Mary Tyler Moore, Acting Legend, Dies At Age 80

Iconic actress Mary Tyler Moore has died at the age of 80, reportedly from complications associated with diabetes.

MARY TYLER MOORE DIES AT AGE 80

Moore had been on a respirator for over a week, sources say, and her condition greatly deteriorated today. TMZ reported that family members were rushing to the hospital to say their goodbyes. She was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 33.

“Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine,” read the statement from rep Mara Buxbaum.

Moore gained fame during her run on The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which she played van Dyke’s endearing housewife Laura Petrie. Following this, she got her own eponymous show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which featured her as a young working woman in a Minneapolis TV newsroom. Today a statue can be found in the city of her iconic pose from the opening credits, of her tossing her beret into the air over the famed “you’re gonna make it after all” theme song lyric.

In its seven-season run, the show held the record for most Emmy wins with 29, until Frasier broke it in 2002. “First and foremost Mary was a businesswoman and she ran her series beautifully,” friend and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” said director Alan Rafkin. “She was the boss, and although you weren’t always wedded to doing things exactly her way, you never forgot for a second that she was in charge.” Moore starred in many TV specials and films, and was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in 1980 for her role in Ordinary People.

Moore’s character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show is widely seen as the portrayal of a modern woman. Episodes see Moore asking for equal pay to her male coworkers as well as taking the birth control pill. When asked if she believed her character to be a feminist, Moore did not hesitate. “She wasn’t aggressive about it, but she surely was,” she told CNN in 2002. “The writers never forgot that. They had her in situations where she had to deal with it.”

“I think Mary Tyler Moore has probably had more influence on my career than any other single person or force,” Oprah Winfrey said in a recent PBS documentary.

“When the doctor said I had diabetes, I conjured images of languishing on a chaise lounge nibbling chocolates,” she told USA Today in 2009. “I have no idea why I thought this.” She published her first of two memoirs about the disease in 2009, called Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes. She later became an international spokeswoman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and was an animal rights activist.

Her only son, Richard, from her first marriage to Richard Meeker, died from an accidental gunshot in 1980.