Happy heavenly birthday to Mary Tyler Moore

For much of the 1960s and 1970s, Mary Tyler Moore turned the world on with her smile, her Capri pants and her legendary way with a straight line.

Mary, who died in January 2018, was born 86 years ago today.

For the longest time, there was no bigger star on television. First she was Laura Petrie for five seasons on The Dick Van Dyke Show and won her first two Emmys.

Then came Mary Richards, the single working woman she played for seven seasons on the gloriously good Mary Tyler Moore Show for which she won four more Emmys.

Mary also got an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe for the film Ordinary People, received a special Tony Award for the play Who’s Life I It Anyway? and won her seventh Emmy for the TV film Stolen Babies. In addition to Ordinary People, her film works includes starring opposite Elvis Presley in A Change of Habit, the terrific Flirting With Disaster and, of course, Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Her memorable TV movies included First You Cry, Heartsounds, Gore Vidal’s Lincoln (all Emmy-nominated performances) as well as Finnegan Begin Again, The Gin Game (opposite Dick Van Dyke), The Last Best Year, Like Mother Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes and Mary and Rhoda, among others.

Mary will never, ever be forgotten. As far as TV female icons go, she’s right up there with Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.