelled...sequels are never as good. In 1999, it was decided that a TV movie about the two characters would be welcomed by audiences, and it aired on 7 February, 2000. In 2001, she appeared in a gripping TV movie called "Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Kenny and Sante Kimes" and she plays school principal Mrs. Stark in the recently-released feature film "Cheaters". Today, Mary Tyler Moore devotes a significant portion of time to two important causes: animal rights and diabetes. She can occasionally be seen on TV on retro-documentaries or the TV Land Awards specials, and in 2003 she hosted a segment of "CBS at 75." In 2003, she and Dick Van Dyke reunited for "The Gin Game" on PBS - a show about an elderly man and elderly woman who play gin.
Ms. Moore lives with her husband of 18 years, Robert, in New York City. The signature phrases "Oh, Rob!" and "Miiister Grant" will always belong to her.
For Mary Tyler Moore's complete filmography, visit The Internet-Movie Database.
Once again, please be advised that this website is not an official site, and Ms. Moore is in no way affiliated with MTMShow.com. Thank you. If you would like Mary for public appearances, call her lawyer, John Lavely of Lavely, Singer & Associates, one of those hot entertainment law firms here in Los Angeles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last updated:
Sitemaster: Andrew Szym, esq. webmaster@mtmshow.com
© 2002, Benteen Fort Industries