After we lost so many notable people in 2016, it looks as if 2017 might be no better. That’s because actress and producer Mary Tyler Moore died last week at the age of eighty.
Many of us know Moore for acting in the sitcoms The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She produced the second program under her MTM Enterprises, a company that helped produce many notable shows, an illustration of her business skills as well as her creative ones.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show also was a program that depicted the changing times of the 1970s. It chronicled the life of Mary Richards, a smart, competent woman with many close friends and a good life. She worked hard to build her career and wasn’t married or looking for a husband, which reflected the lives of many real-life women of the time and beyond.
Mary Tyler Moore also demonstrated her range as a performer in serious roles. She received an Academy Award nomination (and should have won, in my opinion) for her performance in the movie Ordinary People, where she portrayed a grieving woman struggling to hold everything together.
She was even more brave away from the cameras. Moore battled Type 1 diabetes and became a tireless advocate to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease. She also battled alcohol abuse and attended rehab. Sadly, substance use disorder seemed to run in her family, like many other, less famous families. Moore’s brother also struggled with alcohol abuse and her sister died of a drug overdose.
Moore was one of the first celebrities to acknowledge her struggle with alcohol. Doing so was brave and inspiring. Moore had become famous for playing likable everywomen. She could have hurt her career by going public, since many people didn’t talk about substance use disorder in those days.
By going candid with her alcoholism, Moore demonstrated that alcoholism doesn’t discriminate. She illustrated that anyone could have a problem with drugs and alcohol, even a woman who could “turn the world on with her smile,” as the theme for The Mary Tyler Moore Show put it.
Her visible recovery also taught people that effective treatment for alcohol exists. Mary Tyler Moore and another recently departed celebrity, Carrie Fisher, taught us that alcohol abuse and drug addiction don’t have to be death sentences. Moore and Fisher are examples of how bravery and honesty can help people heal themselves and others.
