The late Mary Tyler Moore had a rich and rewarding career and, in the immediate aftermath of her passing, is being remembered as a feminist icon—someone who, on her self-titled show, not only “turned the world on with her smile,” but who lived alone and was career-focused. That self-determination influenced a lot of women, but one specific woman really took the Moore mantra and ran with it.
Oprah Winfrey was and is a diehard Mary Tyler Moore fan. The super-rich television host and executive has said she spent years modeling her life after Mary Tyler Moore’s television persona, from the “O” over her fridge in her apartment to her vest/pussy-bow ensembles. She didn’t just want to model herself after Mary, Winfrey says. She wanted to be Mary.
All of that came to a head in 1997, when, under the guise of a show about Winfrey’s favorite celebrity women, the Oprah staff surprised Winfrey with a drop-in appearance from Moore. As you’ll see in the clip below, Winfrey was genuinely surprised to meet her idol, something that caused her to both burst into tears and begin to sweat profusely.