Mary Tyler Moore: A Life in Photos

2 minute read

Mary Tyler Moore, the actress, activist and producer best known for her pioneering TV sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died Wednesday at 80. According to her publicist, Moore, who had been ailing for several years, died in the company of friends and her husband of 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine.

Moore began her career with aspirations to be a dancer. In her first television gig, she played a dancing elf named Happy Hotpoint in a series of appliance commercials, and in her first major role, as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, she played a former dancer. But it was as Mary Richards, a Minneapolis news producer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, that Moore left her greatest mark on American culture.

As the first never-married career woman on TV, Moore paved the way for shows, like 30 Rock and Girls, that put young women’s complicated lives front and center. In its run from 1970 to 1977—with women fighting in greater numbers for equal rights offscreen—the show was unprecedented in its treatment of subjects like the Pill and workplace relationships.

Moore would go on to a career onstage (winning a Tony in 1980 for Whose Life Is It Anyway?) and on film (earning an Oscar nomination for 1980’s Ordinary People) and as a passionate advocate for people, like herself, who suffered from type 1 diabetes. But she will be forever remembered, in a moment frozen in time, as the wide-eyed, independent news producer who tossed her hat to the sky, ready to take on the world.

Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore, c. 1960. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke during promo photos for The Dick Van Dyke Show, on April 21, 1961.
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke during promo photos for The Dick Van Dyke Show, on April 21, 1961. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke filming The Dick Van Dyke Show, on June 19, 1961 in Los Angeles.
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke filming The Dick Van Dyke Show, on June 19, 1961 in Los Angeles. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore filming The Dick Van Dyke Show, on Nov. 13, 1962 in Los Angeles.
Mary Tyler Moore filming The Dick Van Dyke Show, on Nov. 13, 1962 in Los Angeles.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore poses with co-stars of The Dick Van Dyke Show after receiving Emmy Awards c. 1962 in Los Angeles.
Mary Tyler Moore poses with co-stars of The Dick Van Dyke Show after receiving Emmy Awards c. 1962 in Los Angeles.Earl Leaf—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore c. 1962.
Mary Tyler Moore c. 1962.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore during Danny Thomas Special in 1965.
Mary Tyler Moore during Danny Thomas Special in 1965.NBC/Getty Images
Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore in Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967.
Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore in Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967.Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore with Elvis Presley in Change of Habit, 1969.
Mary Tyler Moore with Elvis Presley in Change of Habit, 1969.GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore during The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970 in Los Angeles.
Mary Tyler Moore during The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970 in Los Angeles.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Clockwise from top left: Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, Ted Knight, Mary Tyler Moore and Gavin MacLeod in a promo image from The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1972.
Clockwise from top left: Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, Ted Knight, Mary Tyler Moore and Gavin MacLeod in a promo image from The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1972.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper on the Oct. 28, 1974 cover of TIME.
Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper on the Oct. 28, 1974 cover of TIME.Jim Campbell
Valerie Harper and Mary Tyler Moore during an episode of Rhoda, on March 10, 1975.
Valerie Harper and Mary Tyler Moore during an episode of Rhoda, on March 10, 1975. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore attends the Third Annual People's Choice Awards, on Feb. 10, 1977 in Hollywood, Calif.
Mary Tyler Moore attends the Third Annual People's Choice Awards, on Feb. 10, 1977 in Hollywood, Calif.Ron Galella—Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on Nov. 3, 1978.
Mary Tyler Moore on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on Nov. 3, 1978.NBC/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore, with Timothy Hutton and Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People, 1980.
Mary Tyler Moore, with Timothy Hutton and Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People, 1980.Paramount Pictures
Betty White and Mary Tyler Moore, on Feb. 3, 1987 in New York City.
Betty White and Mary Tyler Moore, on Feb. 3, 1987 in New York City. Ron Galella—Getty Images
From left: Carl Reiner, Morey Amsterdam, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie, on May 16, 1992 in Universal City, Calif.
From left: Carl Reiner, Morey Amsterdam, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie, on May 16, 1992 in Universal City, Calif.Ron Galella Ltd./Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore and husband Dr. Robert Levine, on Oct. 4, 1991 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Mary Tyler Moore and husband Dr. Robert Levine, on Oct. 4, 1991 in Beverly Hills, Calif.Ron Galella, Ltd./Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore, left, guest-stars on Ellen on Feb. 21, 1996.
Mary Tyler Moore, left, guest-stars on Ellen on Feb. 21, 1996.ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore during the NYC Animal Care & Control Inaugural Benefit, on Nov. 9, 2003 in New York City.
Mary Tyler Moore during the NYC Animal Care & Control Inaugural Benefit, on Nov. 9, 2003 in New York City.James Devaney—Getty Images
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke attend The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, on Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke attend The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, on Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles.Lester Cohen—Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com