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Dec 18, 2019 · In 1980, the “Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Mary Tyler Moore Show” star received word that her only son Richie Meeker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 24.
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- She Gave Birth to Him When She Was 18. Mary Tyler Moore married her first husband, Richard Carleton Meeker, in 1955 when she was 18 years old. Meeker was 28 at the time.
- He Died in 1980 of an Accidental Gunshot Wound. Richard Meeker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on October 14th, 1980. At the time, there were some false reports that Meeker had committed suicide; in reality, his death was accidental.
- Moore Later Said She Regretted Being So Busy When Her Son Was Growing Up. When Richard Jr. was young, Moore was working on both The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and in her book Growing Up Again, she says that she wishes she had been around more.
- He Was Working at CBS at the Time of His Death. In addition to being a student, Meeker was working as a messenger for CBS when he died. This is the television network that aired The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 through 1977, and it was also home to The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Mary’s only son, Richard Meeker Jr., died in October 1980, after he accidentally shot himself in the head. He was 24. “It came from out of nowhere. He was doing so well,” Moore recalled in her...
May 25, 2023 · Richie died on Oct. 14, 1980, while living in a home near the University of Southern Campus, per the Washington Post. An avid gun collector, he was handling a short-barreled, .410-gauge...
- Jason Brow
- Mary Tyler Moore Battled to Wear Pants on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'
- CBS Balked at Making Mary Richards A Divorced Woman
- 'Ordinary People' Performance Was Shadowed by Personal Tragedy
- Moore Found True Love with Cardiologist Robert Levine
- Read More About Moore
"The Dick Van Dyke Show" show creator Carl Reiner hired Moore after hearing the untested actress read three lines of dialogue. Moore quickly proved her comedic mettle alongside screen husband Dick Van Dyke while taking meaningful stands. She insisted that Laura wear pants, a first for a woman on network TV. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Cr...
"Mary Tyler Moore Show" co-creators Allan Burns and James L. Brooks, working with Moore's second husband and production partner Grant Tinker, pitched CBS the concept of the sitcom: Moore as Mary Richards, the first divorcee on TV, starting a new life working at WJM, a Minneapolis TV station. The network balked over the then-controversial notion of ...
"Ordinary People" director Robert Redford hired Moore because he was fascinated with the actress's "dark side," said Moore. The 1980 Oscar-winner for best picture features Moore as an emotionally distant upper-middle-class housewife struggling in a strained relationship with her troubled son (Timothy Hutton) who had attempted suicide. In a case of ...
Two years after her son's death, the twice-divorced Moore found cardiologist Robert Levine, with whom she would spend the rest of her days. Levine was the only doctor available to make an emergency house call for Moore's mother. “Is acute loneliness a good enough reason to call?" Moore recalls telling Levine, 18 years her junior, at the end of the ...
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' turns 50'Love is (still) all around for the trailblazing sitcom RIP Mary Tyler MooreWho revolutionized the role of women on TV, dies at 80 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'50 ways we still love the classic sitcom Dick Van Dyke:The actor's best photos through the years
- Entertainment Reporter
Oct 18, 1980 · Meeker died while playing 'she loves me, she loves me not,' rhythmically loading and unloading a 410 shotgun in the bedroom of the home he shared near the University of Southern California with...
Jan 27, 2017 · His death was ruled an accident, but many speculated it was suicide. "I can't believe it was a suicide either," she told the Today show in 1995 while speaking about her son's death.
