By Laura Medina
There have been a few "Sex and the City" pioneers, Helen Gurley-Brown, Marlo Thomas, and Mary Tyler Moore.
Mary Tyler Moore was an original outliner, a nice girl who never had the drive or the intention to get married, but seeks personal satisfaction through career and work.
As a pioneering "career gal/Sex and the City" woman, she pretty much set a standard for young women entering the world, living in a cute studio apartment while building a step for their career ladders.
That fact she was a nice girl striving in television news and journalism, she influenced real-life women who aspired to be in television journalism who are now charging today's social media.
Not only did Moore “turn the world on with her smile,” as her show’s theme song declared, she also influenced a generation of women to become more independent and to pursue successful and fulfilling careers. “I think Mary Tyler Moore has had more influence on my career than any other single person or force,” says Oprah Winfrey in the documentary. She reminisces about the time Moore surprised her during a taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” bringing her to tears.
Gavin MacLeod, who played her WJM-TV colleague Murray Slaughter, refers to Moore
as “a national treasure” in an emotional interview...
“Mary
Tyler Moore was both inspirational and aspirational for many women who came of
age in the 1970s. Her demeanor, style and beauty, along with her fierce loyalty
to friends, was evidenced throughout her long and successful career, and
radiated both on screen and off,” said Donald Thoms, Vice President of
Programming for PBS.
As a tribute to Mary Tyler Moore, PBS is running a special on her tomorrow night at 8pm.
With
aspirations to become a dancer, Moore overcame a tumultuous childhood to land
early TV and film roles that showcased her varied talents and brought her to
the attention of Hollywood producers. Discovered by Danny Thomas when she
auditioned for the role of his daughter on “The Danny Thomas Show,” Moore
catapulted to fame as Laura Petrie, the wife of TV writer Rob Petrie on “The
Dick Van Dyke Show” from 1961-1966. Her character’s popularity and her
appearance in films including Change of
Habit with Elvis Presley and on variety shows with Van Dyke landed Moore a
starring role as Mary Richards, the single and career-orientated TV news producer
on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which debuted on September 19, 1970, and
anchored American viewers’ Saturday night viewing habits for many years to
come.
“The
Mary Tyler Moore Show” ran for seven years and established the careers of MacLeod
and most of the show’s other cast members. It won 29 Emmy Awards from 67
nominations and generated three spin-off series – “Rhoda,” “Phyllis” and “Lou
Grant” – that were each successful in their own right. After the show ended,
Moore starred on Broadway and received an Academy Award nomination for her role
in the motion picture Ordinary People,
directed by Robert Redford. Moore’s television co-star Betty White says Ordinary People gave Moore the chance to
“show the other side of this comedienne. I thought she was magnificent.”
Donald
Thomas, Vice President of Programming for PBS. “PBS has a long history of
documenting the lives and accomplishments of America’s great cultural icons.
This salute to Ms. Moore is a tribute to her successful career and her place in
American entertainment.”
For you Millennials, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" casually and humorously chatted about sex and relationships while on the job for those over 30 and divorced. Topics that are surging strong as story lines, thirty years later, on "Sex and the City" and other shows where the central character is a strong, accomplished woman.
Tomorrow night is also the eve of the 45th anniversary of the premiere of “The Mary Tyler Moore
Show.”
In addition to the special, you can catch the original Mary Tyler Moore Show episodes-for free-without commercials-on youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1RH7prAIqw
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