Legendary US actress Mary Tyler Moore, famed for her roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died aged 80.
The television icon's publicist and long-time representative confirmed Moore had died surrounded by family and friends after being hospitalised in Connecticut.
"Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," her spokeswoman Mara Buxbaum said in a statement.
"A ground-breaking actress, producer, and passionate advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mary will be remembered as a fearless visionary who turned the world on with her smile."
On The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Moore helped lead the way for women in television through her portrayal of Mary Richards, a professional and independent woman in an office full of men.
Her character was heavily lauded in the move towards gender equality, with one plot line featuring her asking for equal pay to her male colleague.
When asked in a 2002 interview with CNN whether her character was a feminist, Moore said "she wasn’t aggressive about it, but she surely was".
"There was the time where she found out that the man before her in that job was paid a good deal more money than she," Moore said.
"And she stormed into Lou's office and said, 'explain this, will you?'"
She is best known for her stint as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show before starring in The Mary Tyler Moore Show for seven seasons. They were both among the most popular sitcoms of their time, with the former ranking seventh and the latter twentieth on TV Guide's 2013 list of the greatest television shows.
She has also leant her voice to King of the Hill and played Christine St. George in That ‘70s Show.
Moore was awarded three Golden Globes and seven Emmy Awards, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award for the 1981 film, Ordinary People, where she played a character very different from her TV sitcom days – an icy woman coping with a suicide attempt by her 18-year-old son.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1936 and grew up in Los Angeles.
The actress had long battled Type 1 diabetes and underwent brain surgery in 2011.
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