In the years sinceMary Tyler Moorediedat age 80 in 2017, no one has forgotten the whimsy, style and charm of her performances on two landmark CBS sitcoms:The Dick Van Dyke Show(1961–66) andThe Mary Tyler Moore Show(1970–77). She was, as the latter show’s theme song suggested, a star “who could turn the world on with her smile.”
But there was so much that Moore’s smile concealed — a dysfunctional childhood, personal tragedies, failed marriages, alcoholism and health problems (including the diabetes that eventually left her nearly blind) — until she found enduring romance with her third husband, cardiologistRobert Levine, 68.
This brilliantly accomplished but deeply complicated Mary is explored in the fascinating, revelatory HBO documentaryBeing Mary Tyler Moore. “You think you know and love her,” Levine tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, “but you don’t know everything.”
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Retracing the actress’s troubled early years growing up in Los Angeles,Being Mary Tyler Moorewill only make you love her — and pity and understand her — more. “She architected a path to her survival,” says Levine, “overcoming the toughest of circumstances.”
And it would affect Moore’s only child,Richie Meeker, who accidentally shot and killed himself at age 24.
Courtesy Dr. Robert Levine
Young Mary was a dedicated student of dance — “She said she would always believe herself to be a failed dancer as opposed to a successful actress,” notes Levine — and she later said she hoped her performances might win her praise from her parents.
By the time she was a senior at Immaculate Heart High School, she realized she could earn that admiration on a much greater scale. She wrote in her yearbook: “The world is always ready to welcome talent with open arms.” First, though, she escaped her parents at 18, marrying 28-year-old Richard Meeker, a cranberry sauce sales manager. At 19, she gave birth to Richie.
Moore would, in time, speak courageously about her alcoholism (she never drank again, says Levine, after rehab at the Betty Ford Center in 1984) and campaigned to raise awareness about diabetes. (After her death, Levine founded theMary Tyler Moore Vision Initiativeto prevent diabetic retinal disease. For more information.)
But the suffering she experienced with the death of son Richie —that,she could barely articulate. She was never comfortable discussing it even with Levine, the Manhattan cardiologist to whom she was married for more than 30 years and who considered it his role and privilege, he says, “to be her protector and care for her and hold her.”
That tragedy, he says, she kept locked up “in a dark room. She didn’t want to touch that pain.”
For more on Mary Tyler Moore, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Being Mary Tyler Moorepremieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO and will also be available to stream on Max.
source: people.com
