Pioneering TV actress Mary Tyler Moore dies at 80
LOS ANGELES — Mary Tyler Moore didn’t have it all on her 1970s sitcom, but what she had was enough.
A husband and kids, long the stock TV recipe for female contentment, were absent from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Instead, Mary Richards combined work, friends and lovers into an alternative version of a modern young woman’s full life.
Feminism already had said it was possible. Mary made it mainstream with her charm and million-watt smile, showing America that an independent woman could be admired and embraced.
She was so inspiring that even those lacking her perfect balance of grace and, yes, spunk, imagined themselves achieving their own success.