Celebrities react to the death of Mary Tyler Moore
New of the death of Mary Tyler Moore spread quickly across Hollywood Wednesday, with many taking to social media to pay tribute.
- “Love is all around”: A one-hour CBS News special on the life and legacy of Mary Tyler Moore, Thursday 9/8c
Actor Dick Van Dyke said on Twitter that he had “no words,” and called Moore “the best.” He and Moore played a beloved husband-wife duo on the hit show “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
Ed Asner, who played Moore’s cantankerous boss on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” tweeted, “My heart goes out to you and your family. Know that I love you and believe in your strength.”
Other former colleagues released statements as well, including her “Ordinary People” co-stars, Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton.
“Mary was and is and now always will be perfect,” Sutherland -- who played her husband in the film -- said. “She was the perfect actor to work with, the performance she gave was perfect, painfully perfect, and the friendship she offered was perfect. I am in her thrall.”
“I am deeply saddened by the news of Mary’s passing,” Hutton said. “She was a truly amazing person, a great friend and an inspiration to all. I will always be grateful for her kindness and thankful beyond words for knowing her. She will be missed greatly.”
Robert Redford, who directed Moore, Sutherland and Hutton in “Ordinary People,” also paid tribute to the late icon.
“Mary’s energy, spirit and talent created a new bright spot in the television landscape and she will be very much missed,” Redford said. “The courage she displayed in taking on a role darker than anything she had ever done was brave and enormously powerful.”
Ben Stiller, who played opposite Moore in 1996’s “Flirting with Disaster,” wrote on Twitter that he “loved Mary Tyler Moore on so many levels it was confusing.”
Moore served as an inspiration to women on television, in comedy and across the entertainment industry.
“Mary Tyler Moore’s humor, style and vulnerability have had a profound influence on me as a television creator and on every woman I know working in television to upend expectations of traditional femininity,” Lena Dunham said in a statement. “Her remarkable presence and ahead-of-her-time ability to expose the condition of single working womanhood with humor and pathos will never be forgotten. Her generosity as an animal rights activist and icon will never be forgotten. I never met her and I’ll love her forever. I know I’m one of millions.”
“She will be so missed,” Carol Burnett said in a statement. “She was a pioneer on television and also one of the sweetest, nicest people I ever knew.”
