Mary Tyler Moore Accidentally Nails a Perfect Pool Shot on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1962)

Let’s rewind the video­tape and revis­it a clas­sic moment in The Dick Van Dyke Show. In the 1962 episode called “Hus­tling the Hus­tler,” Mary Tyler Moore (as Lau­ra Petrie) plays pool and sinks three balls in a sin­gle shot. The orig­i­nal plan was to splice in footage of a pro­fes­sion­al pool play­er mak­ing the shot, but Moore sur­prised every­one, includ­ing her­self, by nail­ing it on the first try. Watch­ing Moore and Van Dyke recov­er from their aston­ish­ment and impro­vise through the scene is priceless—a per­fect way to start your Mon­day.

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via Zaibat­su and Slash Film

Relat­ed Con­tent

Joan Jett and the Black­hearts Per­form a Rol­lick­ing Cov­er of the Mary Tyler Moore Theme Song (1996)

Jack Ker­ouac Plays Pool, 1967

Dick Van Dyke Still Danc­ing at 96!


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Comments (5)
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  • Phil says:

    This was as far from acci­den­tal as can be. These balls were placed there before­hand. This is a clas­sic trick shot that can be found in any pock­et bil­liards instruc­tion book. I was sink­ing this back in 60s.

  • Rod Stasick says:

    So, what you’re say­ing is that if you can do it, then any­body can do it.

  • FeKe says:

    Nope! She actu­al­ly nailed it!!

  • Nathanael says:

    Yes, of course the shot was set up — for the pro they had hired to cut away to, not for MTM her­self. But when Mary acci­den­tal­ly hit the shot her­self, the pro was no longer need­ed.

  • Robin says:

    It was very much acci­den­tal. They had a pro­fes­sion­al play­er on set to make the shot. The fact that they set it up a very spe­cif­ic way does noth­ing to change the fact that Mary Tyler Moore her­self was not a great pool play­er. Nobody expect­ed *her* to pull it off, includ­ing Moore her­self. Hence why they had a pro on hand to do it, with the intent being to splice the footage so that it appeared she had done it.

    So I don’t know why you’re play­ing the Well Ack­shul­ly game here. What was acci­den­tal was Moore suc­cess­ful­ly mak­ing the shot in her first attempt, not that they set the balls up a spe­cif­ic way.

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