Actress Mary Tyler Moore died Jan. 25 at the age of 80, according to MSN. Moore’s spokesperson told PEOPLE that Moore was surrounded by her friends and her husband when she passed.
Born in 1936, Moore danced in television commercials are the beginning of her career. She is now best known for her roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Moore was also notable for an Oscar-nominated role in the film Ordinary People. NBC wrote that Moore’s role as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show was her breakthrough part, later leading to Moore’s own show on CBS. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which started in 1970 and ran seven years, garnered 29 Emmy awards. The Mary Tyler Moore Show followed the story of a woman working at a TV station. Today, many consider Moore’s roles transformative for the way women were portrayed in television.
A diagnosis of diabetes when she was 33 did not stop Moore from an acting career that today other actors and entertainers honored, according to NBC. Among those who took to Twitter to recognize her legacy were Minnesota senator Al Franken, actor George Takei, and comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
Moore was married with a child by the time she was 18, to Richard Meeker, a broker. Moore was working in television regularly by 21. Moore and her first husband later divorced, and she remarried. When Moore’s son was only 24, he accidentally shot himself, and within a year Moore’s second marriage had dissolved, according to The Washington Post. She would later remarry again.
Moore published a memoir in 2009: “Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes.”
In the later years of her life, Moore advocated for animal rights and juvenile diabetes research, and was the chairwoman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Moore is survived by her husband, Dr. S. Robert Levine.
