Early years: Born Dec. 29, 1936 in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Marjorie and George Tyler Moore, the oldest of three children. Moved with her family to Los Angeles at age 8.
Getting started: Decided at 17 she wanted to be a dancer. First TV job was as Happy Hotpoint, a dancing elf in TV commercials during the "Ozzie and Harriet" show.
First marriage: In 1955 wed Richard Meeker, a salesman, and became pregnant — which ended her elf career. Her only child, Richard Jr., was born in 1956. He died in 1980 when a gun went off in his hands.
Budding career: From 1959-61 she began getting TV roles in such shows as "77 Sunset Strip" and the Steve McQueen western "Wanted: Dead or Alive."
"The Dick Van Dyke Show": She won the first two of her seven Emmys and became a 1960s icon in capri pants in this 1961-66 hit sitcom.
Second husband: TV producer Grant Tinker, from 1962-81.
Big-screen breaks: A string of film roles in the 1960s culminated in the 1969 Elvis Presley movie "A Change of Habit," with Moore as a nun. The film bombed, ending Elvis' movie career — and hers, too, for a decade.
MTM Enterprises: Launched in 1969 by Moore and Tinker, it produced nearly 60 TV series and movies, including such hits as "The Bob Newhart Show," "Hill Street Blues" and "WKRP in Cincinnati."
