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Happy 75th birthday, Mary Tyler Moore. You might just make it after all.
Mary Tyler Moore turns 75 today, but to millions of Americans, she's still 32, forever driving from her small hometown to Minnesota's Twin Cities on a sunny freeway in 1970. How will she make it on her own? This world is awfully big, and girl, this time she's all alone.
But she had determination, moxie, smarts, charm, and something Lou Grant hated -- spunk.
After all, she'd already captured America's hearts in another beloved show when she played Laura Petrie, New Rochelle's "hostess with the mostess" on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." There's something magical about this scene, in which she dances in her famed capri pants. What, your parents' parties didn't involve conga drums and elaborately choreographed dances in the living room? Ours either, but this show made us wish they did.
Before "Dick Van Dyke," a teenage MTM played the goofy little sprite Happy Hotpoint in dozens of appliance commercials. You might not recognize her here. (Watch the whole ad though if you want a classic 1956 spiel on dishwashers.)
She was a million miles from Laura Petrie or Mary Richards in 1980's "Ordinary People," which earned her an Oscar nomination. Just watch the trailer (and wow, did that movie have a heckuva cast all the way around) and see her brittle, repressed Beth trying to hold things together. Not exactly the mother Laura or Mary would have turned out to be.
But of course, we can't forget "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." I grew up in Minnesota in the 1970s, and although only the opening credits were shot there, it was still a point of pride for residents. If you go to downtown Minneapolis, you can still eat at the very restaurant table (marked with a plaque) in the IDS Crystal Court where Mary and then-husband Grant Tinker are seen dining in the credits.
Everyone knew where the house was that was shown as Mary's, and also knew the real reason why Mary moved to an apartment in later seasons. When the studio came back to film the same giant lakeside home's exterior, its owner hung an "IMPEACH NIXON" banner on the home, forcing them to shoot elsewhere (it was 1973, after all).
I once interviewed one of the Toughskins-clad schoolkids who appear in the credits crossing a street with Mary and a school patrol. He was just walking home from school with friends one day, he said, when a man yelled "Hey! You kids wanna be on TV?" Half the gang scattered, and half stuck around and when ordered, crossed the street while Mary strode along with them, clutching a grocery bag. I sometimes wonder if the half that scattered know exactly what they missed out on.
There are too many classic "MTM" scenes to share, but Chuckles the Clown gets mentioned more than any other, and for good reason. Watch the bit where Mary scolds Murray for cracking wise -- "A man has DIED!" -- and then see if you can't feel her embarrassment when it turns out she's the one who can't stop laughing. Until the moment she's told to laugh, when of course she bursts into tears.
What's your favorite Mary Tyler Moore character, scene or line? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.
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Ms Moore has always been a class act in my book. I wish her a Very Happy Birthday, with many returns on the day.
I second that wish. Happy Birthday!
Me to! She and Dick Van Dyke are quite simply the two people the rest of Hollywood should use as their role models. Class acts do not begin to discribe them! In this case I AM NOT One Really Fed Up Boomer but I am one delighted boomer to have had the honor of watch pure talent at work.
She got me through puberty, 40 yrs later... still does. Your still beautiful Mary!
Our Mary?....75??? Impossible! Happy Birthday, Mary!
Ooooh, Rob!
Missster GRANT!
She was the gold standard for the women of my generation. Many of us learned how to be independent women through her protrayals of Mary Richards and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Happy, happy birthday Ms. Moore. And may you have many more.
Happy Birthday, Ms. Moore! I still watch your shows on a regular basis. You are beautiful, talented, and, as a previous poster noted, very classy. Thank you for the joy you've brought us over the years.
I loved the comedy of course but "Ordinary People" was one of the finest movies I have seen. I highly recommend it to eveyone.
Happiest of birthdays to you, Ms. Moore. I certainly wish you all of the joy, love and laughter you have brought to so many others. You are a beautiful, talented and classy lady. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for sharing so much over the years.
Happy Birthday and thanks for all you do for Juvenile Diabetes.
Health and happiness to you always!
You can't watch the video of the MTM show's opening credits without feeling a little bit better than you did when you started.
What a great story on a day filled with crap! Mary Tyler Moore's 75 birthday notice and the memories of her on TV was a wonderful way to brighten the end of this day for me! Too much news of Santa killings, Iran threats, worries about N.Korea, and other sh!t going on....
I wonder if I can catch a rerun of the Dick VanDyke show on tv..... see ya later...
I hope she has settled with her little life demons and realizes that her fans will always love her. I think you'll be good for 100.
Bet she is still a babe at 75!
Happy Birthday, Mary! many Moore!
Guess u haven't seen a recent pic of her. Face lift disaster!
There was no need for that, what!.
Sad, but true. She has the Burt Reynold's wind tunnel look.
That said, I still liked everything she did.
thanks for your wonderful work with the diabetes foundation, some day we will find a cure for this disease and with people like her helping it will come sooner.
I agree. The cure can't come fast enough!!!
She we always be Laura Petrie to me
I'm 36, and I have always thought she was incredibly beautiful and classy. Happy Birthday, Mary Tyler Moore! :) She still looks great, too!
You got spunk.... I hate spunk!
Nice article. What a remarkable career! I hope they run a marathon of the MTM show; I'll be watching.
PS: She also did a movie with Elvis, Change of Habit which being a fan of both, I love.
Happy Birthday, Mary! You were one of my idols growing up - I danced, too, hung an "M" in my first apartment, and still wear the hair flip ;) Thanks for being such a class act. Love ya, Mary!
Growing up in the '60s and going to college in the '70s, I was one of many women who were caught between the traditional and liberated female archetypes. Mary Tyler Moore protrayed both and I wanted to be both Laura Petrie and Mary Richards!
Both of those characters guided me in one way or another, lol!
My parents were woeful of my romantic prospects and I will admit that when I went to work after college graduation, I half-expected to work only until I got married. Well, it's been almost 40 years and I'm still waiting, LOL! It took me a good 20 years to realize there was nothing wrong with being single and to enjoy life the way I saw Mary doing - a full life, enriched with love, family, friends and experiences.
Bravo MTM - I have enjoyed you every minute of the past 50 years - thanks for the memories!
Happy Birthday to one of the true class acts. You have touched the hearts and brought laughter and tears to several generations in our family. Wishing you many more years of spunk!
She wiill never be alone, she is welcome in my home at any time.
Happy birthday MTM, I grew up watching your show, now I live in Minneapolis and smile every time I walk past your statue on Nicollet Mall. Hats off to Mary!
She later shot a special 16mm for Bob Crane
What, no praise for Ted Knight/Ted Baxter? Comic genius. He was so stupid he didn't realize how stupid Georgette was.
Why would there be praise for Ted Knight? This is Mary Tyler Moore's birthday, not Knight's. The article is therefore about her. Get it?
The article also invites comments about our favorite characters, scenes or lines. Get it?
Loved the MTM show growing up, and the reruns I watched of The Dick Van Dyke Show. My kids have been watching that on Netflix recently. That clip above with the bongos? That's Bob Crane (Col Hogan of Hogan's Heroes) playing the bongos!