Mary Tyler Moore Has Died

We’re all about to turn the world off with a billion frowns. Because Mary Tyler Moore, who was TV at one time, died today at a hospital in Connecticut. She was 80 years old. Mary Tyler Moore’s rep confirmed the sad news to the Huffington Post.

“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. 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.”

Chuckles better be waiting for Mary Tyler Moore at the gates of the afterworld.

TMZ reported earlier that Mary Tyler Moore was in the hospital for a week and according to them, she was on a respirator. MTM has been in a bad, serious way for a while. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 33, and in 2014, her friend and fellow icon Betty White said that she was nearly blind from the disease.

MTM started out as a dancer and model, and did a few jobs before Carl Reiner cast her in The Dick Van Dyke Show. A future icon was born! MTM went on to star in her own show and farted on all the critics who said that a show about a working, single woman would never be a success. The Mary Tyler Moore Show ran for 7 seasons, won 29 Emmys and birthed out three spin-off shows (Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant). MTM won a total of seven Emmys (four for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, two for The Dick Van Dyke Show and one for the TV movie Stolen Babies).

MTM was also in the movies Thoroughly Modern Millie and Ordinary People, which got her an Oscar nomination. And on Broadway, she starred in Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Holly Golightly, the musical version of Breakfast At Tiffany’s (it closed after only four previews). She also produced plays on Broadway through her production company MTM Enterprises.

She wrote two memoirs and also fought to protect to protect animals and advocated for finding a cure for diabetes.

She’s survived by her husband of a million years (33 years is a million years in Hollywood marriage time) Dr. S. Robert Levine. Mary Tyler Moore’s only child, Richard Meeker, died in 1980.

Rest in peace, Mary Tyler Moore. Thank you for THIS (aka one of my favorite MTM moments):

Pic: Getty