Mary Tyler Moore Biography Pt.2: FIRST YOU CRY, ORDINARY PEOPLE, THE GIN GAME
Moore’s first autobiography, After All, published in 1995, was a frank exploration of her childhood, personal challenges and career. Her second book, Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes is a candid, humorous and illuminating detailing of her battles with the disease since she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (then called "juvenile diabetes" for its prevalence among children) in 1970 at age 33. The book includes conversations with remarkable people who live with the disease and those who work on the frontiers of medical research. Moore donated all her profits from Growing Up Again to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world’s leading funder and advocate for Type 1 diabetes science.
Moore has been JDRF’s International Chairman since 1984. She has also chaired JDRF’s biennial Children’s Congress since its inception in 1999, leading up to 200 children with Type 1 diabetes to Washington, D.C. to meet face-to-face with congressional representatives. Moore has been at the vanguard of JDRF’s visit on Capitol Hill, testifying before the House and Senate on behalf of increased National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for Type 1 diabetes, which affects as many as 3 million children and adults. Moore and her husband, Dr. S. Robert Levine, have been generous supporters of JDRF’s research programs and in 2003 established JDRF’s Excellence in Clinical Research Award in recognition of outstanding diabetes researchers. She herself was honored by JDRF in 2007 with its Humanitarian of the Year Award.
Among many other accolades, Moore received the 1984 Women in Film Crystal Award, was immortalized in 1992 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was presented with the American Screenwriters Association first David Angell Humanitarian Award in 2002, and in 2009 was honored with the National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award.
Moore co-founded Broadway Barks with Bernadette Peters in 1999. The annual event held in Broadway’s Shubert Alley promotes the adoption of shelter animals, seeks to end euthanasia of dogs and cats in New York City and fosters a spirit of community among the number shelters and rescue groups working throughout the city. New York Major Michael Bloomberg proclaimed this year’s July 9, 2011, event as "Broadway Barks Day."
The Brooklyn-born daughter of George Tyler Moore and Marjorie Hackett Moore, Moore had moved with her family to California at 8 and aspired to be a dancer. After graduating Immaculate Heart High School, she broke into commercials, then gained acting credentials in television, first as the only partially-glimpsed switchboard operator on Richard Diamond, Private Eye and in guest roles in more than a dozen popular series, such as Hawaiian Eye, 77 Sunset Strip, and Wanted: Dead or Alive.