Betty White was a trailblazer, her characters in film and television such as “The Golden Girls,” “Hot in Cleveland”And “The Proposal,”She died. She was 99.
The beloved actress died Friday morning at her California home just 17 days before her 100th birthday.
White was said to have been particularly cautious during the COVID-19 epidemic.
She tweeted this week about her excitement to celebrate her centennial.
White, who appeared on People magazine’s cover this week, told the magazine in an exclusive interview that “I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age.”
“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” agent and close friend Jeff Witjas said in a statement to People.
“I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much,” Witjas continued. “I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
White enjoyed a distinguished career that spanned 60 years and included many iconic roles. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Golden Girls”And “Hot in Cleveland.”White won seven Emmys, and showed that comedy can be honed with age.
White hosted the 2010 Olympics thanks to an viral online campaign. “Saturday Night Live”It was the first time. The episode is regarded by fans as one of the best in the show’s long history. At 88, she is also the oldest host of the show. The episode featured Jay-Z as a musical guest and drew the highest ratings. “SNL”History reported that she was awarded her seventh Emmy in just 18 months.
White was born in Oak Park (Illinois) in 1922 to Christine Tess and Horace Logan White. White is a lighting industry executive and a homemaker. The only child, White and her parents eventually moved to California where she attended high school in Beverly Hills before launching her career in radio and television.
She was a pioneering TV talk show host and producer in the 1950s and also became a celebrity panelist on TV game shows before finding fame on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” History reported.
White was married three more times throughout her life. She wed Dick Barker, an Air Force Pilot, in 1945, but the couple divorced that same year. In 1947, she married Lane Allen, a talent agent. They divorced two years later because he wanted her not to work and to be a wife.
In 1963 she married Allen Ludden (TV host) and remained with him until his death in 1982. She never married again after Ludden’s death.
White’s passing was deeply felt by Hollywood fans as well as Hollywood insiders. The nonagenarian was an icon to many.
“The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret,”Ryan Reynolds, who starred in White with White. “The Proposal,” Twitter: Posted.
Seth Meyers wrote the following: “RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end.”
“Y’all, with the passing of #BettyWhite we have lost one of the best humans ever!”LeVar Burton wrote.
“A spirit of goodness and hope. Betty White was much beloved because of who she was, and how she embraced a life well lived. Her smile. Her sense of humor. Her basic decency,”Twitter account of journalist Dan Rather “Our world would be better if more followed her example. It is diminished with her passing.”