Mary Tyler Moore Dead At 80

Mary Tyler Moore, an American actress and TV icon, has died. She was 80. 

“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,” Moore’s longtime representative, 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 was born in Brooklyn, New York on Dec. 29, 1936. In the 1950s, she started out in commercials.

Moore was best known for her title role on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” an American sitcom about a single woman working in Minneapolis. The series aired on CBS from 1970-1977. 

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” followed her star-making turn on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” which aired on CBS from 1961 to 1966. She earned fans and raves playing Laura Petrie, the wife of Van Dyke’s Rob Petrie. 

Moore also found great success with fllm roles, starring in 1967’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” opposite Elvis Presley in 1969’s “Change of Habit” and playing Ben Stiller’s adoptive mother in 1996’s “Flirting with Disaster.”  

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as a frosty suburban mom in 1980’s “Ordinary People.”

Moore won six Emmys over her career, including five for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, a record she shares with Candace Bergen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most wins in that category. 

Moore used her celebrity status to raise awareness about a cause dear to her: juvenile diabetes.