Mary Tyler Moore Says It Was A “Waste” She And Dick Van Dyke Never Had Affair

On top of boasting a refreshing, self-aware plot, The Dick Van Dyke Show gave viewers excellent displays of chemistry between stars. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore were a match made in casting heaven, but Moore felt they should have taken it one step further and thrown in a sensational affair into their dynamic.

For fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show, he was comedy writer Robert “Rob” Simpson Petrie, tasked with overseeing the fictional Alan Brady Show. Opposite him was Moore’s Laura Petrie, a dancer turned stay-at-home mother. Back in 2003, the two reunited and reflected on the feats of television glory they accomplished together—and what more Moore thinks they could have done.

Mary Tyler Moore teased that it was a waste she and Dick Van Dyke never had an affair

After watching Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy perform together in PBS’s American Playhouse back in 1981, Van Dyke told Moore that someday they would be old enough to do a similar project together. Jump ahead almost 20 years and he remembered his idea.

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“We’re old enough now,” Van Dyke told Moore when the two reunited for The Gin Game back in 2003; the teleplay broadcast was a part of PBS Hollywood Presents. The two were up for any project together thanks to how easily they clicked with one another once they crossed paths again. “It was amazing,” he praised of the reunion, “like we had just seen each other yesterday.”

For Van Dyke, Moore was his only choice to work on The Gin Game with. “I wouldn’t have tried it with Judy Dench, for God’s sake,” the Mary Poppins star further insisted.

The two stars provided humor and support in equal measure

“She gives to me,” Van Dyke praised of Moore, “and there’s just so much mutual support here that, well, it was the only way I felt any confidence in doing this at all.”

So strong was their chemistry that Moore marveled, “The amazing thing is, we never had an affair.” She then teasingly added, “I always thought it was a terrible waste.”

The Dick Van Dyke Show ran for 158 episodes across five seasons, from 1961 to 1966. For part of that time, Moore was first with Richard Meeker, then Grant Tinker. She’s been married to Robert Levine since ‘83. Similarly, while The Dick Van Dyke Show was airing, he was with Margie Willett, to whom he was married from 1948 to 1984. This also sees them ostensibly locked into committed relationships while working on The Gin Game back in ‘81. Without pursuing an affair, these two television titans still set the bar for chemistry between leads.