MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesotans like to think Mary Tyler Moore belongs just to us. But the love for the late actor is all around, far from her statue on Nicollet Mall.
It's nearly impossible not to feel a connection with at least one of her most memorable characters: Laura Petrie, the not-always-happy homemaker in "The Dick Van Dyke Show"; Mary Richards, the steadfast associate producer at a fictional Minneapolis TV studio where the glass ceiling seemed as high as the IDS Center's roof panels in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"; Beth Jarrett, the suburban wife in "Ordinary People," who's more comfortable organizing golf outings than hugging her son.
Her universal appeal helps explain why "Being Mary Tyler Moore," a documentary premiering at 8 p.m. ET Friday on HBO, was spearheaded by Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe ("Master of None"), acclaimed producer Debra Martin Chase ("The Princess Diaries") and director James Adolphus ("Soul of a Nation"), three African Americans with little connection to the state that adopted her.
