America loved Betty White, and she never stopped being our sweetheart during the 70+ years of her career. We loved her for saying what’s on her mind, being uncompromising and real (besides, you know, also being a great actress).
In a 2011 poll, she was voted the most-trusted celebrity in a poll of 2,000 Americans. The poll was conducted by Reuters and Ipsos. She was commended as someone “whose endorsement of a company would be most likely to drive business,” according to Reuters. This means to say more people are likely to buy a skin cream that Betty White used than someone like Paris Hilton.
Can you really trust anyone who isn’t? Betty White wouldn’t quite be the same and so relatable if she didn’t also love animals like us. She may have even liked animals more than your average human. Betty owned many pets throughout her life, at one time notably owning three rambunctious dogs.
Betty remained an animal advocate in numerous ways for the remainder of her life. Not only has she donated to numerous charity organizations like the Los Angeles Zoo Commission and the Morris Animal Foundation, but she’s also been outspoken about mixed-breed dogs, encouraging her fans to adopt them.
Golden Girls is perhaps the show that Betty White is best known for. On that show, she plays Rose Nylund, a scatterbrained woman from a small farming town. But originally, she was supposed to play Blanche Devereaux and Rue McClanahan was supposed to play Rose. However, their roles ended up getting switched.
The character of Blanche was really designed with White in mind, as the character was similar to her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens. Blanche is a Southern Belle and art museum employee. However, the producers ultimately decided that they wanted their show to stand on its own, and so White was cast in her now-iconic role.
Betty White started out on the radio taking up various kinds of jobs during her career. Her first jobs were in bit parts and the occasional commercial. She would also perform crowd noises for radio shows as well. She earned about $5 per show.
Additionally, she would do work for free for the sake of publicity. She would sing or play on a game show. This would help her get roles on radio shows such as "Blondie," "This Is Your FBI," and "The Great Gildersleeve." It wasn’t long after that she was finally recognized for her talents and offered her very own radio show.
In 1949, Betty White took on co-hosting duties on a daily live TV variety show called Hollywood on Television. When her co-host departed, she took to hosting the show herself. By 1951, she was nominated for her first Emmy Award for best actress.
Emerging from the show Hollywood on Television, creators of the show brainstormed on how to create spin-offs of the existing characters on the variety show. And one of the ideas they came up with was Life with Elizabeth, with Betty White as the titular character. Her performance on that show earned her a Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952.
Betty White had always wanted to turn her love of animals into a career, but the patriarchy really prevented that from happening. Growing up as a teenager, Betty White had wanted to be a ranger. Sadly, the fact that women were not allowed to become rangers at the time laid those dreams to rest.
While it doesn’t quite make up for the fact that she couldn’t become a park ranger before, White’s dream finally came true, eventually—in a way. In 2010, the USDA Forest Service made White an honorary forest ranger for her dedication to wildlife and protecting the wilderness.
You’d think, considering how good she looked for her age, that Betty White was the healthiest woman alive. Surely a proper diet with lots of nutrition and plenty of exercise was her key to living such a long, fulfilling life? Well, maybe not. Perhaps, she just found the fountain of youth because apparently, her diet was not what you think.
Betty White was a snacker—and not health snacks like nuts and fruit. No, Betty White was never afraid to indulge in all the delicious foods she loved to eat...like hot dogs, Red Vines, and soda – this is all according to James Leeves, her Hot in Cleveland co-star. With that said, maybe living is the key to living. Disclaimer: we aren’t doctors though.
Betty White’s love of hot dogs was not unknown and apparently, she frequented the famous Los Angeles restaurant, Pink’s Hot Dogs, because she has a hot dog named after her. Because White prefers her hot dog without toppings, so that’s just what is included on her hot dog at Pink’s – nothing.
The hot dog at Pink’s is named “The Betty White Naked Dog” and, as we said, you can find it in LA. The restaurant is a Landmark in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. It was founded in 1939 by Paul and Betty Pink. In the beginning, hot dogs sold for a mere 10 cents. Now they're a lot more, of course, and they have numerous styles of hot dogs named after celebrities.
In 1954, Betty got her own show, The Betty White Show, which she hosted and produced. She had creative control over the talk show/variety show, which meant that she could even hire a female director. This also allowed her to hire Arthur Duncan, an African-American performer.
The casting of Duncan was a subject of much controversy. Many threatened to boycott the show until he was removed, but Betty White refused. In response to the demands of racists, Betty White said, “I’m sorry. Live with it.”—and then ended up giving him more airtime. However, when NBC kept changing timeslots, the show ended up getting canceled.
Betty White had her fair share of game shows and talk shows. She has made several appearances on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Her winning personality has made her one of the most beloved guests on the show of all time, making us fall in love with her as a person and an actress.
Betty White had been part of several game shows including Password, and several updated versions of the shows, What’s My Line?, To Tell the Truth, I’ve Got A Secret, Pyramid, and Match Game. She participated in all of these shows starting in the 1950s and through the ‘80s.
On the game show Password, she appeared multiple times as a celebrity guest during the show’s run from 1961-1975. It was on that show where she met her husband, Allen Ludden, the show’s host, whom she married in 1963. Additionally, she appeared on three updated versions of the show.
Betty White and Allen Ludden stayed married for the remainder of his life. He died in 1981 at the age of 63. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, and while undergoing treatment for his condition, slipped into a coma. His cancer grew more severe and he never recovered. Betty White would never marry again.
Betty White loves to gamble like the best of them. She’s an avid poker player who regularly plays with a group of friends. According to Betty White, they play dealer’s choice, and White’s favorite is “Scree Thy Neighbor,” where players get a chance to keep a card or pass it on to another player.
The poker group also has a brass trophy with the words “Pico Poker Club" engraved on it. The winner takes it home and brings it back to the next game. Failing to bring the trophy back results in owing the group $2,000—well, unless they die; then they're off the hook.
Betty White’s film debut was in the film Advise & Consent. She starred as Senator Bessie Adams of Kansas. The film also starred Henry Fonda, Don Murray, and Gene Tierney – just to name a few. Her performance was well-received, but she wouldn’t be in another film until decades later.
The 1962 political drama was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The film is about the interworkings of the United States Senate and the United States Senate confirmation of Secretary of State nominee Robert Leffingwell, whose position was threatened due to evidence he had been a member of the communist party.
Betty White volunteered to join the American Women’s Voluntary Services to aid soldiers in the time of war. Her duties included transporting military supplies through California. She also took part in events for troops before they were sent off to war.
After the war, Betty would look for work with various movie studios. At first, she was rejected, however, due to supposedly not being “photogenic.” Because of this, she tried to take on a format that didn’t require her to be photogenic at all: radio.
Betty White got a huge career boost when she appeared on the fourth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She played the role of the thirsty Sue Ann Nivens, for which she won two more Emmy Awards. While the role was certainly a highlight of her career, White herself has mixed feelings about it.
White considers the character to be “icky sweet,” conveying feminine passivity. The running gag of the character was that the actually aggressive and cynical personality of Sue Ann Nivens was in direct contrast with her television persona on the fictional Martha Stewart-type show, The Happy Homemaker.
Betty White is such a strong animal advocate that she will even turn down projects that depict violence against animals in the script, particularly animal abuse. Putting animals before her career, she’ll turn down any script that has scenes of animal abuse written on the page. Fortunately, it didn't seem to hurt her career too much.
One role she's known to have turned down is one in As Good as it Gets. The filmmakers wanted her to play Helen Hunt’s mother in the film, but due to the scene where one character’s dog is thrown into a garbage chute, she refused to be in the film. But the show did go on without her, getting a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and Best Actor and Actress awards for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.
White had no trouble getting recognized for all her hard work. She earned a total of 19 Emmy nominations for her numerous TV roles and appearances. And out of those 19 nominations, she won a total of six Emmy Awards over her 70-year career. And boy did she earn them!
But those certainly aren't all the awards. In 1995, Betty White was inducted into the Academy of TV Arts & Science. In 2009, she received the TCA Career Achievement Award from the Television Critics Association, and in 2010, she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Despite her many years in front of the camera, Betty White was never a member of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It was not until 2017 that she was finally invited to become a member. Being 95 at the time, this made her the oldest new member upon joining.
In case the name is not familiar to you, this is the organization behind The Academy Awards, or The Oscars as they're more commonly referred to as. Members of The Academy vote on which films are the Best of the Year and which people should take home an award.
At the age of 88 years old, Betty White was the oldest Saturday Night Live host when she appeared on the show in 2010. Calling it her greatest fear, she finally took on the role as host after numerous fans demanded it. Her monologue was well-received and her comedic timing was on-point as always.
In her monologue, Betty White took on Facebook, saying she didn’t know what it was and calling it a “huge waste of time.” She went on to take a jab at its users, saying “I would never say that people on it are losers… but that's only because I'm polite.” Then added in a hilarious joke, “’But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well, at my age, if I want to connect with old friends, I need a Ouji board.”
Betty White wasn’t born a star; she had humble roots in Oak Park, Illinois, where she was born. However, she moved to Los Angeles when she was just 2 years old. Upon finishing high school, she knew she wanted to become an actress—and it wouldn’t be long until she got her first role.
Her first entertainment gig was on an experimental TV show called Merry Widow in 1939, where she sang songs with a friend. However, due to WWII, she had to take a break from the entertainment business. But she wouldn’t stop working altogether and she would go on to help in the war effort.
Betty White is obviously a real catch, so it’s not a huge surprise to learn she has been married multiple times. Her first marriage was to a pilot named Barker in 1945, whom she admittedly married just for the physical benefits. Of course, that’s not enough for a long-lasting marriage, so they divorced just six months later.
Her second marriage was with Lane Allen, whom she was married to from 1947-1949. Then she married Allen Ludden, with whom she stayed until his death. She never remarried and never had a desire to, telling Oprah, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”
While Betty White never had a desire to remarry after the death of her late husband, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t look from time to time. In a popular quote from Betty White, she said “My answer to anything under the sun, like ‘What have you not done in the business that you’ve always wanted to do?’ is ‘Robert Redford.’”
Robert Redford, now in his eighties at the time of this writing, is a two-time Academy Award-winning actor and director. He's famous for his roles in The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, and The Way We Were. He has directed 10 films and starred in more than 50.
Betty White and her husband Allen Ludden were close friends with a famous author whose books pretty much every teen has read in school at least once: John Steinbeck. The author of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men was writing his Nobel Prize acceptance speech when he met Betty White.
One of her most prized possessions is a signed copy of the speech itself. Steinbeck died in the year 1968 at the age of just 66, roughly six years after receiving the Nobel Prize, which he won in 1962 for "his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception.”
Betty White has often credited herself in discovering the Late Night host David Letterman. After having had his first appearance on TV on a game show she hosted with Allen Ludden, it was a huge career boost for the future talk show host. And that wasn’t the only time.
In addition to that game show, he also appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Moore, the famous TV star and friend of Betty White, boosted Letterman further into the world of fame. Betty White appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman the day after her 89th birthday, and they celebrated together with a couple shots of vodka.
Betty White hosted a prank show, much like Punk’d – a hidden camera show, called Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, where pranksters of a much more mature age take on youngsters and make them look the fool. For her work on the show, Betty White earned an Emmy Award nomination in 2012.
The show was renewed for a second season that aired in January 2013 but would not get picked up again by NBC. Instead, the show moved to Lifetime in 2014. It took a hiatus mid-season, however, and the season was not completed until 2017. Now that Betty White has passed, the show seems unlikely to ever continue.
It’s probably not a huge surprise that Betty White has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, considering what a huge celebrity she was and how much work she has done in the industry, but this one detail may melt your heart: her star is located right next to her late husband Allen Ludden’s star.
If you aren't aware of how it works, anyone can apply a celebrity for a star on the Walk of Fame, but celebrities will need to put out the money to create it and maintain it. It costs around $50,000 to create and maintain the star and have the ceremony.
Betty White found herself in the 2014 Guinness World Records for having the Longest TV Career for an Entertainer. As a female, she was awarded for her 70-year long career. Another male entertainer, Bruce Forsyth, was awarded the male record. He was also awarded for his 70-year long career. That being said, they were pretty much tied for the position.
However, it should be said that the accomplishment is a lot more significant for White as a woman. Typically, actresses who age get fewer roles as their career goes on because Hollywood tends to be pretty obsessed with youthful female beauty—but Betty White seemed to get more and more famous with time. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Betty White was a huge fan of parades. In fact, from 1962-1971, she turned her love of parades into a career by hosting NBC’s coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She hosted alongside Bonanza star Lorne Greene. But that wasn’t all, as she was invited to host another annual parade event.
For 20 years, from 1956-1976, she hosted NBC’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade. However, as she became increasingly famous from her appearances on CBS's The Mary Tyler Moore Show, NBC decided to remove her from the parade. White expressed to People magazine how devastated she was watching someone else host the parade.
Betty White met with President Barack Obama in 2012 at the White House. She spent much of her time in the White House with the presidential dog Bo in her lap. And as an animal lover through and through, that is certainly no surprise. But of course, she also chatted with the Commander in Chief.
When asked by the president what she would want to be doing if she were not in show business, she responded that she would want to be a zookeeper – a job that was not available to any women at the time. But as terrible as it is not to be able to live up to your dreams, we are glad she was a part of TV history.
Betty White became a pioneer of early television early on in her career. She was the first woman on TV to exert creative control both in front of and behind the camera for her show Life with Elizabeth. For her accomplishments in the industry, she was named honorary mayor of Hollywood in 1955.
She became the fourth mayor of Hollywood after fans cast their ballots. She beat out some other pretty big names at the time and helped raise $14,000 in funds, while also issuing a proclamation that honored the 20th anniversary of Social Security. If there were any more reasons to love Betty that you think we missed, we’d love to hear them, but these are certainly reasons enough. Betty White, you will be missed.
