Betty White: A Tribute to a True American Icon on Her 99th Birthday
In these turbulent and divisive times, there are precious few thing things that most Americans can agree on. The fact that Betty White is a national treasure is one of those few things. As the iconic actress celebrates her 99th birthday, I take a look back at her illustrious career, examine the qualities that made her an icon, remember the extraordinary moment that I got to meet her, and list ten classic moments from her career that are readily available to stream.
A Brief Summary of the Legendary Life and Career of Betty White
She may have been born in Oak Park, Illinois on January 17, 1922, but Betty White is a Los Angeleno through and through. She moved to Alhambra, California at the age of one and Los Angeles a few years later once the Great Depression set in. She has lived in Los Angeles ever since, famously turning down prestigious positions that would make her relocate elsewhere. (The first of many fun facts in this article: She turned town the opportunity to headline The Today Show in the 1960s because she did not want to move to New York and the position subsequently went to Barbara Walters.)
Shortly after graduating from Beverly Hills High School in 1939, Betty White tried to break into show business. She had little notable success, but found steady work as a model, in local theater, and on experimental television shows. When World War II broke out, she put her career on hold and joined the American Women’s Voluntary Service. After the War, she tried to break into film but was repeatedly rejected for not being “photogenic” enough. Thus, she found refuge on radio. Known for being willing to do just about anything (e.g., commercials, singing, game shows), she became familiar to radio audiences and eventually got offered her own show.
Her big breakthrough came when she became the co-host of Hollywood on Television with radio personality Al Jarvis in 1949. From 1949 to 1953, she anchored the show, which aired 5.5 hours per day, six days per week and was almost entirely ad-libbed. White and her peers cite that arduous and risky project as a “trial by fire” that pushed her to develop her razor sharp comic timing, improvisational skills, charming persona, and legendary work ethic.
After leaving Hollywood on Television, she starred in her first sitcom. Life with Elizabeth may have only aired from 1953 to 1955, but it produced 65 episodes and gave White the distinction of being the first woman to take creative control of a television series in Hollywood. This was a revolutionary move that paved the way for legendary ladies like Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore. In the PBS Special Betty White: The First Lady of Television (currently streaming on Netflix), White notes that she didn’t quite understand the significance of this at the time. She says that she was just doing the job that needed to be done.
Following Life with Elizabeth, Betty White had two high profile disappointments on television — the short-lived sitcom Date with the Angels and a couple of short-lived talk/variety shows bearing her name. But in classic Betty White fashion she didn’t let these setbacks stop her. She steadily built her visibility over the next 15 years with guest appearances on numerous game shows (e.g., Password, What’s My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Match Game) and talk shows (The Tonight Show with Jack Paar) and as the host of the annual Rose Parade for 19 years.
A major turning point in her career came in 1973 when she guest starred on the fourth season premiere of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as lusty lifestyle television host Sue Ann Nivens. When both Rhoda Morgenstern and Phyllis Lindstrom (the iconic supporting players portrayed by Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman, respectively) left the flagship series to headline their own spinoffs, the producers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show felt the show needed some fresh feminine energy. In addition to bringing White on board, they expanded the role of Georgia Engel as Ted Baxter’s ditzy girlfriend Georgette. (Check out my tribute to the late, great Georgia Engel here.) Sue Ann Niven was a sex-crazed, morally dubious, acid-tongued, aggressive, vain, narcissistic middle-aged woman who was just about as far from White’s wholesome persona as you could imagine and certainly one of the most risque characters on television in the 1970s. She went on to make a total of 45 appearances on the show and won two Emmys for her role.
Following the wrap of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, Betty White continued working tirelessly. She went on to star on her own short-lived, self-titled sitcom. She made a slew of appearances on The Carol Burnett Show and its spinoff Mama’s Family. She became a favorite on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She started appearing in a number of television movies and miniseries. And then, eight years after The Mary Tyler Moore Show went off the air, she got the role of her career.
As Rose Nylund, the naive widowed Minnesotan living in Miami with three older women, White finally got the acclaimed leading role she had long deserved. She gelled brilliantly with Bea Arthur (even if the two famously didn’t get along at times), Rue McClanahan (who Betty White had appeared alongside on Mama’s Family), and Estelle Getty. (Check out my tribute to the late, great Bea Arthur here.) Betty White was nominated for an Emmy for each of the seven seasons that The Golden Girls ran, becoming the first of the cast to win an Emmy in 1986. (All four ladies eventually won, making it one of just three sitcoms in television history alongside All in the Family and Will & Grace where the entire ensemble won Emmys.) In the hands of a lesser actress, Rose Nylund could have become the pathetic butt of the joke, a one-dimensional punching bag for Arthur, McClanahan, and Getty to abuse. But through White’s genius performance (and some truly wonderful writing), Rose became a character of tremendous passion, depth, strength, and occasional (and certainly unconventional) wisdom.
After The Golden Girls wrapped its run in 1992, she migrated with McClanahan and Getty to the short-lived spinoff The Golden Palace. She then spent most of the next two decades continuing to work her butt off in a variety of projects. She was nominated five times for the Outstanding Guest Actress Emmy between 1996 and 2009 for her appearances on The John Larroquette Show, Suddenly Susan, Yes Dear, The Practice, and My Name is Earl. She made further guest appearances on iconic shows like Malcolm in the Middle, 30 Rock, and The Simpsons. She had regular roles on short lived sitcoms like Bob (alongside Bob Newhart), Maybe This Time (alongside Marie Osmond), and Ladies Man (alongside Alfred Molina and Sharon Lawrence). She appeared on 16 episodes of Boston Legal (headlined by James Spader, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen) and 23 episodes of the long-running soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. She also appeared in a trio of big-screen projects during this time — Lake Placid, The Story of Us, and The Proposal.
Following her well-received appearance in the blockbuster romantic comedy The Proposal opposite A-listers Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, White starred in an enormously popular Super Bowl commercial for Snickers. The combination of these two projects seemingly reminded the American public how much they loved Betty White. Shortly thereafter, a Facebook petition to have Betty White host Saturday Night Live gained serious traction leading to her become (by far) the oldest person to host the long-running sketch comedy series in May 2010. Wanting to make sure the episode was appropriately high-profile for her legendary appearance (and probably wanting to provide a safety net in case the demands of live television were too much for the then 88-year-old), SNL creator Lorne Michaels brought back numerous high profile female cast members from the show’s past to support her. The appearance of all these women together was certainly astonishing in its own right, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Betty White knocked it out of the park and subsequently won her 5th Primetime Emmy for her appearance.
Also in 2010, she agreed to guest star on the pilot episode of Hot in Cleveland. The sitcom was the first foray into original programming for TVLand, a cable network devoted to rerunning episodes of classic sitcoms. It gathered sitcom veterans Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me!) as vain, middle-aged Los Angelenos who impulsively decide to permanently relocate to Cleveland, Ohio. White appeared as the cantankerous caretaker of the house they bought in Cleveland and was only meant to appear on the first episode. However, she fell in love with her co-stars and the scripts and proceeded to appear on all 126 episodes the show produced over its six season run. Not only did it win Betty White a pair of Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series and keep her performing regularly in front of a live studio audience until the age of 94, but it also gave her the opportunity to reunite with countless television legends she had shared the screen with throughout her career who appeared on the show as guest stars. This list includes, but is hardly limited to, Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Georgia Engel, Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Bob Newhart, and Carl Reiner.
Hot in Cleveland wasn’t Betty White’s only gig during the past decade, though. She appeared on primetime specials celebrating her 90th and 91st birthdays, a pair of Bones episodes, did a bunch of voiceover work for animated TV shows and films (including a role in The Lorax and a cameo in Toy Story 4), and turned in a well-reviewed dramatic turn in the made-for-television movie The Lost Valentine (which garnered her another Screen Actors Guild Award nomination).
Betty White had three marriages, two short-lived and one to game show host Allen Ludden. She was married to Ludden from 1963 until his death in 1981. When Larry King asked if she would ever remarry, she famously replied, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?” She had no children of her own, but was a stepmother to Ludden’s three children from a prior marriage. White’s lifelong affinity for the animal kingdom is almost as legendary as her acting work, and she considers her role as an animal advocate to be the great pride of her life.
Throughout her extraordinary career, she was nominated for an astonishing 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five. She won two for Outstanding Supporting Actress on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, one for Outstanding Lead Actress for The Golden Girls, and two for Outstanding Guest Actress on The John Larroquette Show and Saturday Night Live. Her first Emmy nomination came in 1951 (at the third-ever Emmy ceremony) and her most recent came in 2014, for hosting the comedic reality series Betty White’s Off Their Rockers. That’s an astonishing 64 year stretch. In terms of Emmys, she also has a competitive Daytime Emmy, an Honorary Daytime Emmy, and a Regional Emmy. Beyond the Emmys, she has two Screen Actors Guild Awards (both for Hot in Cleveland) and a Grammy (for recording the audiobook of one of the eight books she has written or co-written throughout her career).
Why Betty White Endures as One of America’s Greatest Icons
Betty White has had an extraordinary life and career. But so have several other actors who have never achieved quite the same level of adoration. So what makes Betty White so beloved and so enduring? I believe it is a combination of the following five factors.
#1. Her status as a pioneer. Although she didn’t truly get her due respect from most corners of America until The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Betty White had already been dubbed the “Mayor of Hollywood” nearly two decades earlier. Her ubiquitous presence on the small screen since its inception and her status as the first woman to take creative control of a high-profile primetime television projects combined to make her a true pioneer. This garnered her the type of enduring respect in the industry that few others were ever able to gain.
#2. Her identification with a singular medium. So many actors who became famous on television eventually eschewed the form for big screen fame and the credibility of the stage. Although she has done some work outside of television, the vast majority of Betty White’s show business work has been on the small screen. Since the inception of television itself, she has appeared regularly on daytime (game shows, soap operas), primetime (sitcoms and made-for-television movies), and late night (talk shows, sketch shows). Betty White and television are inextricably linked and it is almost impossible for fans of the medium not to recognize her and appreciate her contribution to it. White has also astutely noted that the fact that she always appeared in people’s living rooms has made her feel more accessible to most than film stars and recording artists.
#3. Her charm and warmth. Betty White was already 51 when she truly broke out on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As such, she has long been appreciated as a grandmother type by television viewers. Her television appearances have always been memorable and charming and it is astonishing to watch how she effortlessly oscillates between being a gracious and heartwarming guest and a sharp-tongued and spontaneous comedienne. Furthermore, she is widely believed to be a tremendously good person. Her co-stars and collaborators have nary a bad word to say about her (well, except maybe Bea Arthur.) And, in addition to being renowned for her advocacy for animals, White has been a supporter of racial and LGBT equality, making her even more adored and appreciated by a large sector of the public. (Check out the stories of her defiance of Southern racists by regularly featuring African-American Arthur Duncan on her early 1950s variety show and her close friendship with the famously closeted Liberace for more on her passionate beliefs on equality.)
#4. Her late life career resurgence. It’s impossible to deny that Betty White’s late life career resurgence cemented her legacy — or rather, elevated it to new heights. Whereas other television legends like Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Bea Arthur made few appearances in the later stages of their lives, White has continued to work relentlessly and has remained in the limelight. Heartbreakingly, she has outlived all of her former costars on The Golden Girls and most of her costars from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (although Edward Asner, Cloris Leachman, and Gavin MacLeod remain alive and well.) Her continued vitality and visibility serve as a connection to the golden days for television lovers. And the remarkable sharpness she has retained into her 90s means that every recent appearance — no matter how minor — feels hugely significant and impressive.
#5. Her extraordinary talent. Sure, her status as a pioneer, inextricable connection to the beloved medium of television, warm and charming persona, and longevity play huge roles in the icon status she has attained. But, ultimately, none of that would matter if she wasn’t extraordinarily talented. And she certainly is. Comparing and contrasting her legendary roles as Sue Ann Nivens, Rose Nylund, and Elka Ostrovsky is all it takes to reach this conclusion. Although they were all primetime sitcoms that shared many stylistic elements, her roles on the three are wildly different. And she knocked them all out of the park exquisitely.
The Day I Met Betty White: A Personal Note
I have had the opportunity to see the legendary Ms. White in person twice. Once was seeing her celebrate the success of Hot in Cleveland at PaleyFest (the annual celebration of television that is put on by the Paley Center). She participated in a panel discussion with her co-stars and she utterly captivated her co-stars/co-panelists and the audience in equal measure. Sadly, she did not stick around for the post-event meet and greet. But it’s hard to blame the then 89-year-old for not wanting to be bombarded by hundreds of adoring fans.
The other time I saw her in person, I was actually able to meet her. I attended the book signing of her 2011 memoir If You Ask Me (And I Know You Won’t) at the iconic Book Soup in West Hollywood. That time, I was able to meet her ever so briefly and as she signed her name on my copy, I had the chance to tell her how huge a fan I had been of hers since I discovered The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Nick at Nite as a young child. She warmly smiled and thanked me before I was quickly ushered out. It was hardly a meaningful personal connection, but of the many celebrity encounters I have had since relocating to Los Angeles in 2008, few have been as moving and memorable as being able to tell the legend herself what an enormous fan I am.
I am certainly not ready for the day that we inevitably lose Betty White, but I take some solace in knowing I will be among the tens of millions mourning and that we will always have her extraordinary catalogue of work to rewatch forever (see below for a list of highlights).
Ten Betty White Classics to Stream:
- Betty White: First Lady of Television (Netflix). This 55-minute special first aired on PBS in 2018 and is a loving tribute to her life and career. It features numerous classic clips and interviews with former co-stars, close colleagues, and friends. It is a lovely primer on Betty White, but be forewarned the appearance of numerous legends who have died in the two and a half years since it aired (e.g., Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Carl Reiner) makes it a bit of a heart-tugging watch.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: “A New Sue Ann” (Hulu). This classic episode from Season Five marks the first time the writers put the character of Sue Ann Nivens center stage. White is savage perfection as she tries to sabotage the younger woman who tries to take over her show.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: “Sue Ann’s Sister” (Hulu). This masterpiece from the show’s final season finds Sue Ann’s sister arriving for a visit and stealing attention from her. Sue Ann subsequently slips into a very dramatic depressive episode and the reluctant attempts of the gang to cheer her up are comedy gold.
- The Golden Girls: “In a Bed of Rose’s” (Hulu). This first season gem finds Rose reluctantly deciding to have sex with her new boyfriend only to have him die right after they finish. Matters get worse when she realizes he was married. It’s a tragic farce anchored by an Emmy-winning performance from White.
- The Golden Girls: “It’s a Miserable Life” (Hulu). Another classic episode involving Rose feeling guilty for someone’s death, this Season Two classic finds a fed-up Rose berating their miserable neighbor and telling her to drop dead, which she subsequently does.
- The Golden Girls: “The Impotence of Being Ernest” (Hulu). This racy and hilarious Season Five outing finds Rose trying to help her new boyfriend overcome his impotence. White was always brilliant on The Golden Girls, but rarely reached the heights as she did here.
- The Golden Girls: “72 Hours” (Hulu). In this Season Five episode, Rose has to wait a grueling 72 hours to get the results of an HIV test after potentially being exposed during a blood transfusion. It’s a dramatically powerful outing that was absolutely groundbreaking when it aired (and somehow it also incorporates enormous laughs).
- Hot in Cleveland: “Free Elka” (Paramount+). In the Season Two premiere, Elka goes to jail after she is discovered to have been hiding goods stolen by her mafia-associated late husband. White strikes comic gold all throughout the episode, particularly in the scenes she shares in her cell with guest star Mary Tyler Moore and co-star Jane Leeves.
- Hot in Cleveland: “Bridezelka” (Paramount+). Later in Season Two, Elka prepares to marry her sweetheart Fred and the ladies convince her she needs to have a lavish wedding. Her transformation into a bridezilla is utterly hilarious.
- Saturday Night Live: Season 35, Episode 10 (Peacock). Betty White’s legendary, Emmy-winning turn as SNL host is finally available for all to stream.
Check out other articles by this author about classic television: