RIP: Mary Tyler Moore

Sad to see that Mary Tyler Moore has died ... Postscript: Mary Tyler Moore ...

MTM dying is more than this feminist can take this week,” my feminist friend Andrew texted me this afternoon. Mary Tyler Moore, who died today, at the age of eighty, meant a lot to all of us; for feminists who remember the seventies, she was a member of the family. From 1970 to 1977—and long afterward in reruns—on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” in which she played the plucky associate news producer Mary Richards at the Minneapolis TV station WJM, Moore embodied for many Americans a novel, groundbreaking, and warmhearted vision of feminine independence. Many had already been won over by her performance on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” in the sixties, in which she played the innocently flummoxed Laura Petrie, wife of Rob (Van Dyke). “Dick Van Dyke” was a clever, if square, black-and-white delight, but Rob and his writer buddies seemed to be having all the fun; Laura deserved better. On “Mary Tyler Moore,” she got it. Mary Richards drove to a new city, Minneapolis, got her own apartment, had her own fun job, and turned the world on with her smile ...

I especially liked her because she was an animal rights activist and a vegetarian ...

A long-time animal rights activist, Moore worked with Farm Sanctuary to raise awareness about the process involved in factory farming and to promote compassionate treatment of farm animals. Moore appeared as herself in 1996 on an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom Ellen. The storyline of the episode includes Moore honoring Ellen for trying to save a 65-year-old lobster from being eaten at a seafood restaurant. She was also a co-founder of Broadway Barks, an annual animal adopt-a-thon held in New York City. Moore and friend Bernadette Peters worked to make it a no-kill city and to encourage adopting animals from
shelters.

I did like her tv shows but especially liked the movie in which she played the uncharacteristic role of a cold and unfeeling mother, Ordinary People ...

a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of actor Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton. The story concerns the disintegration of an upper-middle class family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the death of one of their sons in a boating accident. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent was based upon the 1976 novel Ordinary People by Judith Guest.

The film received six Academy Award nominations and won four: the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director for Redford, Adapted Screenplay for Sargent, and Supporting Actor for Hutton. In addition, it won five Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director (Redford), Best Actress in a Drama (Tyler Moore), Best Supporting Actor (Hutton), and Best Screenplay (Sargent).