Mary Richards
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- For the English cricketer, see Mary Richards (cricketer)
| Mary Richards | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "Love Is All Around" |
| Last appearance | Mary and Rhoda |
| Cause/reason | End of the series |
| Created by | James L. Brooks and Allan Burns |
| Portrayed by | Mary Tyler Moore |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 30 (in 1970) |
| Date of birth | 1940 |
| Date of death | None (still alive as of the year 2000) |
| Occupation | News producer |
| Family | Walter Richards (father) Dottie Richards (mother) Flo Meredith (aunt) |
| Spouse(s) | Steven Cronin (died in either 1999 or 2000) |
| Children | Rose Cronin (born in the early 1980s) |
Played by Mary Tyler Moore, Mary Richards was the main character in the long-running television sitcom, Mary Tyler Moore. In real life, there is a statue of Mary (as Mary Richards) throwing her tam up in the air, as she did on the series, on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.
[edit] She could turn the world on with her smile
Mary is the daughter of Walter and Dottie Richards. She also had a crusading journalist aunt named Flo Meredith. She was engaged to a medical student named Bill, who left her. Reeling from this breakup, she moved from her small hometown of Roseburg, Minnesota, to Minneapolis, at the suggestion of her friend Phyllis Lindstrom.
Phyllis, who was the landlady of an apartment house, had signed a year's lease for Mary to have one of the best apartments. She did this, mainly to keep Rhoda Morgenstern, whom Phyllis despised, from trading up from the tiny attic loft Rhoda lived in. Though they initially clashed, Mary and Rhoda soon became best friends, to Phyllis's dismay. She also had a bond with Phyllis's daughter, Bess.
Mary applied for a secretarial job at television station, WJM-TV, the Twin Cities' lowest rated station. She met with news producer Lou Grant, who hated her spunk, but hired her anyway, albeit for a different position. The secretarial position was filled, so Mary was hired as associate producer, a job for which she was not qualified, and which paid less money than she would have made as a secretary. She quickly became friends with news writer Murray Slaughter, who in time came to adore her. She was even friends with the very vain (and very incompetent) news anchor, Ted Baxter. In fact, Ted got along better with Mary than anyone else in the news room.
The question of why Lou Grant hired Mary when she wasn't qualified for the job is never explained. The fact that he appeared at her apartment soon after she was hired and boozily opined that he thought Mary had a "great caboose" briefly led Mary to believe that Lou had ulterior motives. However, Lou eentually developed almost a paternal relationship with Mary. In a later episode, Mary discovers that she was paid substantially less money than the man who held the position before her. Grant, with his typical, politically incorrect candor, told Richards that he thought he could get away with paying her less because she was a woman. Mary let Lou know that times had changed, she fought for a raise and got it. Over time, she learned how to do her job, graduating from glorified gofer to a highly competent television producer.
Mary often was the voice of reason, but that didn't help her whenever she threw parties. Her parties were always unqualified disasters, and were legendary in Minneapolis.
After almost four years of living in Phyllis' apartment house, she moved into a new high-rise apartment. Prior to this, Phyllis was spun-off into a new series, and she and Bess moving to her hometown of San Francisco after the death of her husband. While living there, Mary made friends with next-door neighbor, Paula Kovaks, (played infrequently by actress Penny Marshall).
Other friends of Mary's included Homemaking expert, Sue Ann Nivens and Georgette Franklin, who married Ted in her new apartment. Eventually, Mary was promoted to News Producer, while Lou became the station's news director.
During the show's later years, she visited Rhoda in New York and Phyllis in San Francisco, so she wasn't truly out of contact with her two closest friends.
She had had her share of dates over the course of the series, and even tried to date her boss, Lou, in the next-to-last episode. Up until then, she had always called Lou, "Mr. Grant."
In the final episode, Mary, along with Lou, Murray and Sue Ann, lost their jobs in an effort to boost the news' sagging ratings. Ted, ironically, had kept his job, despite the fact that it was he who was the primary cause for the news cast's low ratings.
During a surprise visit, Rhoda and Phyllis, who were clued in on the bad news by Lou, each wanted Mary to move in with them. Rhoda wanted her to move to New York, (where she would have numerous job opportunities; not to mention Rhoda to hang out with) and Phyllis wanted her to move to San Francisco (supposedly to have an ally in her constant battles with Mother Dexter, her main nemesis). However, they had compromised. At that time, Mary stayed in Minneapolis.
Some years later, she did end up moving to New York and got her master's degree in journalism, married a congressman (Steven Cronin), worked for ABC News, and had a daughter, Rose, whom she was very proud of. Her seven years of work at WJM-TV had paid off handsomely.
After her husband's death, she returned to New York and reconnected, happily, with her best friend, Rhoda, who, by this time, had had a daughter of her own, named Meredith.
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