Dick Van Dyke Show star Rose Marie and other stars are mourning the death of their longtime friend and co-star Mary Tyler Moore. According to Variety, Moore died on Jan. 25 in Connecticut at age 80, surrounded by her husband, Dr. Robert Levine, and family. Earlier in the day, TMZ reported that the Emmy-winning actress was hospitalized in grave condition at a Connecticut hospital and that family members were called to the hospital to say their goodbyes. The TV legend suffered from multiple health problems over the years, including a long battle with diabetes and a 2011 brain surgery.
While she was best known for her starring role as Mary Richards on the 1970s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Moore kicked off her career a decade earlier opposite Dick Van Dyke on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The then-unknown actress played Van Dyke’s wife, Laura Petrie on the CBS comedy from 1961 to 1966. Mary won two Emmy Awards for her role on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
My fav Mary Tyler Moore role is on the Dick Van Dyke Show.. an iconic woman! Rest in peace pic.twitter.com/19WlNwUw4Q
— Gwen Fraser (@Gwennygal) January 25, 2017
In an interview posted by Entertainment Tonight, Dick Van Dyke, now 90, said he had a crush on his TV wife, who was 11 years his junior when they first met.
“The first time I met Mary Tyler Moore, I thought she was just beautiful, but I thought she was a little young,” Dick said of the then-24-year-old actress.
“She had this strange, Mid-Atlantic accent, kind of like Katharine Hepburn, and I said, ‘Well, she’s cute as she can be, but can she do comedy?'”It wasn’t two episodes before her timing came, and her sense of humor. She got it like that, what a pleasure.”
“We had this, like a teenage crush on each other,” Dick Van Dyke added. “It was fun.”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Van Dyke admitted that he didn’t think the now iconic TV couple would be believable to viewers due to their age difference, but producer Carl Reiner told him the audience would never know the difference. Sure enough, one kiss in the show’s pilot episode and Van Dyke and Moore were convincing as a couple.
While Van Dyke admitted that he had “a real crush on her,” Reiner told ET that Dick and Mary were “really were attracted to each other, but they both had relationships.”
Indeed, in a 2011 interview with The AV Club, Van Dyke the timing was off for a real life romance and that it was always strictly business for the two co-stars.
“The first season, you know, we both liked each other a lot,” Dick said.”We got along so well, our personalities meshed, and of course, she’s attractive, and we were attracted to each other, and admitted it. It became a real honest-to-God crush. I said maybe in another time and a different way, something might have happened, but it didn’t.
Still, the couple’s chemistry was undeniable, and they made TV magic.
“We became like an improv,” Van Dyke said. “You could just tell us a scene and we could make it up. She read me very well, and I read her timing very well, and it was just such a pleasure to work with her.”
While Dick Van Dyke has not yet issued a public statement on the death of his friend of 55 years, many other celebrities and co-stars took to social media to pay tribute to the beloved television icon, including her Dick Van Dyke Show co-star Rose Marie and her Mary Tyler Moore Show co-star Ed Asner.
#marytylermoore I shall miss you. We had remarkable & unforgettable experiences along with @carlreiner & @iammrvandy. Rest well my friend. pic.twitter.com/GfIPdHrqEs
— Rose Marie-Official (@RoseMarie4Real) January 25, 2017
#marytylermoore my heart goes out to you and your family. Know that I love you and believe in your strength.
— Ed Asner (@TheOnlyEdAsner) January 25, 2017
Mary(MTM) was a gem. She was iconic, my boss, cast mate and a friend and I will miss her
— Michael Keaton (@MichaelKeaton) January 25, 2017
I loved Mary Tyler Moore on so many levels it was confusing. Such a huge part of our culture and consciousness. Sending love to her family.
— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) January 25, 2017
Thanks for the first real image of a woman being independent, funny & vulnerable. Thank you for changing the face of TV, #MaryTylerMoore! pic.twitter.com/3rZbPczSnF
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) January 25, 2017
Mary Tyler Moore changed the world for all women. I send my love to her family.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 25, 2017
Mary Tyler Moore changed the world for all women. I send my love to her family.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 25, 2017
Take a look at the video below to see Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
‘Dick Van Dyke’ Star Rose Marie, Ed Asner And More React To The Death Of Mary Tyler Moore is an article from: The Inquisitr News