First of her kind: Actress Mary Tyler Moore remembered as ground-breaking

CTV News Channel: The legacy of Mary Tyler Moore Entertainment journalist Jeanne Wolf discusses the legacy of Moore and says she showed people how determined she was and was an inspiration.

Mary Tyler Moore, who died Wednesday at 80, is being remembered for her influential role as a single career woman during a time when it was highly unusual to see actresses playing anything more than a housewife.

Susan Silver, one of the 25 female writers who worked on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” in which Moore played a news producer in Minneapolis, said women in the 1970s wanted to “hear other women’s voices” on television.

“And so it was kind of a natural thing, but they were the first to do it,” Silver said of the show’s creators.

In an interview with CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday, Silver said Moore herself was a “terrific person” both on and off camera.

“Mary was sort of like the Mary you saw, she was extremely kind, she was very private, and she was a little reserved but she was a terrific person,” Silver said.

Silver joined the show as a writer after calling up Garry Marshall. “I said, ‘I can do that show, I know that person. I’m from Milwaukee, not Minneapolis, I worked in a local TV station and I think it’s going to speak to women.’”

Once she was a part of the series, Silver said everyone knew “it was special to be there.

“I don’t think we knew how long it was going to last as such an iconic thing.”

According to Silver, the show made an effort to recruit female writers. “It really changed the way the dialogue was, changed the way women were perceived on television, and I think it was really an incredible start for a lot of us.”

She added: “I always say I started on top, it was downhill after that because it was such a wonderful atmosphere to be involved with.”

Silver said she has fond memories of working with Moore on set, particularly when she had a chance to introduce her mother to Moore.

“We were shooting one of my shows and my mother was all excited and she went up and said, ‘Oh, it’s so lovely to meet you Ms. Tyler,’” Silver said. “And then she panicked, and Mary was so sweet, she took her hand, and of course, she raved about me, which made my mother very happy.

“So she was a very kind person as well as a lovely person.”