No 'Ordinary' life: Highlights from the career of Mary Tyler Moore

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."

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show": Their first pitch was this weekly comedy about a single working woman. CBS bought it, and the show (1970-77) went on to win 29 Emmys (four for Moore as actress) — a record that stood until "Frasier" broke it a quarter century later.

What now? Moore tried to return to her performing roots with two failed musical-variety shows for CBS in 1978-79.

"Ordinary People": Returning to the big screen in 1980, she played against type, portraying an emotionally distant mother in Robert Redford's adaptation of a best-seller by Twin Cities author Judith Guest. It won her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Return to TV: She had three short-lived series in the mid-1980s, but better success in TV movies, including the 1985 HBO romance "Finnegan, Begin Again," the 1990 "MTM" reunion "Mary and Rhoda," the 1993 Lifetime drama "Stolen Babies" (which earned her final Emmy) and the 2003 PBS comedy "The Gin Game," co-starring Van Dyke.

Confessionals: In her 1995 memoir "After All," she acknowledged she was a recovering alcoholic. She followed up in 2009 with "Growing Up Again," which focused on her life with type 1 diabetes.

Return to Minneapolis: During a 1996 book tour she visited her old TV "home" with third husband Dr. Robert Levine, then came back in 2002 for the unveiling of her statue on the Nicollet Mall.

Last hurrah: In 2013 she appeared on Betty White's show "Hot in Cleveland" along with "MTM" castmates Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper and Georgia Engel.