Happy 75th To Mary Tyler Moore!

Still able to turn the world on with a smile, Mary Tyler Moore is most famous for her appearances in reruns of The Mary Tyler Moore show (as Mary Richards) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (as Laura Petrie).

Born in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, she trained as a dancer; her first TV appearances were as dancing kitchen appliance Happy Hotpoint, the Hotpoint Appliance elf, in 1955 commercials aired during The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.

Though a winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Comedy Awards, she's shown her dramatic talents. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in 1980's Ordinary People.

The 1999 King of the Hill episode Revenge Of The Lutefiskcast Moore as Reverend Karen Stroup. In it, Bobby suffers enormous guilt after he consumes all of the new reverend's lutefisk and inadvertently burns the church to the ground.

In the 1996 animated feature film How the Toys Saved Christmas (La Freccia Azzurra), she portrayed Granny Rose. Every Christmas Eve, Granny Rose helps Santa deliver toys to little girls and boys. Except this year, Granny Rose gets sick and asks Mr. Grimm (voiced by the late Tony Randall) to take over this most important job. When the toys overhear his plans to wait until morning and sell them to the highest bidder, the toys decide to deliver themselves!

She was also in the Emmy-nominated 1998 HBO special Kids Are Punny. A best-selling book was the inspiration for this animated presentation of hilarious puns that come from the mouths of babes. The program features stories about the importance of laughter, including "The Parable of the Clown," told by Jackie Mason with Geoffrey Holder, Moore and Reno.

The 1993 Animaniacs episode Mary Tyler Moore Parodyspoofed the opening of The Mary Tyler Moore Show featuring Dot. This episode is also known as "Mary Tyler Dot Song."

Other Mary Tyler Moore Show references in cartoons:


The Simpsons: "And Maggie Makes Three" (1995)
The hat-throwing sequence at the end of the opening of this show is parodied.

Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man: "Clip Job" (1995)
One of the characters Duckman turns into when he's hooked up to the TV transmitting device is Mary Richards.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast: "Joshua" (1998)
The narrator uses lyrics from the MTM theme song when talking about Space Ghost.

Family Guy: "Wasted Talent" (2000)
Mary throws her hat in the air, like in the opening credits of the show, but it doesn't come back down.

The Simpsons: "Barting Over" (2003)
The theme song is heard, and Bart throws his hat in the air.

Family Guy: "420" (2009)
Quagmire and his pet cat are watching the show; the end credits music can be heard and Quagmire points out the MTM cat.



"I'm an experienced woman. I've been around... Well, all right, I might not've been around, but I've been... nearby." -- Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, The Mary Tyler Moore Show

"There are certain things about me that I will never tell to anyone because I am a very private person. But basically what you see is who I am. I'm independent, I do like to be liked, I do look for the good side of life and people. I'm positive, I'm disciplined, I like my life in order, and I'm neat as a pin. I love order and discipline. God, I sound like a Nazi, don't I?" -- Mary Tyler Moore as herself