Mary Tyler Moore's widower reveals he did not recognize her when they met
Mary Tyler Moore's widowed husband has opened up about their three-decade marriage, saying he didn't realize she was a star actress when they first met, as he prepares to release a new documentary on her life.
'She's with me every day. The pain of her loss is unreconciled but I feel her love all around me,' Dr. Robert Levine told the Today Show on Wednesday of Moore, who died in 2017 at age 80.
Moore was best known for her groundbreaking comedic roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show and the Mary Tyler Moore Show, but Levine says he remembers her as 'someone who had (an) enormous heart, great grace' and was 'extraordinarily generous and kind.'
Moore was twice divorced when she married Levine in 1983, and battling an alcohol addiction that she later candidly described in her memoir, telling how she got clean in rehab at the Betty Ford Center the year after their wedding.
Levine, a cardiologist, recalled that he met the star by chance when her mother, Marjorie Hackett Moore, was sick and needed to see a doctor.
Dr. Robert Levine opened up about his three-decade marriage to Mary Tyler Moore, as he prepares to release a new documentary about her life
Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Levine are seen together in 1993. She had divorced twice before marrying Levine in 1983, but later described him as her first true love
'When I was about to leave, I said what you would expect a doctor to say, 'Mary, if you have concerns or any further questions, just give me a call,' he said in the interview with Today.
'And she turns to me and says, 'Is acute loneliness a good enough reason to call?' the doctor said.
'And I said, 'I can't think of a better reason to be calling at 3am,'' he added, saying that he was 'absolutely shocked' when a few days later, she did call him at 3am.
Levine said that, due to his busy schedule in college and medical school, he had hardly ever seen the Mary Tyler Moore Show, which aired from 1970 to 1977, and that he did not recognize the starlet when they first met.
Levine is executive producer of a new documentary, titled Being Mary Tyler Moore, which is due out on Friday on HBO and streaming service Max.
The documentary includes never-before-seen pictures and archival footage found in Moore's own basement, showing intimate moments from her life outside the limelight.
'I suggested we call the film, Being Mary Tyler Moore,' Levine told Today. 'The thing about it was, being Mary, because everything Mary did, she was authentic. She was being herself.'
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was ranked seventh on TV Guide's 2013 list of best television shows of all time
The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966, was also wildly popular it its time
Moore's eponymous show and The Dick Van Dyke Show were both among the most popular sitcoms of their time, with the former ranking seventh and the latter No. 20 on TV Guide's 2013 list of best television shows of all time.
Yet off-screen, Moore's life was filled with challenges and heartbreak.
In her early 30s, Moore was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and suffered heath challenges for much of her life.
With her husband she founded the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative philanthropy to search for better cures to complications from diabetes.
In 1980, her son from her first marriage Richie Meeker, who struggled with drugs and alcohol, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound that was officially ruled accidental.
And Moore was candid about her struggles with alcohol following her second divorce in 1980, writing in her memoir, 'I anesthetized myself at the end of the day.'
Levine, a cardiologist, recalled that he met the star by chance when her mother was sick and needed to see a doctor. They are seen together above in 1991
In 1984, soon after her marriage to Levine, she spend five weeks in rehab at the Betty Ford Center, where she later wrote that she 'grew up some'.
'If you look at her from physical challenges, from health challenges, but also from emotional, she never shied,' Levine told Today.
He said that he hoped the new documentary would inspire a new generation to draw inspiration from Moore's life and the challenges she overcame.
'I wanted to reflect on what Mary's life was, remind people of her importance and her impact, and encourage them to be a Mary too. To stand up for what you believe and to always present the world with a smile, but to not be shy from the battle.'
Source: Daily Mail
