Mary Tyler Moore (born December 29, 1936) is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77), in which she starred as Mary Richards, a thirty-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and, earlier, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66), in which she played Laura Petrie, a former dancer turned Westchester homemaker, wife and mother. Her notable film work includes 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie and 1980's Ordinary People, in which she played a role that was very different from the television characters she had portrayed, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.