Mary Tyler Moore

ALTHOUGH she was nominated for an Oscar in Ordinary People and honored by Broadway with a Special Tony for Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Mary Tyler Moore will always remain television's comedy goddess. Moore spent twelve years in our living rooms, first as a perky, clean-cut newlywed, then as a perky, clean-cut, single career woman. Add on thousands of hours of reruns and we've spent almost as much time with her characters as with our own sisters. And why not? Mary is nicer and funnier.

Beginning as a dancer, Moore toiled in television commercials (as the "Happy Hotpoint" pixie) and unmemorable series (for thirteen weeks as a detective's secretary on Richard Diamond, Private Eye, with only her legs on camera). When she became Mrs. Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, male viewers envied Rob.

But it was when she tossed her hat in the Minneapolis air as Mary Richards that the actress found her greatest success. With its brilliant scripts and cast, The Mary Tyler Moore Show set a sitcom standard that has yet to be matched. She married handsome producer Grant Tinker, and the couple's M.T.M. production company made millions.

She pocketed her seventh Emmy, in 1992, for Stolen Babies, and her winning role as the evil baby broker wasn't clean-cut or perky in the slightest. She won raves for her over-the-top turn in Flirting With Disaster. Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show rejoiced at the news that her Mary Richards will be returning to primetime TV next season in a new sitcom that will reunite her with Valerie Harper's Rhoda Morgenstern.

Awards:
1964: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead), The Dick Van Dyke Show
1965: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series, The Dick Van Dyke Show
1964: Golden Globe: Best TV Star (Female)
1970: Golden Globe: Best Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical), The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1973: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1974: Emmy: Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1974: Emmy: Actress of the Year (Series), The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1975: People's Choice: Favorite Female TV Performer
1976: Emmy: Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1976: People's Choice: Favorite All Around Female Entertainer; tied with Carol Burnett
1978: People's Choice: Favorite Female TV Performer
1979: People's Choice: Favorite Female TV Performer; tied with Carol Burnett
1980: Tony: Special Award, Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1981: Golden Globe: Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), Ordinary People
1984: Women in Film Crystal Award
1993: Emmy: Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special, Stolen Babies

Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame (1986)

Born: December 29, 1936
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, NY