Mary Richards, born in April 1939 in Roseburg,
Minnesota, is the only child of
Walter and Dottie Richards. Prior to relocating to
Minneapolis, she was engaged to a medical student named Bill whom she left after realizing he would probably never want to get married. After arriving in Minneapolis, Mary leases an apartment in her friend,
Phyllis Lindstrom's house. Also renting an attic loft from Phyllis is
Rhoda Morgenstern, with whom Mary becomes fast friends. Mary also bonds with Phyllis's precocious daughter,
Bess. Mary applies for a secretarial job at television station
WJM-TV, the area's lowest rated channel. After meeting with
news producer Lou Grant, she learns the position has been filled but she is hired as an
associate producer. Later, Mary is promoted to producer when Lou becomes the
news director. While at WJM, she quickly becomes friends with newswriter
Murray Slaughter and vain, incompetent
anchorman Ted Baxter. In the office, Mary is often the voice of reason. Lou—always called Mr. Grant by Mary—later develops an almost-fatherly relationship with her. Other friends of Mary's include WJM's Happy Homemaker
Sue Ann Nivens, and
Georgette Franklin, who later marries Ted. In
the final episode of the series, the entire newsroom staff is fired—with the exception of Ted—in an effort to boost sagging
ratings. The Mary Richards character makes several guest appearances on
spinoffs Rhoda and
Phyllis via visits to New York and San Francisco, respectively, and in scenes via telephone. During one San Francisco trip, she befriends Phyllis's main nemesis, "
Mother Dexter". In the opening scene of the
Rhoda pilot, Mary accompanies Rhoda to the Minneapolis airport to see her off, but the scene was not shown in U.S.
syndication, nor in the
DVD release of
Rhoda. ==
Mary and Rhoda==