David Groh

David Groh's highly anticipated "marriage" to Valerie Harper on the eighth episode of the sitcom Rhoda (1974) was the highest rated episode of the decade, and the second most-watched program of all-time, surpassed only by the birth of 'little Ricky', on I Love Lucy (1951), with more than 50 million viewers watching, and it was this co-starring role which situated him squarely on the Hollywood TV map. Rhoda Morgenstern, the cynical, beloved Bronx-born jokester best friend Mary Richards on the Mary Tyler Moore (1970), who was recently spun off from this classic comedy series, and landed back in New York City, where she finally found her dream man who would sweep her off her feet, in the form of dark curly-haired, blue-collared Joe Gerard and audiences were ecstatic. Groh had been cast over 150 other actors, and though he had little comedy experience, he had great camera presence, and went on to handle himself quite well, as Rhoda's husband.