‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ at 50: Cast shares secrets of iconic sitcom

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” premiered on CBS in September 1970 and quickly changed the face of television.

The trailblazing sitcom, created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, embodies the spirit of the growing women’s liberation movement in its protagonist, Mary Richards (Moore) — a dynamic, independent, 30-something single woman working as a producer at the (mostly) male-dominated Minneapolis TV station WJM. She could, per the show’s indelible theme song, “Take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile.”

Moore snared three Emmys during the show’s seven-year run and was supported by a stellar supporting cast: Ed Asner as Mary’s gruff boss, Lou Grant; Valerie Harper as her best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern; Ted Knight as buffoonish anchor Ted Baxter; Gavin MacLeod as acerbic news writer Murray Slaughter; Cloris Leachman as Mary’s quirky neighbor, Phyllis Lindstrom; John Amos as WJM weatherman Gordy Howard; Betty White as lascivious, judgy “Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens; and Georgia Engel as Ted’s wifty girlfriend (and eventual wife), Georgette.

Airing at 9 p.m., “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was the lynchpin of CBS’ vaunted Saturday-night lineup — “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show” — and launched the spinoffs “Rhoda,” “Phyllis” and “Lou Grant.” Its series finale, featuring that memorable “group hug,” has yet to be matched for its emotional intensity.

Knight died in 1986 at the age of 62. Moore, who went on to earn an Oscar nomination for “Ordinary People,” died in 2017 at the age of 80. Harper and Engel died in 2019 at the ages of 80 and 70, respectively.

In honor of the show’s 50th anniversary, The Post spoke to Asner, 90, MacLeod, 89 and Amos, 80, who shared their memories of working on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

On the origins of their roles:

MacLeod: They sent me two scripts, including the pilot. There was a hand-written note on them saying “Gavin for the part of Lou Grant.” No one would believe me as being Mary’s boss. I felt myself as more of a contemporary. I couldn’t believe myself as a boss. I said, “I wouldn’t be right for Ted, what about Murray? I can have some fun with him — he’s kind of cynical and I like him.” When I went in for the reading with the vice president of CBS and [series creators] Jim Brooks and Allan Burns, I read for the Lou Grant role and got laughs . . . but ended up as Murray.

Asner: I avoided comedy. I always found that on the stage, when I got a laugh, I couldn’t remember how I did it so I could recapture it the next time. I went in to read for Lou Grant and Jim Brooks said, “That’s an intelligent reading” and I mumbled to myself that it wasn’t funny. So I read it again all wild and wicky and crazy . . . they laughed and said, “Do it just that way when you come back and read with Mary.” I was like, “What did I do?” So I came back and read it and they laughed again. A couple of years later I found out that when I left, Mary turned to them and said, “Are you sure?”

Amos: Gordy was originally supposed to be a sportscaster and they got a lot of mileage out of that, because every character — like when Phyllis [Leachman] meets Gordy for the first time — assumes he’s a sportscaster because he’s this athletic-looking guy. He was the ideal character for me.

On their relationships with the other cast members:

MacLeod: Ted Knight was my best, oldest friend in California since 1957 when I first arrived there. He was the first person I met in my agent’s office. Off-screen, he was not this character of Ted Baxter. I knew Ed [Asner] and I’d worked with Cloris before in an episode of [the ABC series] “The Big Valley.” We played opposite each other. What Mary did for the women’s liberation movement, she inspired so many women in the industry. Gloria Steinem would come to the set and visit us. Mary was so gifted in going from mood to mood and from moment to moment. The sense of family started at the top and that was all Mary.

‘What Mary did for the women’s liberation movement, she inspired so many women in the industry.’

Asner: In the beginning they were very strongly concentrated on the females in the cast and . . . I resorted to petty jealousy because they were always working up their scenes and getting their scenes to be crisp and funny and the Boys weren’t getting much attention. That bugged me and lasted for a couple of years. The Boys would get together with their wives on Friday nights after we filmed and go and have dinner and drinks. We hung out together; I think we did it for protection and warmth, thinking the women would be the dominating force, and it served us well. The women were busy taking ballet lessons with Mary at lunchtime every day. They had their own clique. I think we automatically sensed Mary’s power, but she always played down her “bigness” on the set. The other ladies did what they wanted: Valerie ran roughshod — she was a successful improv actress and that impressed Mary — and Cloris had her way of doing things.

Amos: It was a wonderful place to work — the writing was superb and the direction under Jay Sandrich was excellent. He had a wonderful rapport with Mary and the rest of us. It was a wonderful time to be in TV, particularly on that show. I looked forward to going to work, and needless to say [Gordy] was a great boost to my career. To have a role on a hit show was a tremendous break for me and I took advantage of it [going on to star in “Good Times” on CBS]. I looked forward to going to work on that show more than any other job I’ve ever had.

On their memories from the series:

Amos: One thing I’d like to add, which I’ve never been asked about, particularly in light of all the divisiveness in the country today: There was never any controversy in regards to race in the context of a script, never a mention of anything that could lead to controversy. We avoided it in the context of the TV station, and the relationships these people had . . . were predicated on work, which was a wonderful statement in itself. They regarded themselves as friends, colleagues — maybe competitive colleagues, in the case of Ted Baxter — but it was all done with a wonderful feeling of camaraderie. That was created and maintained by [Moore’s husband and series producer] Grant Tinker — he was not going to tolerate any foolishness or anything that would be a disruptive factor, which created an atmosphere of fairness on the show.

Asner: The thing I found so delightful about Gavin was that he was always so eager to laugh, and Ted Knight was who made him laugh. It was always a riot with those two around. Cloris was funny, too, but she was off-the-wall. Betty was a pip, and that was best displayed in the episode when Sue Ann was eating away at Murray’s manhood and had him posing while she pinned a costume on him. He was the butt of jokes from Ted and Lou . . . and it finally ate into him enough where he picked Sue Ann up and plunked her down on the cake. Betty broke the wood support for the cake and you could hear it snap — but she didn’t let on that anything untoward happened. She was a trouper.

MacLeod: The episode I get the most mail about is the one where Murray wakes up and he’s now 40 years old and he thinks he’s in love with Mary. He goes to Lou for help and at the end [of the episode] Mary says something beautiful to him. His back is turned to her and he says to her, “Mary, everyone knows how beautiful you are on the outside, but I know how beautiful you are on the inside.” When the real Mary Tyler Moore was being buried in Connecticut, those were the last words said over her when they lowered her into the ground. Her son called and told me that. There were only a handful of people there and Bernadette Peters said that line. I never got an Emmy nomination for the show — but I got the last word on Mary Tyler Moore.