Mary Tyler Moore Dies at 80

Screen icon Mary Tyler Moore has died at age 80 after a long battle with diabetes. Moore is perhaps best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which focused on an independent woman working in television news. Countless viewers also know her as Laura Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show. 

Publicist 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.”

An Emmy Award winner, Moore also received the NAB’s Distinguished Service Award in 2009 and is a member of B&C’s Hall of Fame. While giving her the NAB award, then-Association president David Rehr referred to her as “a television icon who not only entertained millions of Americans week after week with her quick humor and amazing talent, but inspired many women of her generation to pursue careers in broadcasting, journalism and related fields.”

Moore won an Emmy for her work on The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ran on CBS from 1970 to 1977, and Moore’s character, Mary Richards, was held up as a symbol of the women’s movement. 

Prior to their divorce, Moore was married for nearly two decades to Grant Tinker, former NBC chairman and CEO, who died late last year. They were partners on MTM Enterprises, which produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

Moore, also an author, has an extensive film resume as well, including her role in 1980’s Ordinary People, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.