Betty White (1922-2021)
Friday, December 31, 2021 at 6:48PM by Nathaniel R
One of the most beloved actors, no... make that one of the most beloved people, period, has died. We must unfortunately say goodbye to the Emmy-winning legend Betty White. The longest lived of The Golden Girls was just three weeks shy of her Centennial when she passed away.
Betty White was more than just The Golden Girls though that sitcom rightfully leads any discussion of her career. That's what happens when you spend eight years of your life perfecting the same character, the dim but utterly loveable/hilarious Rose Nylund, and the show housing her morphs from risky bet (a sitcom about sexually active lively old ladies in youth-obsessed prudish America?) to surprise smash (the Golden Girls spent six of its seven seasons among the 10 most-watched programs on air) to immortal favourite within your life time. People talk about The Golden Girls so often nearly 30 years after it went off the air that it truly feels as if it never did. It did. But, in a very real way Betty White did not...
In fact, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, Betty White had the longest female entertainer career ever, across radio (beginning at age 17), stage, film, and tv where she spent the bulk of that storied career.
Her first television appearance came in 1949 when she was 27 years old. She bounced between guest roles, supporting characters, and leading funnywoman jobs for the rest of her career. She led two sitcoms in the 1950s Life with Elizabeth (1952-1955) and Date with the Angels (1957-1958) and also hosted a syndicated short-lived talk/variety show The Betty White Show (1954) which is most famous today (given its very short run) because Betty refused to back down when Southern stations threatened to boycott the show since she had hired a black performer, Arthur Duncan as a recurring guest.
Betty White in 1952, her first brush with stardom.
Betty in her film debut as a Senator in Advise and Consent (1962)
as Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
As Rose Nylund on "The Golden Girls"
As Elka Ostrovsky on "Hot in Cleveland"
After her first decade of success she spent the next decade mostly as a guest on game shows and talk shows aside from a few one off acting gigs including a rare feature film Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent (1962).
Her career got much bigger star in middle age when she returned to the limelight in her 50s playing the lusty Sue Ann Nivens on the classic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973-1977). She won two Emmys and became a national treasure. Afterwards she had enough clout to lead a solo sitcom again The Betty White Show (1977-1978) though it lasted just one season. Several TV movies and recurring guest roles (The Love Boat, Mama's Family) killed the time waiting for her next Emmy-winning classic role, Rose Nylund, which arrived via The Golden Girls (1985-1992) and its spinoffs Empty Nest (1989-1992) and The Golden Palace (1992-1993).
You Again (2010) was her final feature film appearance though she did voice work for movies afterwards
After The Golden Girls, her final TV regular gig was on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010-2015). She would also win two more Emmys merely by playing herself on both The John Laroquette Show and Saturday Night Live. The latter was particularly noteworthy as she was the oldest all time Host of SNL, doing the show at 88.
She will be greatly missed but she leaves a rich legacy of entertainment behind including the twin brilliant sitcom pillars of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls. And if you ever find they're not enough, she even left us a memoir 10 years ago "If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)" filled with quips to remember her by. Always ready for a salty gag, a laugh at her own character's expense, or a silly physical bit, she probably wouldn't want people to cry on this inevitable day but to celebrate given that she left us on a holiday. She spent 80 professional years working to deliver the gift of laughter. And what a gift.
Betty White, Golden Girls, Mary Tyler Moore, RIP, TV, comedy
Reader Comments (10)
I was hoping to watch that 100th b-day special as Betty White was the ultimate grandma. Fuck you 2021.
this was the first news i heard waking up to 2022 - not the start i was hoping for
sue ann nivens was the perfect combination of sweet and salty - she would've been smugly satisfied she was the last wjm employee to leave the building
I'm probably one of the few people who don't think of The Golden Girls when I hear Batty White's name. I've only seen a few episodes and am not a fan (of it or the other terribly lit Paul Junger Witt shows of the '80s and '90s). To me she'll always be the glorious Sue Ann Nivens; a tireless animal rights advocate; and Mrs. Allen Ludden, queen of classic game shows and chat shows.
RIP superstar.
It is terribly sad for we who can no longer ask "But is Betty White okay?" when some calamity strikes but what a fabulously accomplished life and what a fantastically positive attitude she always possessed.
It is a shame she won't be here for all the tributes that we're lined up in a couple of weeks since she so richly deserved them.
What a strange coincidence that every single surviving Mary Tyler Moore alumni of the core cast-Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Gavin McLeod and now Betty-left us all in the same year.
She is terribly missed already!
What a downer
but most importantly
What a life!
Great great lady. Her love of working and living are goals for all of us.
Like everyone else, I was hoping she'd make it to 100. But 2021 had one last terrible trick up its sleeve! It's sad, but we should all be so lucky to lead such a life. I always enjoyed listening to her talk about how much she loved showbiz. She never seemed jaded or bitter and it was just such a wonderful contrast to all of the Hollywood horror stories we hear.
She will be missed! R.I.P.
I still begrudge the fact that she was never honored by the Kennedy Center Honors.
She was MUCH more influential than some of the recent honorees.
RIP Miss Betty❤️❤️❤️
You fucking jinxed her with the 100 list
Phil -- but that list was for Oldest Oscar Nominees -- which she wasn't on anyway!