Actress. She was an actress best known for her roles on both the 1960s sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and the 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Originally a dancer, she got her start in television as a dancing elf "Happy Hotpoint" in Hotpoint Appliance commercials during the popular show "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" in 1952. She would go to perform in various television shows such as "Richard Diamond, Private Detective," "Bourbon Street Beat," "77 Sunset Strip," "Riverboat," "Bachelor Father," and "Hawaiian Eye." In 1961, she got the first television role that would make her well known to viewers and that was of Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." She would go on to play this role from 1961 to 1966, which also won her a Golden Globe Award in 1965 for Best Female TV Star and two Emmy Awards. After "The Dick Van Dyke Show" went off the air, she continued in acting until receiving her second big role, that of Mary Richards on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in 1970. She played this role, which won her three Emmys, from 1970 to 1977. After the show ended, she went on to act in various films and television series for the remainder of her career with such credits as "Ordinary People" (1980), "Mary," "Annie McGuire," "New York News," "The Naked Truth," "Flirting with Disaster" (1996), "That 70s Show" and "Hot in Cleveland." She also appeared in various theatrical productions through the years. She received numerous other honors and awards throughout her long career in acting. She, along with then husband Grant Tinker (they divorced in 1981), had a production company MTM Enterprises that produced a variety of television sitcoms and dramas during the 1970s and early 1980s, including: "The Bob Newhart Show," "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Hill Street Blues." She also did charity work for both animal rights and diabetes causes through the years. She was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 33. She had surgery to remove a meningioma in 2011. After 2014, her health started to decline and she passed away from cardiopulmonary arrest because of pneumonia.