Introduction: Betty White, a very famous actress and comedian, died on December 31, 2021 at the age of 99.
Betty Marion White was born on January 17th, 1922 to a family in Illinois. Betty was the only child of her family, her mother was a homemaker and her dad was a lighting company executive. Her paternal grandfather was Danish and her maternal grandfather was Greek. Her other roots are English and Welsh.
Fun Fact: Betty Whites full name is Betty Marion White, Betty is her name, not Elizabeth.
In 1923, when Betty was just a little over a year old, she and her family moved to Alhambra, California. Years later during the great depression the Whites moved to Los Angeles. To make a little more money, Betty’s father made crystal radios and sold them whenever he could. Sometimes he traded them for dogs.
Fun Fact: Over the course of her life, White owned 26 dogs and had 0 children, and she’s a huge animal lover.
When Betty graduated Beverly Hills High School in 1939, she had an interest in wildlife from the vacations she went to with her family. She wanted to become a ranger but back then women were not allowed to have certain jobs like rangers. However, White also had a good interest in writing. She wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at one of her old schools. When she did this, White found her interest in performing. Inspired by her role models Jeanette MacDonald (Singer, 1903-1965), and Nelson Eddy (Singer, 1901-1967). And this eventually led to Whites acting career!
Fun Fact: Whites first television appearance is lost to history!
Around a month after Whites graduation, she and one of her classmates sang songs from The Merry Widow, an operetta, or a play that is in song formation, on an experimental TV show. Soon White found work modeling, and her first professional acting job. It started at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre in California. After the U.S became involved in World War ll in 1941, White volunteered for the American Women’s Voluntary Services, otherwise known as the AWVS. The AWVS was the largest military organization for women during World War ll. Her tasks included driving a PX truck which was a Post Exchange for the U.S military and also holding other military supplies to the Hollywood Hills. She also was in the events when troops were about to be sent overseas. “It was a strange time and out of balance with everything,” White commented about the wartime service.
Fun Fact: Betty White has a networth of 75 million dollars.
After the war, White still visited studios looking for work, but she got rejected because they said that White wasn’t photogenic or looking attractive in a film. So she decided to try a different type of course that was slightly different: radio jobs, where being photogenic doesn’t matter at all. She ended up getting it, making herself one of the first women to work both in front and behind the camera. Her first radio jobs were reading commercials and playing bit parts, and sometimes doing crowd noises. Because it was the late 1940s in the olden days, White usually only got paid about 5 dollars a show. She would do just about anything! Like singing on a show for free, it was a start.
Fun Fact: Whites first job in Hollywood was in a Parkay margarine commercial!
White appeared on a variety of shows, including Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve (Comedy Broadcast). And This Is Your FBI (Radio Show). But this was just the beginning! In 1945, White married Dick Barker. However, not much later, they divorced. White then married actor Lane Allen in 1947, but in 1949, she divorced again. Besides getting divorced and married, in 1949, White became co-host of a tv show with famous actor Al Jarvis (1909-1970) on the show Hollywood on Television from 1949 to 1953. In 1952, Betty White took over as the host when Jarvis left. In 1951, White was nominated for an Emmy Award for best actress. However, she didn’t win. But she won the Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952.
Fun Fact: White never went to acting school or took acting lessons!
In 1953, White went on to the show Life with Elizabeth. White played Elizabeth. Actor Del Moore played Elizabeth’s wife Alvin. In the basic story, Elizabeth and Alvin are living the craziest things they can get for a newly married couple. The show ended in 1955, people said the show was not bad. Calculations have told us that around 76% of viewers liked Life with Elizabeth. In 1957, White went to another show called Date with the Angels. Betty White plays Vickie Angel. Actor Bill Williams plays Vickies wife Gus Angel. In the show, the newlyweds unintentionally get their friends and neighbors involved in hilarious situations. The show ended in 1958. Calculations have told us that 73% of viewers liked this show. In 1963, Betty White married actor and singer Allen Ludden. Her third husband.
Fun Fact: White once performed 58 live advertisements in one day, at a rate like that, that would be more than 2 per hour! It’s probably even more than that because she didn’t do this for 24 hours.
We’re going to skip the next 24 years of all the movies and tv shows White was in. In 1977, White was offered her own show called the Betty White show. Where Betty White plays Joyce Whitman, an undercover policewoman. Calculations have told us that 87% of the viewers liked this show. The show ended in early 1978. White faced another tragedy, in 1981, Ludden died. Betty White was devastated. White never married again.
Fun Fact: White was the oldest person to win an Emmy nomination.
In 1985, 4 years after her husband died. White went on the show called The Golden Girls. In the golden girls, four mature women live together in Miami and experience the joys and angst of their golden years. White played the golden girl Rose Nylund. This show was pretty popular, calculations have told us that 92% of the viewers liked this show. After the show ended in 1992, they made a second show based on the same characters called the golden palace. Where the girls arrive at their newly purchased hotel and discover that it is severely understaffed. White still played Rose Nylund, and calculations have told us that 91% of the viewers liked this show. In 1995, White was acting in the show Maybe This Time, where a mother and recent divorce run a family bakery with her mother while raising an 11 year old daughter. Betty White played the character Shirley, and calculations have told us that 93% of viewers liked this movie. The show ended in 1996
Fun Fact: By the time she died, White had been in at least 28 movies.
At this point, White was getting old, but she didn’t stop there! In 1998, White was acting in Hercules, the animated series. Where the son of Zeus protects Olympus and Greece from evil forces. Betty White played Hestia. When the show ended in 1999, the calculations said that 88% of the viewers liked this show. In 1999, Betty White was acting in a movie called Lake Placid. In this movie, a mysterious creature violently kills a man in a Maine lake, Jack Wells, the local game warden, looks into the bizarre case, along with Sheriff Hank Keough, and visiting paleontologist Kelly Scott. Looking for clues in a tooth that the beast left behind. White played main human antagonist Dolores Bickerman. An old woman who secretly takes care of crocodiles in a lake not too far away, even though a few of them ate some humans, including her husband. This being a horror movie, calculations have told us that 82% of the viewers liked this movie. A few months later, Betty White started acting in the TV show Ladies Man, where furniture maker Jimmy is having a hard time balancing his work raising his daughters from 2 marriages and caring for a new son. Betty White plays Mitzi Stiles. Calculations have told us that 69 percent of viewers liked this show.
Fun Fact: White is the only woman to have received an Emmy award in all performing comedic categories.
Ladies Man ended in 2001. Betty White still was in acting. In 2003, Betty White was in the movie Bringing Down the house. Where Betty White played Mrs. Kline. Calculations have told us that 81% of viewers liked this movie. 3 months later, The Golden girls came back to their funniest moments. The Golden Girls, their funniest moments. It’s an interview movie on what were their funniest moments on the show. Calculations have told us that 89% of viewers liked this movie. In 2005, White was acting in the movie Annie’s Point, where White played Annie. Calculations have told us that 93% of viewers liked this movie. Betty White wasn’t only acting, in 2006, White was honored for her philanthropic work with a bronze commemorative plaque. In 2008, Betty White played in the movie Ponyo. Where Betty White played character Yoshie, and calculations have told us that 93% of viewers liked this movie. In 2009, White was acting in the movie the proposal. (Movie percentage like according to calculations: 81%) In 2010 White was acting in the movie You Again, (Movie percentage like according to calculations: 84%). Months later, White was acting in the movie Prep and Landing Stocking Stuffer: Operation Secret Santa. Where Betty White played Mrs. Clause calculations have told us that 94% of viewers liked this movie. In that same year, White started to act in the show Hot in Cleveland, and the same year White was acting in the show Pound Puppies.
Fun Fact: Betty White holds the Guinness world record for longest acting career spanning over 8 decades.
In 2011, White was acting in the movie The Lost Valentine. Calculations have told us that 92% of viewers liked this movie. In 2012, White started to be in the show Betty White’s off the rockers.
Also in 2012, White went to the oval office to speak with president Barack Obama Where White and her senior citizen group go off to pull pranks on younger people. Later in 2012, White was acting in the movie The Lorax. You may know this movie. Zac Efron played the main character Ted. And White played Ted’s grandmother. Calculations have told us that 84% of viewers liked this movie. Pound Puppies ended in 2013, calculations have told us that 90% of viewers liked this show.
Fun Fact: Betty White holds the world record for longest acting career!
Hot in Cleveland ended in 2015, calculations have told us that 74% of viewers liked this movie. Betty White’s off the rockers ended in 2017, and calculations have told us that 78% of viewers liked this show. In 2015, White was given the Daytime Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2017, after 70 years in the industry, White was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at the age of 95! Making her the oldest member! In 2018, they made a movie about Betty White called Betty White: First Lady On Television. All about her. Calculations have told us that 89% of viewers liked this movie. In 2019, White was acting in the movie Toy Story 4. She played the character Bitey White, calculations have told us that 86% of viewers liked this movie. And from 2019-2020, White was also in the show Forky Asked a question. Same character. Calculations have told us that 79% of viewers liked this show. White died in 2021, at the age of 99. Just 17 days before her birthday and just 1 day from new years. They were going to make a movie about White for her 100th birthday that was released on her 100th birthday. But she died. So they renamed the movie when it came out, it’s called Betty White: A celebration. Calculations have told us that 93% of viewers liked this movie. Overall, White spent more then 8 decades of incredible, amazing acting that took herself from a regular girl from Los Angeles, to an amazing actress for the longest time.
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amazing work!! loved it