How old is Mary Tyler Moore? She was born December 29, 1936 — well into her 70s when she won the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. Her former sitcom co-star Dick Van Dyke did a beautiful job introducing the somewhat shaky celebrity senior. The two are still good friends after all these years, and when he introduced her to the audience it became clear that she really needed no introduction. Nearly everyone under the age of 80 in America remembers her from The Dick Van Dyke show and The Mary Tyler Moore show, but what few may have realized is she is pet friendly and diabetic. Here’s more about the charitable actress…
Pet friendly actress Mary Tyler Moore won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 SAG Awards. The Screen Actors Guild strives each year to honor the career of a noteworthy actor or actress who has helped shape the entertainment industry in their own particular way. When her awards segment host Dick Van Dyke introduced her, he made it clear to the world that he absolutely loves the girl.
Mentioning not only her love of animals he reminded the live studio audience at the red carpet gala that she had suffered for years as a diabetic. She’s been diagnoses with Juvenile Diabetes as a young girl, but the illness never slowed her down. An amazing talent, Moore sang and danced her way into being one of the most memorable women to ever appear on a sitcom in the television world (with her on-camera strength making her a natural to appear on the big screen in blockbuster movies as well). Arguably, her greatest role was on the Dick Van Dyke Show (although those who embraced the women’s movement back in the seventies would argue she had more impact playing on the Mary Tyler Moore Show).
Mary Moore was both her given name at birth in 1938 and her acting name long before she was world famous as an American icon. She was forced to change her name when she realized there were 5 other women in the acting business who had joined the respected organization long before her. Using her father’s middle name (which also happened to be her own), the MTM moniker became her corporate logo. Her show was even recognized by TIME magazine as one of the seventeen television shows that forever changed the television world.
Regarding her SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, the LA Times reports:
She may have been surprised with the Life Achievement Award — when SAG President Ken Howard called, she says, “I thought he was going to ask if I would present something to someone” — but it’s difficult to imagine anyone else was. Between “The Dick Van Dyke Show‘s” Laura Petrie and Mary Richards, Moore helped create two of televisions most influential and indelible roles — there’s a statue depicting the famous Mary hat toss in downtown Minneapolis. How many other television characters have their own statue?
It’s true that her work on 1960s and 1970s sitcoms were both groundbreaking and transformational. She set new quality standards for what men wanted in a wife and partner while inspiring women to be sexy, smart, and independent without acting like man-haters.
After all, the character she played opposite Dick Van Dyke was so utterly charming, you never felt she was subjugated by her husband. Instead, those of us who grew up watching her early show and Dick Van Dyke Show re-runs always had the feeling she was best friends with her TV husband.
In real life, she probably was… it was she and her IRL husband Dyke) who first pitched the idea for the Mary Tyler Moore show to the networks. Their idea that she could play a successful single working girl was a hit and spin off a whole series of other sitcoms that were proudly produced under the MTM umbrella. [The Bob Newhart Show creation was one of her biggest hits.]
While really living the life of a successful career girl, Mary Tyler Moore never forgot the importance of using her star power wisely. She advocated throughout her entire career to help causes for health and welfare of adults and kids who were suffering from or at risk of developing diabetes.
She also worked her tail off, allowing animal rights activists to note that her tale of saving tails was truly inspiring.
Some of her favorite charities and causes to volunteer for and donate to over the years have included Broadway Barks (a pet friendly charity she co-founded as a non-profit organization with actress Bernadette Peters) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
We wish this green celebrity a hearty congratulations on her win — and are happy to have heard that congrats to Dick Van Dyke are in order as well. The make up artist he met 5 years ago when he attended the SAG Awards finally accepted his marriage proposal! Although she looks to be much younger than the actor, he looks elated and she looks like they both share a wonderful intellectual rapport.He actually revealed on the red carpet that his new fiancee was the only woman he’s ever hit on… so there was no scandal involved when he planted a big friendly kiss on the cheek of Mary Tyler Moore.