Who can turn the world on with her smile? Mary Tyler Moore. And the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis, Minnesota might just turn your world on with its smile too.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. It starred Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, a thirty-something woman who moves to Minneapolis after a breakup and finds herself as an associate producer of the evening news at local station WJM-TV.
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The final shot of the opening credits shows a freeze frame of Mary tossing her hat into the air. The statue commemorates that iconic shot and was erected on the same downtown Minneapolis corner at Nicollet Mall where the scene was filmed.
Commissioned in 2002, the statue is one of several sculptures of characters and actors from classic television series that the television station TV Land has commissioned as part of TV Land Landmarks since the early 2000s.
Other classic TV character statues from TV Land include:
Bob Newhart as Dr. Robert Hartley from The Bob Newhart Show (Navy Pier, Chicago)
Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners (Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York City)
Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Ron Howard as Opie Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show (Raleigh, North Carolina/Mount Airy, North Carolina)
Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens from Bewitched (Lappin Park, Salem, Massachusetts)
Elvis Presley from Aloha from Hawaii (Neal Blaisdell Center Arena, Honolulu)
Henry Winkler as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli from Happy Days – AKA the “Bronze Fonz” (Milwaukee Riverwalk, Milwaukee)
In 2015, the statue was removed from its location at the corner of Nicollet and 7th Street and put into storage to make way for construction on the sidewalk. After a public outcry the Minnesota roadside attraction was instead temporarily moved to the Minneapolis Visitor Information Center down the street, so Mary Tyler Moore fans from around the world could still visit the monument. In 2017, when that construction concluded, the bronze Mary Tyler Moore statue was returned to it’s original corner – making it back after all!
The Mary Tyler Moore statue is just one-must-see tourist attractions in Minneapolis. While visiting the city be sure to also stop at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to see the big spoonbridge and cherry sculpture!
Mary Tyler Moore Statue
Location: 700 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55402
Cost: Free to See
Hours: Always Visible
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