Mary Tyler Moore at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Mary Tyler Moore first gained fame as Dick Van Dyke's wife in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," created by Carl Reiner. Moore held her own as a good foil for Van Dyke for the home scenes, but she didn't have a job or profession to call her own. That changed with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in the 1970s. Moore's company, MTM Enterprises, produced the show, and, apart from Moore, many of the other cast members became famous: Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod, Betty White (of course), and Ed Asner. Moore worked briefly in movies; in the 1960s she appeared in "Thoroughly Modern Mille," along with Julie Andrews, and "Change of Habit," with Elvis Presley. After her own show went off the air she got one good film role: playing Timothy Hutton's mother in "Ordinary People," Robert Redford's directorial debut. But her work on TV is where people remember her best, especially when her show racked up a number of Emmy nominations and wins. It also provided an odd spinoff: "Lou Grant," with Ed Asner reprising his role, this time as a hard-as-nails newspaper editor. Not your run-of-the-mill spinoffs (like "Rhoda" and "Phyllis" were), "Lou Grant" was an hour long single camera drama that was one of the best programs of its kind. And Moore's company, MTM Enterprises, produced it.
Mary Tyler Moore at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Mary Tyler Moore first gained fame as Dick Van Dyke's wife in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," created by Carl Reiner. Moore held her own as a good foil for Van Dyke for the home scenes, but she didn't have a job or profession to call her own. That changed with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in the 1970s. Moore's company, MTM Enterprises, produced the show, and, apart from Moore, many of the other cast members became famous: Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod, Betty White (of course), and Ed Asner. Moore worked briefly in movies; in the 1960s she appeared in "Thoroughly Modern Mille," along with Julie Andrews, and "Change of Habit," with Elvis Presley. After her own show went off the air she got one good film role: playing Timothy Hutton's mother in "Ordinary People," Robert Redford's directorial debut. But her work on TV is where people remember her best, especially when her show racked up a number of Emmy nominations and wins. It also provided an odd spinoff: "Lou Grant," with Ed Asner reprising his role, this time as a hard-as-nails newspaper editor. Not your run-of-the-mill spinoffs (like "Rhoda" and "Phyllis" were), "Lou Grant" was an hour long single camera drama that was one of the best programs of its kind. And Moore's company, MTM Enterprises, produced it.