Meet the Real-Life Couples of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'

By the early 1970s, television was in the midst of a major transformation, making a shift away from lighter comedies that had rules the airwaves in the previous decade and making the way for edgier, more realistic comedies in the form of shows like All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show and, of course, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

And in the case of the latter, The Mary Tyler Moore Show cast gave viewers beloved characters that they were delighted to watch week after week from 1970 to 1977, making household names out of people like Mary Tyler Moore (who'd already done that as part of The Dick Van Dyke Show), Ed Asner, a pre-Love Boat Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman and beautifully establishing their character relationships. But for anyone wondering about the cast's relationships behind the camera and in real life, you'll find the answers below.

What ’70s real-life TV couples would you like to see?

Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Meeker

Mary Tyler Moore (WJM Associate Producer Mary Richards) was married for the first time in 1955 when she was 18, her husband being next-door neighbor Richard Meeker, a cranberry juice salesman who was 10 years her senior. Six weeks later she was pregnant, giving birth to their son, Richard Meeker Jr, on July 3, 1956. In her memoir, After All, Mary admitted that she jumped into marriage with both a youthful eagerness and a lack of understanding of the kind of responsibility that marriage required. They were, she wrote, two young as they attempted to navigate early adulthood.

Their marriage ended in divorce in 1962, and tragically, their son died  of an accidental gunshot to the head in 1980.

Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker

In the same year that she divorced Richard Meeker, Mary Tyler Moore married CBS executive Grant Tinker, who would later become the chairman of NBC and with whom she would form their production company MTM Enterprises, responsible for a variety of shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Rhoda, The Bob Crane Show, Phyllis, The Tony Randall Show, The Betty White Show, Lou Grant, WKRP in Cincinnati, The White Shadow, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele, Newhart, St. Elsewhere, Evening Shade and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Mary and Grant broke up briefly in 1973, came back together but then separated for good in 1979, divorcing in 1981. In After All, she acknowledged that, "Grant believed in me more than I believed in myself."

1975

Circa 1975: Mary Tyler Moore, in a black dress and choker, and her second husband, American television executive Grant Tinker, standing beside each other and smiling. Tinker is wearing a tuxedo.

1979

Grant Tinker and Mary Tyler Moore at Chasen's Restaurant in Beverly Hills, California on September 19, 1979.

Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Levine

Marriage number three was to cardiologist Robert Levine, who was 29-years-old when they wed on November 23, 1983. It was the most successful of their marriages, spanning 34 years until the time of her death. Believing that he allowed her to be herself, she felt that he was her true partner and that their love was a true and enduring one.

1999

December 8, 1999: Mary Tyler Moore with her husband, Dr. Robert Levine, at the opening night of, Minnelli on Minnelli, Palace Theater in New York City.

2008

Dr. Robert Levine and wife Mary Tyler Moore pose at Broadway Barks 10 in Shubert Alley on July 12, 2008 in New York City.

2012

Mary and Robert onstage at Broadway Barks 14 at the Booth Theatre on July 14, 2012 in New York City. Marking its 14th anniversary, Broadway Barks!, founded by Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore, helps many of New York City's shelter animals find permanent homes and also informs New Yorkers about the plight of the thousands of homeless dogs and cats in the metropolitan area.

Mary Tyler Moore passed away on January 25, 2017 at the age of 80.

Ed Asner and Nancy Sykes

Ed Asner (WJM news producer Lou Grant) was married to Nancy Sykes from 1959 until their divorce in 1988, and they basically kept their private life exactly that when it came to the media. They were the parents of three children: twins Matthew and Liza and a younger daughter named Kate. Rumors are that as Ed got more involved with various activism causes, it put strains on the marriage, which led to the couple going their separate ways.

Undoubtedly contributing to that as well was the fact that in 1987 he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman.

Edward Asner and Cathy Gilmore

The second marriage for Ed Asner came in 1998 when he wed producer Cindy Gilmore, the two having gotten engaged seven years earlier. Gilmore filed for legal separation on November 7, 2007 with Ed filing for divorce eight years later.

2012

Ed Asner and wife Cindy attend the Opening Night After Party for "Grace" on Broadway at the Copacabana on October 4, 2012 in New York City.

Ed Asner died of natural causes on August 29, 2021 at the age of 91.

Gavin MacLeod and Patti Kendig

Gavin MacLeod (news writer Murray Slaughter) met his first wife, dancer Joan F. Rootvik, when she was a Rockette and he was working as an usher and elevator operator at Radio City Music Hall. The two were married in 1955 and had three children, which they raised together until their divorce in 1972.

Two years later, Gavin married Patti Kendig and even though they, too divorced (in this case in 1982), they remarried in 1985, giving credit to their faith as evangelical Christians for bringing them back together.

Gavin died on May 29, 2021 at age 90.

Ted Knight and Dorothy Smith

Ted Knight (WJM news anchor Ted Baxter) was married to Dorothy Smith in 1948 and they were together until the time of his death. They had three children: Ted Jr, Elyse and Eric. Ted died as a result of cancer on August 26, 1986 at the age of 62.

Valerie Harper and Richard Schaal

Valerie Harper (Mary Richards' best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern) got married to actor Richard Schaal in 1964, and they were together until 1978, at which point they were divorced. That same year, she began dating actor/director Peter Horton.

Valerie Harper and Tony Cacciotti

In the 1980s, Valerie had a fitness trainer named Tony Cacciotti, the two of them falling in love and getting married in 1987. They adopted a daughter, Cristina, and were together until Valerie's death on August 30, 2019 at the age of 80.

Cloris Leachman and George Englund

Cloris Leachman (Mary Richard's friend and landlady Phyllis Lindstrom) was married to actor/director/producer George Englund from 1953 until their divorce in 1979. Together, they had four sons (Bryan, Morgan, Adam and George) and one daughter (Dinah). She died on January 27, 2021 at the age of 94.

Betty White and Dick Barker

Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens) was married to Dick Barker from 1945 to 1946. They'd met while she was volunteering with the American Women's Voluntary Service and he was an Air Force pilot. They wed following World War II and moved to Ohio, where Dick wanted a simple life as a chicken farmer. Betty found that didn't work for her and although they returned to Los Angeles, they nonetheless were divorced.

Her second husband was talent agent Lane Allen, whom she was with from 1947 to 1949, that marriage falling apart due to his desire to start a family and her intent on launching a career.

Betty White and Allen Ludden

In 1961, Betty was a celebrity contestant on the TV game show Password, where she made an immediate connection with host Allen Ludden. They were married in 1963 and were together until his death in 1981. Betty herself died on December 31, 2021 at 99.

1977

American actress and comedian Betty White, wearing a floral pattern outfit, with her husband, American television host and actor Allen Ludden, who wears a tuxedo and bow tie, and American actor Henry Winkler, also in a tuxedo and bow tie, attend an event, United States, circa 1977.

Facts about The Mary Tyler Moore Show:

• For anyone who watched The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards was quite the different character from Laura Petrie and it was quite a different situation comedy series.

• Early on the network was concerned about how the audience would respond to The Mary Tyler Moore Show with their leading lady as a single woman.

• Ed Asner as Lou Grant became the focus of a more dramatic spinoff series.

• There were 168 episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

• The series was the recipient of 29 Emmy Awards, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series and three for Moore herself.

• It would seem that Betty Ford watched The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the First Lady making an appearance in the show’s sixth season.

Who is your favorite character on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’?

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