Moore of Mary

She's gonna make it after all — as if there were any doubt. People just can't seem to get enough of Mary Tyler Moore and her universally adored working girl, Mary Richards. And The Mary Tyler Moore Show — which debuted in 1970 and lasted seven seasons — is still gaining new fans even today, thanks to reruns on cable's TV Land.

"If I go to a public place and there are people of all ages," Moore tells TV Guide Online, "they come up to me — from four years old on up to 94 — and it is just amazing." Indeed, the sitcom's continued success remains a surprise to the 64-year-old actress. "I didn't imagine it would be loved by anybody," she demurs. "I knew we were doing good work and everybody else did, but television being as risky a business... you don't think about [the lasting impression], you think about the work."

Work is what the Emmy winner thinks more actors should focus on with the upcoming strike looming. Emphatically, she insists, "I hate strikes. I just hate them." Furthermore, she offers: "I think very often... in particular in the actors category, they are voted on by people who do not derive their main income from acting. And they are the first to vote for a strike." Ever outspoken, Moore says that if the actors' strike does come to a vote, she "wouldn't vote at all."

That feisty 'tude serves Moore well in her latest — and decidedly un-Mary-like — role in Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes. Airing May 20 at 9 pm/ET on CBS, the teleplay co-stars Jean Stapleton and features Moore as a money-grubbing murderess who corrupts her own offspring.