MARY Tyler Moore magazine

Before there was a Facebook, or even an Internet for that matter, I founded The Mary Tyler Moore International Fan Club, starting in 1990. It began as a simple little club with two or three members, who wrote to me from a tiny ad in the back of the now-defunct Hollywood: Then & Now magazine. I would send newsletters to members detailing Mary’s latest endeavors and include lots of photos, trivia questions and articles.
The newsletter soon evolved into a glossy color magazine that I self-published, called MARY. After registering with the National Association of Fan Clubs, which added me to their directory, I soon started to receive letters from all over the world from people wanting to join the fan club and subscribe to my ‘zine. It was a lot of fun and I put hours of work into each page, typing stories on an electric typewriter, cutting and gluing them like a jigsaw puzzle until everything fit just right on the page. Then I’d go to the 24 hour Kinko’s and have them printed in color. I eventually had about 300 people on my mailing list, including a few celebs that I would speak to at my job as a switchboard operator.
In 1997, I took a couple of sample issues to A Different Light bookstore in West Hollywood, which had a rack of homemade ‘zines in the back. I asked for the manager and pitched my magazine, and he bought them on consignment. All six issues sold out and helped me gain even more subscribers. (That bookstore is long gone, replaced by a clothing store.)
After a while it was no longer financially feasible to publish the magazine, as printing and postage was outweighing the incoming fees, so I hardly made any profit, but it was immensely satisfying. With Facebook, I can perform that same role in a different platform, but with the same love and devotion that motivated me to launch the fan club over 30 years ago.
Being able to channel my love for Mary in such a way that reaches so many other fans and brings us together to share our stories and viewpoints is a wonderful gift. Thank you all for being the best fans in the world!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

6yrs ago today we lost our beloved MTM. Reposting in her honor...

Quotes From Other Stars About Mary —
💬♥️
• ED ASNER: “I’m very proud to have spent seven years with this spectacular lady. Like the song suggests, she could turn the world on with her smile. But she could also do it with her voice, her grace, her talent, and her generosity of spirit.”

• GAVIN MacLEOD: “I was in love with her. Everybody was. I mean, come on, you’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to be in love with Mary Tyler Moore.”

• VALERIE HARPER: “In some ways I feel as close to Mary as I do my own family. She and I hit it off right away, off-screen and on... I was already a fan from The Dick Van D**e Show; I thought she was just adorable.”

• CLORIS LEACHMAN: “She was the star of the show, but she never acted like a star. She was always a team player.”

• ROSE MARIE: “When I heard on the news that she was losing her eyesight, I started to cry. And she and I weren’t even that close. I called her and we talked and laughed for over an hour. I love Mary and am happy to now call her a friend.”

• DICK VAN D**E: “Everyone loved the lady they see on TV, but the Mary I fell in love with was the one at rehearsals, with her hair in a ponytail, no makeup, and her freckles showing.”

• CARL REINER: “Hiring Mary for her first big break solidified my already impeccable reputation as a casting genius.”

• ROBERT PRESTON: “She’s that hearty woman with that great humor... and very easy to...’pretend’ to fall in love with.”

• JAMES GARNER: “Oh, that woman. She never stops nagging me!”

• LARRY KING: “She’s a legend and an icon, and someone we feel we know personally.”

• KATEY SAGAL: “I think she’s a genius. I was new to television when I worked with her, and she taught me so much.”

• BERNADETTE PETERS: “Mary just couldn’t bear to see any animal suffering. She was, I think, the most caring person I knew. I miss her.”

• SAM WATERSTON: “I’ve always had a good time working with her. I think [playing Mary Todd Lincoln] is the boldest thing she’s done, that I’ve done with her, and I think it’s wonderful. Wonderfully courageous.”

• BETTY WHITE: “I think what made Mary so special is that she wasn’t a so-and-so type, she was a complete original.” 

• MARY GROSS: “I got to play Mary Richards on Saturday Night Live, and to prepare, I watched her show with the sound off. Her body language was just incredible, she was like Charlie Chaplin!”

• CAROL BURNETT: “If there is an afterlife, I want to come back as Mary. I think she’s just wonderful.”

• DAVID LETTERMAN: “The first time I saw her, she turned to me and said, ‘do you happen to know where I can find a payphone?’ I was on Cloud 9.”

1972 • 1981 • 1977

🇺🇸 Red, White & Blue ...
Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July.

Mary Movie Monday — Memorial Day edition ...
“Gore Vidal’s Lincoln” (NBC, 1988):
📺 🇺🇸 •• 20 Tidbits ••
1. A two-part miniseries directed by Lamont Johnson, based on Gore Vidal’s controversial book “Lincoln,” which focused on the president’s personal and political struggles during The White House years.

2. Cast —
Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln
Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Todd Lincoln
Richard Mulligan as William H. Seward
Deborah Adair as Kate Chase
Gregory Cooke as Robert Lincoln
Steven Culp as Johnny Hay
Jeffrey DeMunn as William Herndon
Jon DeVries as Edwin Stanton
James Gammon as Ulysses S. Grant
Thomas Gibson as William Sprague
Ruby Dee as Elizabeth Keckley

4. Gore Vidal first wrote his 'Lincoln' as an eight-hour miniseries. Only when that project fell through did he turn it into a novel.

5. Vidal had no involvement in the final script, which was written instead by Ernest Kinoy. “My goal,” Mr. Kinoy told The New York Times, “was to avoid falsifying Lincoln's position or Gore's position. I did much reading on my own and could not find a single conflict between the novel and history.” Mr. Vidal, the producers said, read and applauded the final script.

6. This was the third project that teamed Mary Tyler Moore with actor Sam Waterston, following Finnegan Begin Again (1985) and Just Between Friends (1986). Mary said at the time, “I find a familiarity with him as you would a husband; there’s just an unspoken ‘something,’ a gesture – any kind of relating that has texture to it.”

7. Mary studied with dialect coach Lalene Manzel to master Mary Todd Lincoln’s Kentucky accent.

8. In portraying a woman who had to endure the deaths of three of her sons, Mary called upon her own personal tragedy, explaining, “I lost a son and experienced first-hand that indescribable pain. Every actor has to use everything he or she has been through in portraying a character.”

9. On working with Mary, Sam Waterston told Entertainment Tonight on the set: “I’ve always had a good time working with her. I think this is the boldest thing she’s done that I’ve done with her, and I think it’s wonderful. Wonderfully courageous.”

10. After viewing her performance, Ed Asner decided he wanted to develop a dramatic film to act in with Mary, which finally happened a decade years later with the 1997 ABC TV-movie, Payback.

11. The miniseries received seven Emmy nominations, including acting nods for Mary and Ruby Dee. Mary lost to Jessica Tandy for “Foxfire,” but Lamont Johnson won for his direction.

12. On her costumes, Mary told Hollywood Insider on the set: “Thank God we don’t wear these anymore! Everything is gusseted and corseted very tightly. It’s restrictive. Women of that era were smaller. I don’t mean that they were thinner, because nobody can be thinner than I am, but they were shorter. So they had to piece together existing costumes or make right from scratch new clothes for me.“

13. When interviewed by Regis and Kathie Lee in 1987 after she had won the role, Mary explained Mrs. Lincoln’s wild spending sprees. “During the Civil War at a time when there wasn’t enough money to pay for the soldiers’ uniforms, she was busy recarpeting the White House and buying drapery and 23 pairs of kid gloves. But in her mind she would justify it by saying, ‘if you show the people that their leaders have silks and satins and brooches, they will feel confident.’”

14. Mary Tyler Moore’s paternal great-grandfather was Lieutenant Lewis Tilghman Moore, a confederate soldier. Mary’s father, George Tyler Moore, had a signed pardon from Andrew Johnson.

15. The house Mary’s great-grandfather owned is now the Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum in Wi******er, Virginia.

16. Mary’s real life husband, Dr. Robert Levine, appears as an extra during the inauguration sequence wearing a fake mustache. He was also an extra in Finnegan Begin Again, Thanksgiving Day, and Mary & Rhoda.

17. Filmed on location in Richmond, Virginia. Mary and Sam Waterston had already filmed Finnegan Begin Again there, three years earlier.

18. After she married to Dr. Robert Levine in 1983, the real Mary shared the same initials as Mary Todd Lincoln (Mary Tyler Levine).

19. IMDb User Reviews —
• Swampthing31 | January 2017: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A very good film worth watching! Mary Tyler Moore gives the best portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln I have ever seen on screen.
• weeluuv | May 2005: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Mary Tyler Moore was marvellous as Mary Todd Lincoln, conveying the extremes of mental illness without going over the top & nullifying her warmth, intelligence, & independence, as other portrayals have!
• bdebbie | November 2008: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
I have watched this movie many times, as I use it to teach US history to eighth graders. It is an excellent portrait of Lincoln, showing his complexity and compassion. Yes, VerhoHo from NYC, NY, the book is better, but a movie that exactly mirrored the book would last for weeks. I think the movie does a fine job of summarizing Gore Vidal's comprehensive and historically accurate account of Lincoln's years as president. After seeing the movie the first time, when it aired on TV, I wanted to read the book and did.
Sam Waterson and Mary Tyler Moore are fabulous in their roles and bring these historical figures to life. I was also surprised to see Thomas Gibson (first from "Chicago Hope," then "Dharma and Greg") portraying Gov. Sprague. His accent and costume really disguised his identity.
I also like the way the director muted colors and added to the melancholy of the era.

20. R.I.P. —
John Houseman - died in 1988, age 86.
Richard Mulligan - died in 2000, age 67.
Cleavon Little - died in 1992, age 53.
Ruby Dee - died in 2014, age 91.
Mary Tyler Moore - died in 2017, age 80.

Mary Movie Monday —
“Finnegan Begin Again” (HBO, 1985):
📺 💕 •• 29 Nuggets ••
1. A made-for-HBO romantic comedy-drama film written by Walter Lockwood and directed by Joan Micklin Silver.

2. Cast —
Mary Tyler Moore as Liz DeHaan
Robert Preston as Mike Finnegan
Sam Waterston as Paul Broadbent
Sylvia Sidney as Margaret Finnegan
David Huddleston as Jack Archer
Bob Gunton as Christian Jamison
Giancarlo Esposito as Intruder
Russell Horton as Mort
Avery Brooks as Dude on Bus
Peter Friedman as John Jewell
Jon DeVries as Dr. Binder
Rick Warner as Charlie DeWitt

3. Synopsis — The film explores the evolving relationship between a 65-year-old advice columnist and a 40-year-old widowed schoolteacher.

4. The script was written by a high school English teacher named Walter Lockwood, who submitted his screenplay directly to Mary. She loved it immediately and planned to have it produced as a feature film in 1983.

5. After the critical and box-office failure of Six Weeks (1982), Mary had difficulty getting the film financed for the big screen. In 1984, Home Box Office took on the project to be presented under the banner of HBO Premiere Films.

6. The role of Michael Finnegan was offered to Jack Lemmon and Burt Lancaster, both of whom turned it down. Robert Preston, whose career was revived after his Oscar-nominated role in Victor/Victoria, then accepted the part.

7. The film debuted on HBO on Sunday February 24, 1985 and was scheduled as counter-programming to NBC’s premiere telecast of the Academy Award-winning movie Terms of Endearment. ‘Finnnegan’ pulled in a huge audience and was the highest-rated HBO movie up until that point.

8. Awards —
🔲 In 1985, Mary and Robert Preston were both nominated for CableACE awards, which were presented before cable programming was made eligible for Emmy recognition.

9. The title comes from an old children’s song, which the character of Michael Finnegan sings in the movie.
• Lyrics:
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan.
He grew whiskers on his 'chin'-negan.
He shaved them off and they grew back in again.
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again.

10. Ads for the movie featured the tagline, “they’re mismatched, mixed up...and just may be perfect for each other.”

11. First of four projects Mary appeared in with Sam Waterston. The other three were Just Between Friends (1986), Gore Vidal’s Lincoln (1987), and Stolen Babies (1993). Mary said in an interview, “we’re sort of a modern-day Fred and Ginger... I love working with him.”

12. Sylvia Sidney, who had a long career before this, went on to guest star on several TV series before her death in 1999 at age 88. One of her last major film roles was in the 1988 hit, Beetlejuice.

13. Robert Preston learned how to play the harmonica for this film.

14. David Huddleston, who plays newspaper editor Jack Archer, had worked with Mary before when he appeared as an amorous mortician on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Ironically, in this movie their one scene together takes place in a funeral parlor.

15. The movie was filmed entirely on location in Richmond, Virginia but was supposed to appear to be “Anywhere, USA.” A mock sign was hung outside The Richmond Times Dispatch that said ‘Morning Times Dispatch’ to depict the fictional newspaper where Finnegan worked.

16. The film was co-produced by Coca-Cola. A six pack of Coke is prominently displayed during a scene where Mary is shown packing a picnic basket.

17. Soundtrack —
🎵 Famed saxophonist David Sanborn composed and performed the film’s music score.

18. Interviewed on the set about why she chose this project, Mary replied, “I was attracted to the fact that it was a comedy, to begin with. Or at least it had the potential for being a really good comedy. It’s been a long time since I’ve done comedy, and in fact I began to wonder if I still knew how to do it. But I found that I do.”

19. All of the scenes were rehearsed and simultaneously videotaped. The director and actors would then view the scenes and discuss how they could be improved. Improvisation was also encouraged.

20. On working with Robert Preston for the first time, Mary gushed, “he’s a real huggy bear kind of person. I’m mad for him.” Preston also had high praise for Mary, stating, “She’s that hearty woman with that great humor, and she’s very easy to... pretend to fall in love with.”

21. Mary insisted on doing her own stunts, even though a stunt woman was brought in to take a fall into a muddy gravesite. Mary performed the dive perfectly and in one take.

22. Dr. Robert Levine, Mary’s real-life husband, appears on-camera as an extra, sitting behind Mary on the bus.

23. The film’s director, Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street), highly praised the two leads, saying, “I feel that they both have their characters so strongly that a typhoon could come through here and they would still react as Mike and Liz.“

24. Early role for Emmy-nominated ‘Breaking Bad’ actor Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the intruder who strikes Michael with a gun. He was 26 during filming playing eighteen.

25. After film commenced, Mary, then 47, checked herself into the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California to conquer her addiction to alcohol and Va**um. She emerged ten pounds lighter and remained sober for the rest of her life.

26. Home Media —
📼 The film was issued on VHS by HBO-Canon in 1986 but has yet to receive a DVD or Blu-ray release.
👩🏽‍💻 The full movie is posted on YouTube.

27. Quotable Quotes —
💬
Liz: [to Michael] “I find you utterly presumptuous.”
💬—————————-
Liz: “Michael, I’m not a kid anymore. You had someone to return to.”

Michael: “You’re practically an infant.”

Liz: “I’m so...particular. Believe me, I’ve met men. I’ll never find someone like Paul.”

Michael: “You’ll find one better. Anyway, why do you expect to find the secrets of life in somebody else?”

Liz: “...You’re a real pain in the ass, Michael.”
💬——————————
Paul: [after arriving unannounced at Liz’s apartment] ”Don’t tell me - he’s your transvestite father!”

Liz: “Paul, don’t get excited, he’s just a friend!”

Paul: “What’s he doing in your robe?”

Liz: “His clothes were drenched, he would’ve caught pneumonia!”

[Paul leaves in a huff]

Liz: “Paul! He’s a 65 year old man!”

Paul: “He is?”
💬———————————
Michael: [crying] “Everything... turns to sh*t!”

Liz: [comforting him] “It’s all right. You’re with me now.”
💬———————————
Michael: “There was always a method to Martha’s madness.”
💬———————————
Michael: [Arriving at Liz and Paul’s motel room] “I did your ironing.”
💬———————————
Michael: [after Liz kisses him for the first time] “What the hell is this?”

Liz: “What the hell do you think?”
💬———————————
Michael: [before he and Liz make love for the first time] “I’m fine now, but ten years from now, it’s impossible.”

Liz: “Ten years. If they’re good... would you trade them for forty indifferent ones?”
💬———————————
Liz: [after they make love] “Michael, I love you for doing my ironing.”

Michael: “Now say that again... for no reason at all.”

Liz: “I love you. For no reason at all.”

27. IMDb User Reviews —
• bronty | June 1999: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Finnegan Begin Again,” originally an HBO film, features the great Robert Preston (in his second-to-last film performance) and Mary Tyler Moore in a lovely, gently quirky tale of a May-December romance. Mike Finnegan (Preston), a newspaper columnist who ghosts as an advice-for-the-lovelorn matron, is married to Margaret, a woman who is not only a few years older than he but also suffering from what is apparently (but unnamed) dementia; he accepts the fact that, beyond whatever deep love he may have for his wife, that she is, in fact, lost in the mists of her dreams and recollections, a state reflected in their once-grand home in a once-grand, but now unsafe, area: it is as cluttered with remnants of the past as Margaret's mind, perhaps even more so. By chance - and here the writers have cleverly avoided the "meet cute" - on the bus, Mike meets Liz Dehan, a widowed art teacher, who is on her way to meet the very married Paul, a funeral director, at their usual, seedy motel room. Mike fancies himself an arm-chair Sherlock Holmes, watching people for the sheer interest in them but seeing clues as to what their lives are like, and he openly practices this on Liz, much to her dismay. Despite this tense beginning between them, a warm friendship develops and they find that there may, in fact, be more than friendship at play. Much like other Mary Tyler Moore films, this is played as strictly "dramedy" and it strikes just the right chord while doing it. The chemistry between the cast as a whole, and Moore and Preston in particular, is palpable, warm, and real. The direction, by Joan Micklin Silver, is reliably sure-handed, and serves the film well. It's a funny, warm, lovely movie, one that should appeal not only to an older audience but those younger audiences with mature tastes. Currently available only on VHS, this is certainly a film worth discovering!
• ijonesiii | December 2005: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A delightful made for HBO TV movie about a lonely advice columnist (Robert Preston in a lovely performance), trapped into caring for his senile wife (Sylvia Sidney) who develops a relationship with a woman (Mary Tyler Moore) who is equally trapped in a dead end affair with a married man (Sam Waterston). This movie lovingly tells the story of two desperately lonely people, trapped in lives they don't know how to get out of and find solace and friendship in each other. The movie is well-written and directed and the stars, particularly Preston, are just wonderful. I don't know if this one is on DVD but it should be. If you can find it, try to catch this underrated gem.

28. R.I.P. —
Robert Preston - died in 1987, age 68.
Sylvia Sidney - died in 1999, age 88.
David Huddleston - died in 2016, age 85.
Mary Tyler Moore - died in 2017, age 80.
Ron McLarty - died in 2020, age 72.
Joan Micklin Silver - died in 2020, age 85.

29. Cast Ages —
Giancarlo Esposito is 64.
Peter Friedman is 72.
Avery Brooks is 73.
Jon DeVries is 74.
Bob Gunton is 76.
Russell Horton is 80.
Sam Waterston is 81.

Dick Van D**e and Mary on the set of “Gin Game” with director Arvin Brown in 2003.

🍏 Valerie Harper, Mary, Heather Locklear and Estelle Getty at the 1986 Golden Apple Awards in New York, which honors outstanding teachers.

Mary Movie Monday —
“Thoroughly Modern Millie” (1967):
🎥 •• 31 Nuggets ••
1. A musical-romantic comedy directed by George Roy Hill, written by Richard Morris, based on the 1956 British musical “Chrysanthemum.”

2. Cast —
Julie Andrews as Millie Dillmount
James Fox as Jimmy Smith
Mary Tyler Moore as Miss Dorothy Brown
John Gavin as Trevor Graydon
Carol Channing as Muzzy Van Hossmere
Beatrice Lillie as Mrs. Meers
Jack Soo as Oriental #1
Pat Morita as Oriental #2
Philip Ahn as Tea, Muzzy's head butler
Anthony Dexter as Juarez
Cavada Humphrey as Miss Flannery
Herbie Faye as Taxi Driver
Michael St. Clair as Baron Richter
Lisabeth Hush as Judith Tremaine
Mae Clark as Secretary (uncredited)

3. Synopsis — In the early ‘Roaring Twenties,’ feisty young flapper Millie Dillmount (Dame Julie Andrews) plans to find a job in New York City and marry her wealthy boss. Though fond of penniless paper-clip salesman Jimmy Smith (James Fox), she's determined to wed well-heeled company man Trevor Graydon (John Gavin), who loves Millie's roommate Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore). As all four try to find love, evil landlady Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie) schemes to sell the orphaned Dorothy into white slavery.

4. This was originally intended to be a comedy starring Sandra Dee. However, when Julie Andrews was cast, it became a musical, with several original songs added.

5. The film was developed to make up for Universal losing the rights to “The Boy Friend” to MGM.

6. Beatrice Lillie's final film. She was showing early signs of Alzheimer's and had trouble memorizing her lines. During filming, Julie Andrews stood off-camera and repeated Lillie's dialogue to her, so she could complete her scenes.

7. Mary Tyler Moore, who had dreamed since childhood of starring in a big-screen musical, was disappointed when her only solo song was cut.

8. Universal wanted Robert Wagner to play Trevor Graydon.

9. This was the first musical film financed by Universal Pictures since 1961’s Flower Drum Song, six years earlier.

10. Jimmy Bryant dubbed James Fox’s singing voice (uncredited). Jackie Allen provided Mary Tyler Moore’s singing voice (uncredited).

11. Of the non-English languages purportedly spoken in the film (German, French, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Chinese), the only one that is not truly spoken is Chinese. What Mrs. Meers and the laundrymen are speaking are made up sounds, not actual Chinese words.

12. The two Chinese laundrymen are played by Japanese actors, Jack Soo and Pat Morita.

13. During production, director of photography Russell Metty fell ill and took a medical leave to recuperate. Famed cinematographer Russell Harlan was hired by producer Ross Hunter and director George Roy Hill to shoot the film during the brief interim. It was Hill who recommended Harlan to shoot the film during Metty's medical leave, based on their positive experience on filming Hawaii (1966) a year before. Harlan decided to not take credit for his efforts on the film, preferring to let his friend and colleague Russell Metty to take full credit.

14. The cast includes one Oscar-winner: Julie Andrews; and three nominees: Carol Channing, Pat Morita, and Mary Tyler Moore.

15. The outdoor sets are now a part of the Universal Studios tour, including the streets used during the chase scene.

16. Mary Tyler Moore revealed that every time she stepped into an elevator, she was reminded of her dance number with Julie Andrews from this movie.

17. One of four nostalgia-based films George Roy Hill made. After this, he directed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Waldo Pepper, and The Sting.

18. The theater interior, through which Muzzy is shot from a cannon, is the Universal Studios “Phantom of the Opera” stage, built for the 1925 original silent film.

19. For use of the song “Jazz Baby,” the producers had to acquire the rights from General Mills, which had used the melody with various lyrics to promote Wheaties for over forty years.

20. Some ads and posters for the film featured the tagline, “Julie as you love her... in the happiest motion picture hit of the year!”

21. Lisabeth Hush, who plays Judith Tremaine, had worked with Mary seven heats earlier in their very first movie, 1960’s “X-15.”

22. Critical Response —
📰 This was the first film Roger Ebert ever reviewed after being hired by The Chicago Sun-Times. He rated it four out of four stars. Years later he revealed, “I would not give that film four stars if I reviewed it today. I was at the premiere and was completely star-struck Carol Channing and Mary Tyler Moore.”
📰 Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "a thoroughly delightful movie ... Miss Andrews is absolutely darling – deliciously spirited and dry ... A few faults? Yes. There is an insertion of a Jewish wedding scene which is phony and gratuitous. And the whole thing's too long.”
📰 Variety observed, "The first half of Thoroughly Modern Millie is quite successful in striking and maintaining a gay spirit and pace. There are many recognizable and beguiling satirical recalls of the flapper age and some quite funny bits. Liberties taken with reality, not to mention period, in the first half are redeemed by wit and characterization. But the sudden thrusting of the hero into a skyscraper-climbing, flagpole-hanging acrobat, a la Harold Lloyd, has little of Lloyd but the myth. This sequence is forced all the way."
🍅 The film has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

23. Box Office —
💰 Budget: $6 million.
💵 Gross: $34 million.
• The movie was a huge hit for Universal and ranked as the 8th highest grossing film of 1967.

24. At the time, Julie Andrews was the number one box office star in motion pictures. Thoroughly Modern Millie was her last film of the 1960s to make money. Her next two films, Star! (1968) and Darling Lili (1970), were box office disasters. Julie did not appear in another hit film until 1974 when she co-starred with Omar Sharif in The Tamarind Seed.

25. Awards —
🏆 The film was nominated for seven Oscars, taking home one for Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein).
🏆 Carol Channing won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting, Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical.
🔲 Carol Channing was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, losing to Estelle Parsons for Bonnie & Clyde.
🔲 The title song was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Song, performed at the ceremony by Angela Lansbury. The winning song that year was “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle.

26. Goofs —
🤪 When Millie and Jimmy are sitting on the ledge of the building and he leans forward, you can see through the top of his head.
📆 Although the title song tells us "this is 1922," all of Millie's post-transformation fashions are from 1927. Her seamless stockings first appeared in the 1950s.
✈️ There is a close-up where Jimmy helps both Millie and Miss Dorothy off the wing of the plane onto the ground. In the next scene when Muzzy is driving up to the plane, Jimmy is once again helping Millie off the wing of the plane onto the ground.
🏨 When Miss Dorothy first arrives at the hotel in the taxi, there is a theater across the street from the hotel. Later, when Millie and Trevor Graydon drive up to the hotel just after Jimmy has arrived in drag, there is no theater at that spot anymore.
🗣 When Millie and Miss Dorothy are walking toward the elevator just before the Jewish wedding scene, Millie says, "Have you forgotten about the wedding tonight? I'm singing," but her mouth doesn't move. This line was added later to help explain the inclusion of the wedding sequence. (Incidentally, a Jewish wedding would not take place on a Friday night).

27. Stage Version —
🎭 The film was adapted into a Broadway musical, also titled “Throughly Modern Millie,” co-produced by Whoopi Goldberg. It opened at the Marquis Theater on April 18, 2002, ran for 903 performances, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical and was nominated for Best Book and Score. The award was presented by none other than Mary Tyler Moore.

28. Home Media —
📼 The movie was first issued on VHS in 1983. On some of the VHS versions, the Overture is edited out.
📀 Released on DVD in 2003.
💿 The Blu-ray was issued in 2021 by Kino-Lorber, exactly 55 years after the picture was made.

29. IMDb User Reviews —
• phillindholm | August 2005: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" is a thoroughly wonderful movie! With stars like Julie Andrews, Carol Channing and Beatrice Lillie, how can you lose? The answer: You can't! Splendid songs, dances and a sometimes hilarious script blend into top entertainment. Julie Andrews stated she took the role because she didn't have much longer to play ingénue parts. And she couldn't have chosen better. She is perfect as Mllie, the Kansas innocent (with a forgivably British accent) who comes to the Big City (circa 1922) to land a rich husband. At the same time, she meets "Miss" Dorothy Brown (an appealing Mary Tyler Moore), a self-described "rich orphan" out to experience life among the working girls. A chance meeting with Jimmy Smith (James Fox, currently in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") leads to a meeting with fabulously wealthy playgirl Muzzy Van Hossmere (Carol Channing) and a series of delightful mishaps. Along the way, Millie becomes enamored of her handsome boss, Trevor Graydon (John Gavin) and learns the REAL occupation of her mysterious landlady, Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie). All of the performers are "just swell," but inevitably, Lillie and Channing (who got an Oscar nomination) stand out, and there is a terrific turn by Cavada Humphrey as a formidable office manager. A typically polished Ross Hunter production, original songs by Sammy Cahn And James Van Heusen, and a musical background of standards by Oscar-winner Elmer Bernstein make this "Thoroughly Irresistible!"
• angel121248 | February 2005: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A brilliant musical offering well worth watching. Whether you like it or not all depends on taste; If you're like me and could watch and listen to Julie Andrews forever, it's for you. The rest of the cast is also fantastic, with Mary Tyler Moore as sweet Miss Dorothy and Beatrice Lillie as the hilarious Mrs Meers, and how could we forget Carol Channing as the fabulous Muzzy? Many people seem to have negative views on this movie; to others, it's great. If you're looking for deep, meaningful and heavy stuff, this probably isn't the movie for you. If you're looking for light, fluffy fun, come and bask in the glory of "Thoroughly Modern Millie!"

30. R.I.P. —
Jack Soo - died in 1978, age 61.
Philip Ahn - died in 1978, age 72.
Herbie Faye - died in 1980, age 81.
Beatrice Lillie - died in 1989, age 94.
Mae Clarke - died in 1992, age 81.
Michael St. Clair - died in 2001, age 78.
Anthony Dexter - died in 2001, age 88.
Pat Morita - died in 2005, age 73.
Cavada Humphrey - died in 2007, age 88.
Mary Tyler Moore - died in 2017, age 80.
John Gavin - died in 2018, age 86.
Carol Channing - died in 2019, age 97.
Lisabeth Hush - died in 2021, age 86.

31. Cast Ages —
James Fox is 82.
Julie Andrews is 88.