Betty White recently hit 99 years and the question on everyone’s mind right now is will she see 100?
On January 17th, the legendary actress and five-time Emmy Award winner celebrated her 99th birthday. In a recent interview, her agent and longtime friend, Jeff Witjas, spoke with Fox News about Betty. Jeff said that even though she is extremely happy to celebrate her last birthday in the double digits, especially during such hard times, she’s very cautious of the on-going coronavirus pandemic and stays at home all the time. He also joked that the beloved comedian was planning to run a few miles for her special occasion, but she had to cancel due to COVID-19. Instead, she’ll be celebrating safely inside her home.
Betty White began her distinguished career in the film industry back in the late 1930s, when she was still a teenager. Since then, she has gone on to win numerous awards in film and television series, generating over $100 million. Her first memorable act was in the sitcom “Life with Elizabeth” from the 1950s, which she also directed and produced. Because of that, she not only received praise from the film critics and the media but was also awarded the honorary title of “Mayor of Hollywood”. At the pinnacle of her career, throughout the second half of the 20th century, she continued to act in hundreds of films and television productions. Presently, her television career has spanned over 80 years, making her the only entertainer in the world to perform so long in the television industry.
What’s Next for Betty White?
One of the burning questions that will be answered in this video is whether or not Betty White is still acting. If you want to find the answer to that question, then keep on watching. Presently, at the age of 99, this living legend continues to act and work in many film and television productions. She started the new millennium with several voice roles in the films “Tom Sawyer”, “The Wild Thornberries”, and “Teacher’s Pet”. She also kept her arrangements and appearances from the previous century by working on the shows “Match Game” and “To Tell The Truth”. Towards the mid-2000s, she briefly worked on the record-breaking series “The Bold and The Beautiful”, in which she portrayed the character Ann Douglas in 23 episodes. In addition to that role, she was a recurring cast member of the ABC comedy-drama “Boston Legal”, where she remained from 2005 to 2008.
As the 2010s progressed, Betty White returned to work in sitcoms with the TV Land production “Hot In Cleveland”. In the critically acclaimed comedy show, she portrayed the main role of Elka Ostrovsky in all of its 6 seasons and 128 episodes. Simultaneously, from 2010 to 2013, she worked in the animated series “Pound Puppies”, voicing the leading role of Agatha McLeish. In 2013, she took part in what were supposedly her final film roles in the documentaries “Letters to Jackie” and “Betty White Goes Wild”. Six years later, in 2019, the star returned to films again and voiced characters in “Trouble” and “Toy Story 4”.
After her 90th birthday, Betty White revealed that moving forward, she will mostly be taking part in television series and realities as film productions can take a long time. She produced and hosted many of her own comedy series starting with “Off Their Rockers” in 2012. On her 93rd birthday, the entertainer launched her second show – “The Smartest Animals In America”, which she both hosts and produces. Most recently, Betty White appeared in the Pixar short film “Forky Asks a Question”, where she reprised her role of Bitey White that she voiced in Toy Story films.
Betty White’s Start in Game Shows
Betty White had humble beginnings as she transitioned to hosting network game shows in the 1960s. She was involved with many game shows such as “What’s My Line?”, “Match Game”, and “The Pyramid”. Also that decade, due to her increasing popularity, she was offered an anchor job by NBC for their flagship breakfast show “Today”, which she chose to decline. She did not want to move to New York, where the show was produced.Instead, she switched her focus on the NBC broadcast “Rose Parade”, an annual program on which she appeared as a commentator and hostess for 19 consecutive years.
Her career hit its peak in the 1970s when the legendary actress appeared on the fourth season of the fan-favorite “Mary Tyler Moore’s Show”. After impressing the directors and producers of the show with her incredible performance, following its conclusion in 1977, she was offered her own CBS sitcom. And that’s how the “The Betty White Show” was created. Following the end of her short-lived CBS program, she guest-starred in a number of talk shows for the likes of Carol Burnett and Johnny Carson whilst also performing comedic acts. During that period of time, she also starred in many television movies and miniseries like “With This Ring”, “After and Before”, “The Gossip Columnists”, and “The Place To Be”.
Throughout the next two decades, specifically, the 1980s and 1990s, the actress entered her prime. In 1983, she made history by becoming the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award for her role in the NBC game show “Just Men”, which she hosted during its full run from January to April 1983. A few years later, in 1985, White was the main cast member of “The Golden Girls”, which was immensely successful and ran for a little over seven years. After “The Golden Girls” ended in 1992, a spin-off called “The Golden Palace” premiered. It lasted for three years and completed the stories from both shows. Her other most memorable film and television roles during these years were in “Yes, Dear”, “The Practice”, and “Suddenly Susan”.
How Did Betty White Get Started?
Betty White was born on January 17, 1922, in the small village of Oak Park, Illinois. She’s an only child of Horace and Christine White. Her father was a lighting company executive while her mother was a homemaker. Betty was raised in Alhambra, California, where her family moved when she was just one year old. During the Great Depression, they later settled in Los Angeles. The television icon studied at the Unified Beverly Hills School District and the Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1939.
Inspired by her idols, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, Betty White decided to pursue a career as an actress immediately after her high school graduation. Her television debut came in the experimental television show “The Merry Widow”, where she sang various songs with a classmate. Starting in the 1940s, while still learning how to perform at the Little Bliss Hayden Theatre, she took advantage of a lot of modeling opportunities. Towards the end of the decade, she landed roles in the broadcasts “Blondie”, “The Great Gliders”, and “This Is FBI”. In 1949, she got her first job as a television presenter in the variety television show “Hollywood on Television” where she worked with Al Jarvis. Three years later, after Jarvis’s departure, Betty White began hosting the show all by herself. Around the same time, she received her first Emmy Award nomination in the category “Best Actress”, competing against other legends – Imogen Coca, Helen Hayes, and Judith Anderson.
The 1950s marked new heights for Betty White and her tremendous career in the show business. In 1952, she collaborated with writers Don Fedderson and George Tibbles for the foundation of “Bandy Productions”, a company that produced new shows with existing characters. Their first project was the comedy “Life With Elizabeth”, where Betty was seen portraying the title character. She not only starred in the sitcom but also had full control behind and in front of the camera. As such, she immediately became a media sensation and earned herself an honorary title of “Mayor of Hollywood” in 1955. She also produced and hosted her own daily variety talk-show “The Betty White Show”, before transitioning to game shows a few years later.
As you might expect from a woman with an 80-year-long career, Betty White is a decorated actress with a breadth of projects under her belt. We look forward to celebrating her 100th birthday next year.
Now we’d like to hear from you. What’d your favorite Betty White role? Did you prefer her as an actress or a game show host? Let us know in the comments! And before you go, be sure to like the video, subscribe to Facts Verse and click the notification bell to see more videos like this.
