page_title: Mary Tyler Moore
section_title: Early appearances
hierarchical_section_title: Mary Tyler Moore / Career / Television / Early appearances
caption_attribution_description: Promotional photo of Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke from The Dick Van Dyke Show.
context_page_description: Mary Tyler Moore was an American actress, producer and social advocate. She was widely known for her prominent television sitcom roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
  Her film work included 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie and 1980's Ordinary People, the latter earning Moore a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Moore was an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism and diabetes prevention.
  With her two most prominent roles challenging gender stereotypes and norms, The New York Times said Moore's "performances on [The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show] helped define a new vision of American womanhood." The Guardian said "her outwardly bubbly personality and trademark broad, toothy smile disguised an inner fragility that appealed to an audience facing the new trials of modern-day existence."
context_section_description: Moore decided at the age of 17 that she wanted to be a dancer. Her television career began with a job as "Happy Hotpoint", a tiny elf dancing on Hotpoint appliances in TV commercials during the 1950s series Ozzie and Harriet. After appearing in 39 Hotpoint commercials in five days, she received approximately $6,000. She became pregnant while still working as "Happy", and Hotpoint ended her work when it became too difficult to conceal her pregnancy with the elf costume. Moore modeled anonymously on the covers of a number of record albums, and auditioned for the role of the elder daughter of Danny Thomas for his long-running TV show, but was turned down. Much later, Thomas explained that "she missed it by a nose ... no daughter of mine could ever have a nose that small".
  Moore's first regular television role was as a mysterious and glamorous telephone receptionist in Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In the show her voice was heard but only her legs appeared on camera, adding to the character's mystique. About this time, she guest-starred in John Cassavetes' NBC detective series Johnny Staccato, and also in Bachelor Father in the episode titled "Bentley and the Big Board". In 1961 Moore appeared in several big parts in movies and on television, including Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Steve Canyon, Hawaiian Eye, Thriller and Lock-Up.
caption: Moore with Dick Van Dyke in 1964
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2017:04:03 03:26:24", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6703", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1174", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1464"}