Betty White’s Best Moments Through the Years

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Betty White’s Best Moments Through the Years

America’s golden girl! With the longest career of any woman in television, Betty White was one of the most respected names in Hollywood.

The comedic actress, born in January 1922 as Betty Marion White Ludden, got her start in the entertainment industry as an assistant at a local television station in the 1930s. By the early 1950s, she landed her first TV series, Life with Elizabeth, which she developed with composer and TV writer George Tibbles.

In time, the Illinois native elevated her star power by playing Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls in the 1980s. She continued to find success on TV through shows including Hot in Cleveland and The Bold and the Beautiful.

The permanent A-lister also made her way over to film, appearing in major movies such as The Proposal and Bringing Down the House.

White was awarded the Guinness World Record for Longest TV Career for a Female Entertainer in 2014. “I have no regrets at all. None,” she told Guinness World Records at the time. “I consider myself to be the luckiest old broad on two feet.”

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The TV pioneer lived a long and fulfilled life. She shared her tips for living to the fullest with Parade in 2018, saying, “Accentuate the positive, not the negative. It sounds so trite, but a lot of people will pick out something to complain about, rather than say, ‘Hey, that was great!’ It’s not hard to find great stuff if you look.”

Ahead of her 99th birthday in January 2021, White’s rep told Us Weekly exclusively that she “is in good health and spirits.” She would “like to interact with her friends but does not” due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

She managed to occupy herself with many at-home activities. “Crossword puzzles are no match for Betty,” her rep shared. “She reads a number of newspapers, watches select television and gets a lot of exercise in her home walking up and down bedroom stairs.”

The star posted a message on Instagram celebrating her birthday on January 17, writing, “Would you believe it?! It’s my 99th birthday which means I can stay up as late as I want without asking. … I hope everyone is well and staying safe. We will get through this.”

Weeks before her 100th birthday, White died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 99.

Scroll down to take a look back at White’s best and most memorable moments over the years:

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Off-Camera Beginnings

Betty Marion White was born in 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois, and was once told by movie studios that she was too “unphotogenic” to land a role in Hollywood. So she turned her focus to radio where she got her start reading commercials and voicing parts. Her first television role was in 1939, when she sang songs on The Merry Widow. Pictured here in a headshot in 1954, White was nominated for an Emmy in 1951 — for the comedy Life With Elizabeth, making her one of the five first female nominees at the awards show. “My first job was a guest shot in a talk show and it taught me that whatever else I did in my life, I wanted to stay in that business, and I have,” she said in 2012.

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Breaking Into TV

Pioneer woman! White co-founded Bandy Productions along with writer George Tibbles and producer Don Fedderson in 1952, and created and starred in Life With Elizabeth. After it aired from 1953 to 1955, White landed the role of Vicki Angel on Date with the Angels in 1957 (pictured here). In 2014, White told Larry King that she wants to be remembered for her role on Life With Elizabeth.

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Looking Rosy

From 1956 to 1974, the comedian was best known for hosting the annual Tournament of Roses Parade for NBC. NBC replaced her in 1975, but she would go on to host the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for CBS. “I don’t know if there’s anyone more loved than you,” Ellen DeGeneres said to White in 2010. “Have I got them fooled!” she replied.

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Offscreen Romance

In 1963, White married TV personality Allen Ludden, who was her third husband. Prior to their union, she had been married to Army pilot Dick Barker and Hollywood agent Lane Allen. White and Ludden appeared on numerous shows together (pictured here at the 1966 Emmys), including Password, The Odd Couple, and Match Game. Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981. They had no children together, but she was the stepmother of his three children from a previous marriage. White never remarried after Ludden’s death, once telling Larry King, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”

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Moore Fame

In the mid-‘70s, White starred on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Mary’s judgmental, boy-crazy, frequent nemesis Sue Ann Nivens. The role won her two back-to-back Emmys. “The magic, of course, of the show was the writing,” White said of The Mary Tyler Moore Show during an Emmys interview in 1997.

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Big Leagues

Following her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, White snagged her own sitcom, The Betty White Show, with costars John Hillerman (pictured) and Georgia Engel, which ran for one season in 1977. “When I started with The Betty White Show, I was on live five and a half hours a day, six days a week, no script, just blithering on…like some people do now,” White told Craig Ferguson in March 2014.

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Late-Night Lady

A longtime pal of Johnny Carson, White appeared on numerous sketches on The Tonight Show, pictured here in the “Tarzan and the Apes” skit in August 1981. “The randiness is always done with a sense of humor,” White told Katie Couric in May 2011. “Sure it can be a naughty joke, but it has to be pretty funny.”

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Game Show Glory

White made history in 1983, becoming the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host for NBC’s Just Men! She went on to be named the “First Lady of Game Shows.”

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The Looooove Boat

In the early ‘80s, White guest starred on the popular, loveably cheesy romance show The Love Boat in a variety of roles.

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Mama’s Girl

From 1983 to 1986, White starred as Ellen Harper Jackson on the popular comedy Mama’s Family, alongside her future Golden Girls costar Rue McClanahan and Bea Arthur. On the series — a spin-off of sorts from The Carol Burnett Show, where Vicky Lawrence first originated the character of Mama — Ellen was Thelma’s snobby daughter on the show. When it was picked up in syndication in 1985, White left, making just one last appearance in 1986.

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The Golden Age

In 1985, White landed the role of the naive Rose on the wildly popular The Golden Girls. The comedienne had originally auditioned for the role of sex-obsessed Blanche, as it aligned more with her Mary Tyler Moore character, but later decided to switch with Rue McClanahan. Cited as one of the best and most influential sitcoms of al time, it ran from 1985 to 1992, and earned her four Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy win. White ended up living longer than the rest of her Golden Girls costars after McClanahan passed away in 2010.”It’s like four points on a compass. We were each so different and that’s why we fit together,” White said of The Golden Girls cast during an Emmys interview in 1997.

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Career Resurgence

Age didn’t slow White down one bit as the ‘90s ended and the new millennium began. She appeared on short-lived The Golden Girls spin-off, The Golden Palace, and shows Bob, Maybe This Time, Ladies Man, Malcom in the Middle, That ‘70s Show, and Ally McBeal, and in the horror film Lake Placid.

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Betty’s Byline

In addition to her many roles, White penned seven memoirs and pro-animal books, including her 1995 memoir Here We Go Again: My Life in Television. “I don’t know why, but I don’t get a lot a sleep,” White told Piers Morgan in August 2012. “Sleeping is sort of dull. There’s a lot of other good stuff you can do.”

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Recurring Roles

White played James Spader’s secretary Catherine Piper on Boston Legal from 2005 to 2008, while also starring in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Ann Douglas. In 2009, she landed the hilarious role of Grandma Annie in the popular romantic comedy The Proposal, alongside Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. In 2010, she accepted a SAG Award for Lifetime Achievement, saying, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and from the bottom of my bottom!”

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Saturday Night Love

A grassroots Facebook campaign launched in January 2010, titled “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).” The more than 500,000 members were rewarded that May, when the funnywoman became the oldest guest host to ever grace the long-running NBC sketch comedy show. Her episode was a major ratings success for the program. “Years ago I turned it down because I’m so California-oriented and it’s such a New York show, I thought, ‘Oh I’ll stick out like an outhouse in rainstorm,’” White told Katie Couric in May 2011.

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White Hot

Later that year, White took on her role as housekeeper Elka Ostrovsky on TV Land’s sitcom Hot in Cleveland, alongside Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. The sitcom about three women from Los Angeles, who move to Cleveland where they were considered more attractive thanks to lower standards, ran for six seasons. The cast celebrated the comedy’s 100th episode in May 2014. “It’s the happiest cast,” she told Craig Ferguson in March 2014.

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Punk’d Sr.

At age 89, White hosted and executive produced her prank show, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, in which senior citizens pranked youngsters. It was nominated for three primetime Emmys.

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Animal Lover

The longtime animal rights activist has been on the Board of Directors at the Los Angeles Zoo since 1974. She also wrote the books Betty White’s Pet-Love: How Pets Take Care of Us and Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo. (Pictured here with a parrot at the Los Angeles Zoo in June 2014). “Maybe I learned it from my animal friends, but kindness and appreciation of someone other than yourself, that keeps you feeling young,” she told Katie Couric in May 2011.

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The People’s Choice

At age 93, a shocked and overjoyed White was led to the stage by a hunky Chris Evans at the 2015 People’s Choice Awards to accept the Favorite TV Icon Award. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “I cannot possibly say thank you. Can you imagine, the People’s Choice, at 93? I mean, that’s ridiculous! Thank you with all my heart.”?

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Future Mrs. Cooper?

Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary Special in February 2015 turned saucy when White made out with Bradley Cooper during the series’ popular “Californians” sketch. The star-studded bit also included appearances from Kerry Washington, Taylor Swift, Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader, but the Golden Girls alum and the Silver Linings Playbookstar clearly stole the show.

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Showing ‘Em How It’s Done

White returned to her sitcom roots in March 2017 with a recurring role on Freeform’s Young & Hungry. Her character, Mrs. Wilson, focused on schooling Gabi (Emily Osment) about men. “She’s so funny and crass,” the Hannah Montana alum told Us Weekly in May of that year. “She’s a legend! … She called me a bitch one time, which I loved. She was like, ‘Honey, you’re what we like to call a bitch [because] you’ve got blonde hair and blue eyes.’ She has blonde hair and blue eyes as well, so she was like, ‘We like to call ourselves that.’ … I think I’m in a bitch club with Betty White! To hear such a sweet, sweet woman who’s in her 90s use the type of language she uses — she’s hysterical.”

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Worth the Wait

The then-96-year-old was honored at the 2018 Emmy Awards for being one of the oldest winners in the awards show’s history. “Little did I dream then that I would be here and it’s incredible that I’m still in this business, that you’re still putting up with me,” she said during her speech at the September 2018 ceremony. “I’m thanking you. It’s incredible that you can stay with a career this long and still have people put up with you. I wish they did that at home!”

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Casual 99th Birthday Plans

“What am I doing for my birthday? Running a mile each morning has been curtailed by COVID, so I am working on getting the Pet Set rereleased,” she told Entertainment Tonight in January 2021, referencing her former TV series, Betty White’s Pet Set, ahead of its digital release. “And [I’ll be] feeding the two ducks who come to visit me every day.”

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A Planned 100th Birthday Celebration

Ahead of her 100th birthday on January 17, 2022, White announced a film celebration of her century on earth. Betty White: 100 Years Young — A Birthday Celebration, directed by Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein, will play in theaters exclusively on White’s 100th birthday. Fathom Events is producing the screenings, which will feature 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. showings at about 900 theaters across the U.S.

“Who doesn’t love a party?!? This one is gonna be GREAT!” White said in a press release a month prior to hitting triple digits.

The documentary will look back at her career, showcasing her funniest moments as well as new interviews with White. Plenty of special guests will appear, including Carol Burnett, Ryan Reynolds, Robert Redford, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Tina Fey, Morgan Freeman,  Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Nearly three weeks before the milestone, White died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 99.