Gwendolyn Gillen

Gillen's 2002 sculpture of Moore replicates the hat-tossing final scene from the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Gillen (January 6, 1941 – January 27, 2017) was an American sculptor and artist. Her best known works include a bronze sculpture of actress Mary Tyler Moore tossing her Tam o' shanter hat into the air as a homage to the final scene of opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Gillen's life-size sculpture of Moore, dedicated in 2002 on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks and a "symbol of Minneapolis". Her other well known pieces include a 4-foot bronze sculpture of Gertie the Duck, which was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in Milwaukee in 1997. Her mosaic, funded by the state Percent for Art program, which required that the Fair spend a certain percentage on public art, cost approximately $18,000. Gillen was an advocate for the Percent for Art program and believed it should be expanded. By 2014, millions of visitors, as well harsh Wisconsin winters, had caused the mosaic to crack and crumble, necessitating makeshift concrete patches. Restoration work was needed to restore Gillen's bovine-cream puff tile mosaic, though she was suffering from deteriorating health at the time and could not make the repairs herself.

An enthusiastic anglophile, Gwen Gillen was a frequent guest of Anthony Hopkins and his former wife, Jenni, at their home in London. She created a bronze bust of Hopkins, which is now on display at a London theatre.

Later life Gillen resided at the Madison Heights Senior Community in Madison, Wisconsin, from 2013 until her death in January 2017. She died from complications of dementia at the Madison Heights Senior Community hospice unit on January 27, 2017, at the age of 76. She was survived by her older sister, Carol Chapman, and her daughter, Alessandra Gillen. Gillen was predeceased by her husband, Ronald, who died in 2012, and their son, Christopher Gillen, who died in 2015.

Gillen's death occurred just two days after the death of Mary Tyler Moore, the subject of Gillen's best known sculpture, who died in Connecticut on January 25, 2017. As news of Mary Tyler Moore's death broke, more than 150 people gathered near Gillen's statue in Minneapolis and tossed their hats in the air in tribute to the actress and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.