70’s and 80’s lovers everywhere are mourning the loss of the American actress Mary Tyler Moore, who died this Wednesday in Greenwich, Connecticut. The 80-year old actress contracted pneumonia and was placed on a respirator, but unfortunately died from cardiopulmonary arrest soon after.

Moore was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 25, 1936 and decided at the age of 17 that she wanted to be a dancer. Her career began when she took a job as a tiny elf dancer on Hotpoint appliances in commercials and also anonymously on different records and albums. From 1961 to 1966, she was cast in The Dick Van Dyke Show and her fun personality added a burst of energy and comedy to the show.

Later on, Moore was actually able to star in her own show called The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 to 1977. The show had a total of seven seasons, was in the top 20 most popular shows on television and won 29 Emmy Awards in the seven years that it was on. She was a major influence on women and T.V.  Her character was the first woman in her 30’s who was not married, focused on her career, and used birth control openly.  Everyone from Candice Bergen of The Murphy Brown show and Oprah has been crediting Moore for being the first independent woman on T.V.

In addition to her many appearances on TV, Moore was also an author that wrote two memoirs that discussed alcoholism and type 1 diabetes and was often involved in charity work.

We hope to keep this creative actress, animal-loving woman alive in spirit and continue her work to help out the community and make it better.