To every generation that grew up with the idea of reruns, the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show are iconic. They were a little bit different every season, but they invariably followed Moore driving or strolling around Minneapolis to the swells of possibly TV’s most soothing theme song and always ended with her throwing her hat triumphantly into the air as if she could hear it. She was going to make it after all, she seemed to agree, if by “it,” you mean “a new hat purchase.”
Also always featured, amid the otherwise blurry pedestrian mob, was one face in a crowd: an older woman, standing behind Moore, caught mid freeze-frame staring at her as if she’d taken off her top rather than her hat. For decades, no one knew who this woman was. She certainly wasn’t a paid extra; this was a show that hadn’t even aired yet and a time when people didn’t go around collecting releases from everyone whose face they film, so producers hadn’t bothered blocking off the streets for the shoot.
It wasn’t until 1996, when Moore returned to Minneapolis to promote her memoir, After All, that Hazel Frederick decided to formally introduce herself, delighting Moore so much that she pulled the 88-year-old woman onstage and declared her “my co-star.” It turns out that Frederick’s presence on the street that day was pure chance. “It was her day off, and she went down to Daytons,” Frederick’s granddaughter told CBS News. “She saw the crowd and was curious… walked up, and there she was.”
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In fact, Frederick had no idea a TV show was being filmed, and what many have mistaken for a side-eye was actually Frederick’s concern for what appeared to be a young woman standing in the middle of the street and throwing accessories for no reason. “She had no idea what was going on, never saw a camera,” Moore later said. “She just thought there was a lunatic about to lose her life.”
Frederick died just three years after identifying herself, at the age of 91, having “never earned a dime” from being one of the most iconic faces of ‘70s television. That might bum out the “get that bag” crowd, but according to her family, “the notoriety she earned was worth a million bucks.”
And that famous hat? Immediately stolen, according to Moore. “I have no idea where it is now,” she said.
To be fair, it was a very good hat.
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