The legendary actressdiedon Jan. 25, 2017, at the age of 80. A source told PEOPLE she had been on a ventilator and had been hospitalized with pneumonia due to complications from her diabetes. According to her longtime rep, she passed away in the company of friends and, of course, her loving husband of more than 33 years.
Moore wasmarried twicebefore she met Levine, first to producer Richard Meeker and then to television executive Grant Tinker. In 1982 — two years afterthe death of her only child, 24-year-old son Richie— Moore finally met the man with whom she would spend the rest of her days.
They first met when Levine treated Moore’s sick mom
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As fate would have it, Moore’s mother Marge fell ill with severe bronchitis in 1982. The actress called her regular doctor, who was unavailable, and was instead connected with Dr. Levine, who was on call that day.
“After I’d seen her mom the second time, I said to Mary, ‘If there’s an emergency, just get in touch with me,’ " Levinetold PEOPLE in 1984of the serendipitous house call. “And Mary said, ‘Does acute loneliness count?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ "
A few days later they made a dinner date. Soon enough, Moore and the Loyola-educated cardiologist, who was 15 years her junior and working at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital at the time, began spending every weekend together.
“She fell really in love,” a friend of the actresstold PEOPLEat the time. “It’s been a real rebirth.”
Emanuel Azenberg, the producer ofWhose Life Is It Anyway?in which Moore starred on Broadway in 1980, called Levine “one of those doctors they wrote movies about 30 years ago.”
“He’s genuinely caring,” said Azenberg. “There’s no question they’re in love. They both have too much integrity to stay with the relationship if they weren’t.”
They got married a year after meeting
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On Thanksgiving Eve in 1983, the twowed at Manhattan’s Pierre Hotel. It was Levine’s first — and only — marriage.
“You’d never know this is her third wedding,” one friend of the actress told PEOPLE at the time. “All she talks about is her dress and how excited she is.”
Moore’s longtime costar and close friendValerie Harperwas a bridesmaid, telling PEOPLE at the time Moore was “filled with joy because she and Robert are friends as well as loving each other.”
“He makes her feel cherished,” she added. “Both families [Levine’s is Jewish, Moore’s Roman Catholic] are happy, too.”
Levine helped Moore take care of her health
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After filming two movies back-to-back that summer, Levine told PEOPLE Moore “had complained there were periods [during the day] when she just felt lousy.”
“It was I who said, ‘Hey, maybe the drinking is affecting your diabetes,’ " he recalled.
The cardiologist went on to perform a two-week study of the fluctuations in his wife’s blood chemistry, collecting blood specimens throughout the day and even waking her at night. He suggested that she cut out her after-dinner brandy and all other alcohol consumption for a trial period. Her blood chart steadied somewhat. His conclusion: Alcohol was affecting her body chemistry. It was not that she was drinking more — the problem was, “the disease is progressive and becomes more difficult to treat.”
“Everyone on the street thinks of Mary as being theirs. She’s at Betty Ford because her doctor and I thought she needed a supportive environment for abstinence,” Levine said. “Her goal is to gain some strength and understanding that it’s okay to say no to alcohol.”
Levine and Moore lived together in New York
The couple shared a home in upstate New York together, which they purchased in the early ’90s.
WATCH: Legendary Actress Mary Tyler Moore Dies at 80
“The first towns that realtors showed us things in were too close to the city, too suburban — because now we really wanted to be country. ‘Can we look a little farther north?’ we kept asking, ‘just a little farther north?’ " she continued. “And here we are. There’s not even a movie house in this town — you have to go to Poughkeepsie. Or do what we do on weekends, which is either go to bed early and forget about it or rent a movie.”
Moore and Levine’s work together led to their long love
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Together, the couple dedicated their time and resources to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, both serving on the international board of directors.
Ultimately, Moore credited Levine with always being able to lift her spirits.
“My husband has always been very good at getting me out of myself when I get down and depressed and all of that — never seriously,” she toldEntertainment Tonightin 2013. “So, I am basically a very happy person.”
Levine gave an inside look into Moore’s life six years after her death
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The widower shared how people may “think you know her and love her,” but how in reality they “don’t know everything.” Hedetailed some of Moore’s greatest struggles in life, including dealing with alcoholism while diabetic and the pressures of her dysfunctional family, while speaking to PEOPLE in May 2023.
Levine reminisced on how Moore had a strong passion for dance, even adding, “She said she would always believe herself to be a failed dancer as opposed to a successful actress.” He explained how she hoped that one day her dancing would earn her praise from her parents.
The cardiologist also shared that the one thing Moore kept private in their relationship was the death of her sonRichie, who died at 24 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She kept that tragedy “in a dark room. She didn’t want to touch that pain,” he said.
Levine also told PEOPLE that he considered it his role and privilege “to be her protector and care for her and hold her.”
source: people.com
