Georgia Engel, sweet star of "Mary Tyler Moore Show", dies at age 70: NPR

Actress Georgia Engel, famous for her role as Georgette in Mary Tyler Moore's show, died at the age of 70 years. We see her here at the opening night of the Broadway musical The sleeping chaperone in 2006.

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Actress Georgia Engel, famous for her role as Georgette in Mary Tyler Moore's show, died at the age of 70 years. We see her here at the opening night of the Broadway musical The sleeping chaperone in 2006.

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Actress Georgia Engel, whose winning role on Mary Tyler Moore's show led to a long career on the screen, died at age 70.

From 1972 to 1977, Engel played sweet and naive Georgette, the girlfriend then the wife of arrogant news presenter Ted Baxter. She explained how the role that cemented her career appeared in a 2007 interview with Toronto Star.

"That would only be one episode," said Engel, "and I just had to have a few lines in a party scene, but they kept giving me more and more to do." The following Monday, she said, there was a buzz at the door and a giant potted plant with a welcoming note in the Mary Tyler Moore family.

The role had been written just for her, said Engel.

His friend John Quilty, his friend and executor, confirmed his death, including with the Associated Press. The cause of her death is not known because she was a Christian scientist who did not consult a doctor, Quilty told the AP.

Engel found a lot of work on television in the decades that followed, with recurring roles in Coach, everyone loves Raymondand three seasons of TV Land Hot in Cleveland alongside his former Mary Tyler Moore Show co-star Betty White. She also appeared on The boat of love, Two and a half men and Office.

"She could literally make fun of every line you gave her," Everyone loves Raymond creator Philip Rosenthal said The New York Times. "I have never seen anything like it."

Engel also had a stage career, appearing in Broadway's original productions Hello Dolly! in 1964 and The sleeping chaperone in 2006. Last year she played in the musical Half time, as a member of a senior hip-hop dance team that occurs during NBA games. Her role was "a kindergarten teacher with an alter ego gangsta rap", according to Playbill.

Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore, Georgia Engel and Cloris Leachman pose in a Mary Tyler Moore Show reunions at a Betty White's 60th anniversary celebration on television in 2008.

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Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore, Georgia Engel and Cloris Leachman pose in a Mary Tyler Moore Show reunions at a Betty White's 60th anniversary celebration on television in 2008.

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She was born on July 28, 1948 in Washington, DC. Among his survivors, there are two sisters, according to the AP.

The actress Valerie Bertinelli, who played in Hot in Cleveland wrote on Twitter, Engel "was the kindest, kindest, most expensive woman, and a crazy talent for her, she will miss me."