Betty White (born January 17, 1922, Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.—died December 31, 2021, Brentwood, California) was an American actress best known for her comedic work on numerous television sitcoms, most notably The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls.

White grew up in Los Angeles. In the 1940s she acted on various radio shows, and in 1949 she began regularly appearing on television, working as a “girl Friday” on Hollywood on Television. She later became host of the show, and in 1952 she cofounded Bandy Productions to develop her own projects. Later that year the television sitcom Life with Elizabeth premiered. White played the title role—a married woman whose various predicaments test the patience of her husband—in addition to cocreating and producing the show, which ran until 1955. Two years later she starred in the series Date with the Angels, a comedic look at domestic life. White subsequently became a frequent guest on television game shows, including To Tell the Truth, What’s My Line?, and Password. The latter was hosted by Allen Ludden. White and Ludden married in 1963 and were together until his death in 1981.

In 1973 White began appearing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a sitcom set in a television newsroom. White earned acclaim for her portrayal of Sue Ann Nivens, the devious and flirtatious host of the station’s “Happy Homemaker” show. She received three Emmy Award nominations for her work, winning in 1975 and 1976. After the series ended in 1977, White remained a fixture on television, starring on The Betty White Show (1977–78) and later appearing in recurring roles on such programs as The Love Boat and Mama’s Family.

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The Golden Girls debuted in 1985, starring—in addition to White as the innocent and highly optimistic Rose Nylund—Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. The series, centred on a group of older women living together in Miami, became a major success. White earned seven Emmy nominations and won the award in 1986. After the show ended in 1992, White played Nylund on the spin-off series The Golden Palace, which ran for one season. White later acted on That ’70s Show, Boston Legal, and the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. In 1996 she won an Emmy for her guest appearance on The John Larroquette Show.

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In 2010 White experienced a major surge in popularity, fueled in part by a humorous Super Bowl commercial in which she was tackled during a recreational football game. Fans subsequently launched a Facebook campaign to have the 88-year-old actress host Saturday Night Live. In May 2010 she became the comedy show’s oldest host, and White later received an Emmy Award for her performance. In June Hot in Cleveland debuted on the cable channel TV Land. The sitcom starred White as Elka, the quick-witted caretaker of a home rented by three women. The show ran until 2015. She also hosted and served as an executive producer for Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (2012–14), a reality show in which senior citizens played pranks on unsuspecting younger people. White later hosted the two-episode Betty White’s Smartest Animals in America (2015).

Although much of her work was for television, White also appeared in several movies. In 1962 she made her feature-film debut in Advise & Consent, and her later movies included the thriller Lake Placid (1999) and the romantic comedies The Proposal (2009) and You Again (2010). In 2019 she voiced the character Bitey White, a teething ring, in the animated feature Toy Story 4.

In addition to her acting, White was noted as an animal rights activist. She penned the memoirs Here We Go Again: My Life in Television (1995) and If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) (2011). Her audiobook recording of the latter won a Grammy Award for best spoken-word album. White was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1995.

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