“The day she came in to work, the very first day, she’d made up her mind she was going to be a big star,” said Rose, in an exclusive
National ENQUIRER interview shortly before her death at 94 in Dec. 2017. “At rehearsal, she said, ‘One day, I’m going to have my own show. I’m going to call it
‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’!’”Photo credit: Getty Images
“I couldn’t believe it,” continued Rose. “I made a wisecrack then, telling her, ‘Why don’t you wait until this show is done?’ But she was that ambitious and sure of herself!” The determined starlet still couldn't make a good impression on Rose, who had started
her own showbiz career in the 1920s before beating out
Sylvia Miles to join "The Dick Van Dyke Show" as Sally Rogers in 1961.
Photo credit: Getty Images
“She was a novice when she came to ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show,’” recalled Rose. “She had never done comedy before. She didn’t know timing! She didn’t know how to wait for her laugh. But she was a quick study. She watched, listened and learned from everybody — especially from Dick.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
Rose was still honest about tension on the set, though. “We didn’t spend a lot of time together,” Rose confessed. “She was much younger than I was. We were pleasant to each other, but we weren’t the best of friends. And, truth be told, I was a little jealous! She was prettier than I was, and had a better figure!”
Photo credit: Getty Images
“But,” said Rose, “as the show progressed, we became closer. And, after the show, we stayed in touch and visited occasionally — but it wasn’t until she died that I realized just
how much Mary had meant to me. When she passed away, it was like a part of my life had died along with her!”
Photo credit: Getty Images