Mary Tyler Moore - 80
Man, even I knew who she was and she was off TV long before I was conscious.
Absolutely impossible to quantify the enormous effect that show had on forming who I am today. As a kid, I never missed an episode. The family gathered in front of the set every week and watched every episode.
Even as an eight-year-old boy I was heavily influenced. There is no doubt about it, that show formed what I became with regard to conversational style, comedic influence & timing, and how to understand intelligent interaction. It lauded inclusion and understanding and it championed a woman as the lead.
More importantly, that leading role wasn’t in a sad sack, trying to find a man, or clumsy damsel-in-distress way. It championed her as a strong, cerebral, honest, true to herself woman. She was successful because of who she was, not in spite of who she was. The show as a whole was my role model as a kid and has remained so to this day.
I suspect I reference it here at work probably twenty times a year. Sometimes with a sharp comeback to a tiresome coworker, sometimes with reference to wishing for a bottle of whiskey in my desk drawer a la Mr. Grant, but usually with my Mary Richards over-the-head wave to coworkers as I pass them in the hall.
We’ve lost a ton of greats the past year or so, but to me this is the one that is most depressing.