HOLLYWOOD -- Mary Tyler Moore has filed suit for divorce to end an 18-year-marriage to producer Grant Tinker that was held together for the past several years by business considerations.
Miss Moore's suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, said the couple had been separated since September and their assets and obligations had been disposed of by written agreement.
As executives of MTM Productions, Miss Moore, 44, and Tinker, produced such shows as 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and 'Lou Grant.' But while their business prospered, their marriage languished.
In 1973 the couple separated but reconciled after several months.
Married in brldX hPJ (R ted earlier this year when Miss Moore moved to Broadway to star in 'Whose Life Is It Anyway?' and Tinker remained in Hollywood.
They were reunited briefly in October at the funeral of Miss Moore's son, Richard, 24, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Two years ago Miss Moore's sister, Elizabeth Ann, 21, died of a drug overdose.
Miss Moore was playing a mother coping with the death of her son in the hit movie, 'Ordinary People,' at the time of her own son's death. The movie was named best picture of the year Tuesday in balloting by the New York Film Critics' Circle.
The actress now makes her home in New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Although no third parties were rumored to have come between the Tinkers, friends of the actress say she has been a frequent companion of actor Warren Beatty who also is in New York.
Beatty, a ladies man who had long romantic entanglements with such other stars as Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Diane Keaton and Michelle Phillips, has escorted Miss Moore around Manhattan for the past several months, insiders say.
During their marriage the Tinkers were one of the most successful husband-wife working teams in Hollywood. They rarely made the social scenes, preferring to spend evenings going over scripts and properties at their Bel Air mansion.
Miss Moore is a diabetic who has worked to help raise funds to combat the disease. A spokesman for the actress said she intends to make New York her permanent home. He refused to say anything about her relationship with Beatty.
