“The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms.”
That’s the quote Mary Tyler Moore chose for her high school yearbook in 1955.
She may not have considered herself a feminist, but throughout her life, Moore helped pave the second wave of feminism.
The legacy of the television star has been captured in a new HBO documentary film Being Mary Tyler Moore.
Directed by James Adolphus and co-produced by Lena Waithe, Being Mary Tyler Moore offers an unprecedented view into the actress’ estate. The film’s archivist navigated more than 520 hours of footage for the two-hour movie.
The 119-minute documentary, which premiered at the 2023 South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Tx., offers viewers a deep dive into just how revolutionary Moore was for feminism.
How Moore revolutionized the role of women on American television
Moore got her start as a dancing elf in TV commercials, but lost her job after becoming pregnant.
Before long, she became a regular on the series Richard Diamond, Private Detective. While Moore’s voice was heard on the show, only her legs appeared on camera. When Moore approached her boss for a raise, she was told anyone with legs could do the job, and was let go.
The early days of Moore’s career were mired in blatant and overt misogyny, which prevented the natural film star from reaching her big break. That is, until Laura Petrie debuted on The Dick van Dyke Show in 1961. In her role as Petrie, Moore refused to play a housewife dusting in high heels and a short dress, and soon became the first woman to wear pants on American television.
In 1970, the actress premiered her own network television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, on CBS.
Up until that time, women were portrayed in a stereotypical, one-dimensional form on TV, living lives that exclusively catered to their husbands.But Moore’s sitcom was groundbreaking. Her character, Mary Richards, was a 30-year-old single woman who was driven by her newfound career in a newsroom rather than by finding a man.
“How will you make it on your own,” the show’s theme song asks. “This world is awfully big, and girl, this time, you’re all alone.”
The show, which featured celebrated actresses like Valerie Harper and Betty White, went on to garner 29 Primetime Emmy Awards, including three for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for Moore.
She didn’t just star in the show either. She also launched her own production company, MTM Enterprises, to film and produce a swath of network television series.
But the actress wasn’t just breaking barriers on screen.
In 1969, Moore was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, a disease she battled until her death in 2017. Moore went on to become an advocate, raising awareness about diabetes and supporting children who were diagnosed with it.
In 1983, she married Dr. S. Robert Levine, a New York-based cardiologist. While Levine was nearly two decades younger than Moore, his love for the TV star proved to be once in a lifetime.
Inside Being Mary Tyler Moore
One aspect that sets Moore’s documentary apart is the creative decision not to include talking heads in the film. Instead, producers chose to show archival footage of Moore’s life, with the stories of loved ones turned into voice overs.
The decision to deviate from the conventional format of documentary, the director says, was all Lena Waithe’s.
After doing a magazine interview where she opened up about her desire to create a project about Moore, Waithe was shocked to hear from Levine, who felt she was the right person to tell his soulmate’s story.
“She hadn’t seen a cut yet,” Adolphus said, “and she told us to lean into the art that we were creating.”
That choice helped set the tone for the film, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the life of Moore and actually “live in these moments.”
“I’m always working on ways in which we could do things differently, but not for the sake of being different,” Waithe said.
A life lesson in a tuna sandwich
Looking back on his 34 years of marriage to a television icon, Levine says Moore only had one direction, and that was forward.
“Mary was very special in that she would say she had this veneer, this armor,” he said. “But it was that armor that allowed her to push through all the stuff that was going on.”
The stuff Levine referred to included Moore’s battle with diabetes, the loss of her son in a 1980 gun accident, and an ensuing substance use disorder involving alcohol.
“If anything, she taught me to be brave, to take risks, to fail — because failure allows you to build courage and to be successful,” he said.
One of the biggest surprises for Levine came when producers stumbled upon an old home video as part of their search.
In the video, Moore celebrates her wedding shower ahead of her ceremony with her girlfriends. Holding back tears, the beloved TV star recalled a simple but poignant story of the time Levine got out of bed in the middle of the night, just to make her a tuna sandwich.
It’s the simple things, like the tuna sandwich, that capture the impact Levine had on Moore’s life.
“That was special because it reminded me, and hopefully people who watch this, that it’s the simple kindness that really has the most impact in other people’s lives,” he said.
The universality of Mary Tyler Moore
Director James Adolphus, who admits he hadn’t heard of Moore before the project, now says he shares “a deep kinship” to the actress and Broadway star.
“Mary really was someone in my mother’s life,” Adolphus said, “and part of a Weezer song.”
But through his research, Adolphus came to realize Moore was reminiscent of his cousin, his sister, and his mother.
“…[All] the women I’ve known in my life who have been slighted, who’ve had to push back against and fight — and sometimes lose — against the patriarchy,” he said, calling it a huge responsibility as a filmmaker to honour the unique, yet all too familiar, story.
A producer on the film, who noted four producers and the director are Black, said that “it speaks to the universality of Mary.”
“How she inspired, she affected all of our lives,” they said. “There’s no boundary of gender or race or anything else about who she was and what she stood for.”
Being Mary Tyler Moore is scheduled to be released in May on HBO Max and Crave.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
