Rose Marie admitted she was jealous of Mary Tyler Moore during filming of The Dick Van Dyke Show

The two women became great friends later in life.

Genesis International

While jealousy is an unflattering emotion, it's also inevitable. You'll always be jealous of those who you believe have more than you do, even if the difference is more imagined than not. The important thing to do is to be honest about jealousy instead of attempting to ignore it. That way, you can face the hard facts and move forward.

Rose Marie wasn't just a beautiful woman. She was talented and intensely funny. Even someone as gifted as Rose Marie, who had been a star since childhood, was capable of jealousy, as she explained in her memoir, Hold the Roses.

Marie admitted that she dealt with jealousy of her Dick Van Dyke costar, Mary Tyler Moore. Marie's jealousy is mentioned in both Dick Van Dyke and Moore's memoirs as well, with both of her costars coming to the conclusion that as Moore's comedic role on the show grew, so did Marie's envy, as she was under the impression that Sally Rogers would be the funny woman of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

"The attention that Mary got didn't sit well with Rosie," Van Dyke wrote in his memoir, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business. She had come on board thinking the focus was going to be on the "comedy writers and the TV show Rob worked on."

In Moore's memoir, After All, she explained that while she and Marie never outright hated each other, they had reached a sort of tenuous stalemate while on the show's set.

"There developed a kind of trucelike worth ethic," Moore wrote. "We were polite to each other, even if we didn't laugh at each other's work."

In Hold the Roses, Marie offered her own take on her relationship with Moore, and she was incredibly honest. 

"Mary and I never became very close," she wrote. "I don't know why. We liked each other, and worked well together, but never really got close or became what you might call 'bosom buddies.' She was very ambitious about her career and knew what she wanted. She got her comedic timing from all of us. She learned fast. But I always felt badly that we didn't become better friends."

Ultimately, Rose Marie seemed to come to the same conclusion that Van Dyke and Moore did.

"I really think I was jealous," she said. "She was younger than I was, she was prettier, and she had a better figure, so I was jealous...Do you blame me?"

Luckily, the two women were able to become good friends after the show had ended. "I'm happy to say we are good friends today," Marie wrote. "We see each other when we can."

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2 Comments

DZee 5 months ago
She shouldn't have been jealous. MTM was an annoying twit with her constant "oh Rob" whining. Sally was a much better character.
Runeshaper 5 months ago
It takes A LOT, even of a very mature person, to admit jealousy. I give Marie credit for that.
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