So sad! She was such an icon to me growing up. Wasn't she one of the first women to wear pants on TV?
I don't know if she was one of the first but I remember reading there was a fight about her wardrobe on the Dick Van Dyke show because they wanted her to dress like Harriet Nelson in full housedresses and she refused. She said that is not how real mothers dressed. I think she was right because my mom lived in Capris or shorts at home, but she would change into a straight skirt suit or dress to go out - sometimes even for grocery shopping!
She was a wonderful dancer and a very good actress too. My mom and I always loved her in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" even though the movie itself was not so great. And who can forget her great performance in "Ordinary People"? And on the Dick Van Dyke show she sure could rock those slacks! I actually teared up a little hearing the news this morning.
Probably she is remembered for wearing them indeed, and looking the best in them too. But lets not forget Lucille Ball who wore them on her TV show regularly. My boyfriend always comments on her looking so great in pants when we watch those old TV shows. I say "yes, I KNOW". Tee hee. Jonathan, I love that story about Mary insisting that real housewives wore slacks and capris at home. Good for her!
She was wonderful, very pretty, and funny. I find her passing quite timely with the women's rights movement that is going on right now in the US.
So sad. I loved her in the Mary Tyler Moore show, but I wanted to be Rhoda. Have they said what her illness was? She will live in our hearts forever
So sad that she has passed... My favorite (recent-ish) memory is of her cameo appearance as a hardened, orange-jumpsuit-wearing, harmonica-playing jailbird on "Hot in Cleveland".