Mary Tyler Moore Biography

Mary Tyler Moore was a successful and beloved TV star of the 1960s and 1970s, most notably in The Dick Van Dyke Show and in her own The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York, Mary Tyler Moore broke into showbiz in the 1950s as a dancer in commercials for Hotpoint appliances. She took a variety of small TV roles until getting her big break: she was cast as Dick Van Dyke‘s cheerfully patient wife Laura Petrie on the hit 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. The show ran for five seasons (1961-66) and won Moore two Emmys (in 1964 and 1966) for actress in a comedy series.

In 1970 she was given her own situation comedy on CBS, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where she played the naively determined producer in a wacky Minneapolis newsroom. The show co-starred Ed Asner and character actors like Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman and Betty White, and became one of the most popular TV shows in history, part of the legendary Saturday night line-up that included M*A*S*H*, All in the Family and The Carol Burnett Show.

Though Mary Tyler Moore became an icon of TV comedy, she also turned in a variety of solid dramatic performances, including a starring role in 1980’s Ordinary People (directed by Robert Redford). She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 33, and became a lifelong advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. She was given a Life Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild in 2012.