May 12, 2025
By: Lauren Coates
For the second year in a row, Variety partnered with the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative to present the Mary Tyler Moore Visionary Award, presented this year to Jean Smart at the 2025 Variety FYC TV Fest. Introduced last year, the Visionary Award honors women who carry on Moore’s legacy through “groundbreaking achievements in storytelling.” Vision Initiative founder Dr. Robert Levine opened the 2025 ceremony with introductory remarks about the award and his late wife.
“I was married to my sweetheart, Mary Tyler Moore, for over 33 years. When she died in 2017, I promised that I would do all I could to honor her legacy, and I can’t think of a better way to honor her than to celebrate a woman who is Mary’s Hollywood icon peer, Jean Smart. Jean is a brilliant comedic actress with extraordinary dramatic range,” he said. “Beautiful, yet accessible, brave, and kind, a risk taker, a trailblazer, generous, possessing great grace.”
Levine ended his introduction with a quote from Smart’s “Babylon” character Elinor St. John. “‘A child born in 50 years will stumble across your image flickering on a screen and feel he knows you like a friend. You’ve been given a gift. Be grateful.’ Jean, I am so grateful that you’ve shared the gift of your great talent with us, and that we have it on film to treasure forever.”
Smart’s “Hacks” co-star Kaitlin Olson took to the stage to present her Smart with the award. “Working with Jean and making her laugh or cry or impress her in any way is truly the highest compliment. Jean sets the bar, it just doesn’t go any higher. She’s also the only woman I’ve worked with on screen who’s taller than me, and I like that a lot too,” Olson joked.
The “Always Sunny” star revealed a surprise video message from Carol Burnett, who made a cameo in the most recent season of “Hacks.” “I’m so happy that Jean’s receiving Variety’s Mary Tyler Moore Award today. Mary shattered the glass ceiling with her talent and changed the way women are depicted on screen. She was also known for her extraordinary compassion, and it’s fitting that Jean receive this award since she too is famous for her kindness. From ‘Designing Women’ to ‘Watchmen,’ to ‘Mare of Easttown,’ to ‘Hacks,’ Jean is shaping cultural views about women for a whole new generation of viewers. Congratulations Jean, we’re all looking forward to watching you on screen for many, many more years to come. To put it simply, you are the best. Love you.”
Following Burnett’s well-wishes, Smart took to the stage to accept her award from Olson. Smart began her speech reflecting on her and Moore’s shared status as diabetics. “We were both type-one diabetics. I was 13 when I developed my diabetes, and of course, that was the worst thing that could ever happen to you as a kid. They tell you, ‘not only can you not eat sugar, you have to take shots.’ I mean, what’s the worst two things you can say to a child?”
In addition to having personal ties to the Vision Initiative’s cause, Smart says she was honored to receive the award because of how highly she thinks of its namesake. “I only got to meet Mary a few times, and I always wished I could have gotten to know her better. I recently read something that reminded me of when I was a kid, because I was the family ham.”
“Mary said that her grandfather remarked when she was maybe eight or 10, cavorting and jumping and flipping, whatever she was doing. He said, ‘That child is either gonna go on the stage or go to jail.’ Well, thank God she went on the stage, and thank God I did too. I so wish that Mary could have seen ‘Hacks.’ I flatter myself to think she really would’ve enjoyed the show.”
Smart ended her speech reflecting on Moore’s legacy and passing on her words of wisdom. “I cannot tell you what a compliment this is in so many ways. I also wish my mom and dad were here, they would love this and appreciate this. Mary had one more thing that she said, which was, ‘It’s not my business to care about what other people think of me.’ I had to look at that a few times, because first it sounded kind of humorous, but it’s true. As an actor, you can’t preoccupy yourself with wondering how well people think of you, or how poorly people might think of you, and what you do. Just try to please yourself and the people around you. With Mary, it was obvious that her friends and family loved her, and her coworkers loved her just as much. I’m so, so, so humbled and honored. Thank you so much.”
