Mary Tyler Moore, the 75-year-old actress, who as Mary Richards “turned the world on with her smile” in her groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Sunday night’s 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Dick Van Dyke presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to his former “Dick Van Dyke Show” co-star Mary Tyler Moore, delivering a heart-felt speech noting Moore’s achievements as an Oscar-nominated actress, a dancer, a humanitarian, and as an executive whose MTM Enterprises produced several other hit TV shows.
Moore was given a standing ovation as she accepted her award. During her speech she spoke of having to change her name because there were already 6 other Mary Moores registered with the Screen Actors Guild. The veteran actress quickly added Tyler, which was the middle name of both her and her father, George.
“I was Mary Tyler Moore. I spoke it out loud. Mary Tyler Moore. It sounded right so I wrote it down on the form, and it looked right,” she said. “It was right. SAG was happy, my father was happy, and tonight, after having the privilege of working in this business among the most creative and talented people imaginable, I too am happy, after all.”
As husband and wife Rob and Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, Van Dyke and Moore were so believable with their performance that many viewers thought they were married in real life.
Mary Tyler Moore recently made a guest appearance on “Hot in Cleveland”, which stars her former “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” co-star Betty White.
