Well known Comedy Actress Betty White, who loves celebrating her birthdays, and who made television audiences laugh for over seven decades, acting in popular sitcoms “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has passed away according to reports on Friday. She was 99.
The pioneering Emmy-winning comedienne Betty White enjoyed one of the longest careers in showbiz history: she began regularly appearing on television in 1949 and had a voice role in “Toy Story 4” in 2019.
In a youth-driven entertainment industry where an actress over 40 faces career twilight, White was an anomaly who was a star in her 60s and a pop culture phenomenon in her 80s and 90s.
“I had always said on ‘The Tonight Show’ and everywhere else that I would never get married again,” she told a reporter in 1963. “But Allen outnumbered me. He started in and even the children got in the act. And I surrendered — willingly.” The marriage lasted from 1963 until his death from cancer in 1981.
Betty White leaves a splendid legacy of comedic acting
Playing on her eminent likability, White was still starring in a TV sitcom, “Hot in Cleveland,” at age 92 until it was canceled in late 2014.White said her longevity was a result of good health, good fortune and loving her work.
AD I love birthdays! With my 100th birthday coming up, I have a lot of great memories from different celebrations over the years. With @BettyCrocker and @Walmart, you can celebrate your own birthday cake creations and celebrations. Share using #100waystocelebrate
In 1985, White starred on NBC with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty in “The Golden Girls.” Its cast of mature actresses, playing single women in Miami retirement, presented a gamble in a youth-conscious industry. But it proved a solid hit and lasted until 1992.
White played Rose, a gentle, dim widow who managed to misinterpret most situations. She drove her roommates crazy with off-the-wall tales of childhood in fictional St. Olaf, Minnesota, an off-kilter version of Lake Wobegon.
“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” her agent Jeff Witjas told People magazine in a statement.
“I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much.
“I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
The cause of death was not immediately revealed.
The news of Betty White passing away sparked an outpouring of tributes, with President Joe Biden calling her “a lovely lady.”
“Ninety-nine years old — as my mother would say, God love her!” he told reporters.
White was one of the first woman producers on the 1950s sitcom “Life With Elizabeth,” in which she also starred.
