History Creator / BettyWhite

Creator/JamesCorden once joked that she was "older than sliced-bread ''and'' Franchise/MickeyMouse". For those of you interested, ''both'' of those facts are ''literally true''.[[note]]The first automatically sliced commercial loaves were produced on July 6, 1928, in Chillicothe, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Rohwedder, an Iowa-born, Missouri-based jeweler. Mickey Mouse made his public debut in ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' on November 18, 1928.[[/note]]

* Then she landed the role of Sue Ann Nivens in ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', who was conceived as a parody of this sort of character, to the point that the creators originally wanted to cast a "Betty White type" in the part. In the show's universe, Sue Ann pretended to be that sort of nice person on the air but offscreen she was self-centered, bitchy, and man-hungry. This more or less set the general tenor for White's appearances over the next decade or so...

* Then she landed the role of Sue Ann Nivens in ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', who was conceived as a parody of this sort of character, to the point that the creators originally wanted to cast a "Betty White type" in the part. In the show's universe, Sue Ann pretended to be that sort of nice person on her TV program, but offscreen she was self-centered, bitchy, and man-hungry. This more or less set the general tenor for White's appearances over the next decade or so...

* Then she landed the role of Sue Ann Nivens in ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', who was conceived as a parody of this sort of character, to the point that the creators originally wanted to cast a "Betty White type" in the part. Sue Ann pretended to be that sort of nice person on her TV program, but offscreen she was self-centered, bitchy, and man-hungry. This more or less set the general tenor for White's appearances over the next decade or so...

* In her initial phase, lasting from the 1950s until the early 1970s, she became known to the public through her various sitcoms, her appearances on such game shows as ''Series/{{Password}}'' (hosted by her third husband, Allen Ludden) and ''Series/MatchGame'', and her role co-anchoring (with Creator/LorneGreene) the TV coverage of UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade. This Betty was a sweet and charming woman, the classic sitcom mother. (One exception to this was her small role as a United States Senator in ''Film/AdviseAndConsent''.)

* Then she landed the role of Sue Ann Nivens in ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', a parody of this sort of character to the point that the creators originally wanted to cast a "Betty White type" in the part. Sue Ann pretended to be that sort of nice person on her TV program, but offscreen she was greedy, bitchy, and man-hungry. This set the tenor of her appearances for the next decade or so...
* ...until she was cast on ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', which became probably her most iconic role. She was originally suggested for the role of Blanche, a character more in line with Sue Ann and the character she played on ''Series/MamasFamily'', but she ended up as Rose Nylund, TheDitz of the group. White reprised her role for the one-season spinoff ''[[Series/GoldenPalace The Golden Palace]]'' after ''The Golden Girls'' ended in 1992.
* White's career since the end of ''The Golden Palace'' in 1993 was playing against her image as Rose. Thus, for the rest of her life, one could expect her to be a RacistGrandma or some other subversion of Rose's affable ditziness.

The grand dame of American TV comedy, Betty Marion White Ludden (January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021) began her eight-decade-long entertainment industry career in 1939. She got in on the ground floor of the newfangled medium of television, with her first Website/IMDb credit for TV dating to 1949. By 1953, she had her first starring role, as the title character in the sitcom ''Series/LifeWithElizabeth''; even before then, she'd earned the first of her 21 Primetime UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations in 1951.

* In her initial phase, lasting from the 1950s until the early 1970s, she became known to the public through her various sitcoms and her appearances on ''Series/{{Password}}'' (hosted by her third husband, Allen Ludden), ''Series/MatchGame'' and other game shows. This Betty was a sweet and charming woman, the classic sitcom mother. (One exception to this was her small role as a United States Senator in ''Film/AdviseAndConsent''.)

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White underwent something of a late-career renaissance in 2009 when she had a supporting role in the successful romantic comedy ''Film/TheProposal'' starring Creator/SandraBullock. The following year she appeared (along with fellow TV veteran Creator/AbeVigoda) in a popular [[SuperBowlSpecial Super Bowl ad]] for Snickers candy (see video below), which in turn inspired a semi-ironic Website/{{Facebook}} campaign to get her to host the long-running sketch show ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' during its 35th season. The campaign was a big hit, and Creator/LorneMichaels indeed brought her on the show, making White the oldest host in its history at age 88 and a half (and beat out the only non-celebrity host — Miskel Spillman, who was 80 at the time, helmed the 1977 Christmas show after winning the "Anyone Can Host" contest in Season 3). She also had numerous high-profile guest appearances, like a recurring professor on ''Series/{{Community}}'', and received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award in 2010. She contributed to Creator/TVLand's NetworkDecay by starring in ''Series/HotInCleveland'', although that's hardly a bad thing. In 2012, she began hosting a new prank show on NBC, ''Betty White's Off Their Rockers'', featuring old people pranking youngsters. In August of 2015 [[http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/entertainment/betty-white-bones-feat/index.html she announced]] that she would guest-star in an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}''.

Creator/JamesCorden once joked that she was "older than sliced-bread ''and'' Mickey Mouse". For those of you interested, ''both'' of those facts are ''literally true''.[[note]]The first automatically sliced commercial loaves were produced on July 6, 1928, in Chillicothe, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Rohwedder, an Iowa-born, Missouri-based jeweler. Mickey Mouse made his public debut in ''Steamboat Willie'' on November 18, 1928.[[/note]]

White underwent something of a late-career renaissance in 2009 when she had a supporting role in the successful romantic comedy ''Film/TheProposal'' starring Creator/SandraBullock. The following year she appeared (along with fellow TV veteran Creator/AbeVigoda) in a popular [[SuperBowlSpecial Super Bowl ad]] for Snickers candy, which in turn inspired a semi-ironic Website/{{Facebook}} campaign to get her to host the long-running sketch show ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' during its 35th season. The campaign was a big hit, and Creator/LorneMichaels indeed brought her on the show, making White the oldest host in its history at age 88 and a half (and beat out the only non-celebrity host — Miskel Spillman, who was 80 at the time, helmed the 1977 Christmas show after winning the "Anyone Can Host" contest in Season 3). She also had numerous high-profile guest appearances, like a recurring professor on ''Series/{{Community}}'', and received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award in 2010. She contributed to Creator/TVLand's NetworkDecay by starring in ''Series/HotInCleveland'', although that's hardly a bad thing. In 2012, she began hosting a new prank show on NBC, ''Betty White's Off Their Rockers'', featuring old people pranking youngsters. In August of 2015 [[http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/entertainment/betty-white-bones-feat/index.html she announced]] that she would guest-star in an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}''.

!!Tropes associated with Betty White:

* TheBeard: She served as one for Liberace, often accompanying him to events to deflect suspicions about him being gay.

* CoolOldLady: Extremely affable and incredibly funny on top of doing a lot of humanitarian work, they didn't come much cooler than Betty!

* HappilyMarried: Apparently was to her third husband, Allen Ludden. In an interview with Creator/LarryKing on February 1, 2014, she was asked when she would remarry. Her reply was thus: "Once you've had the best, who needs the rest?"
* OldMaster: Betty White was an absolute pioneer of entertainment media. She was a rare radio voice in an era that was (and to an extent, still is) male-dominated. She was a leading lady of television before many others, men or women, having had her first television credit in 1949. She then became a mainstay in television and film for over half a century, and up until her death, was damn near universally cited as being a mainstay in Hollywood.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Up until her death at 99 years old, she could still pass for being in her late 60s.

* SerialSpouse: She was married three times throughout her life. While her first two marriages to Dick Barker and Lane Allen ended in divorce, her third marriage to Allen Ludden lasted until his death in 1981. She was not publicly linked with anyone for the rest of her life.

* RunningGag: On the ''Series/TheLateLateShow'', she always needed some cash, as she lost it on (insert name of any incident here).

The grand dame of American TV comedy,[[note]]The only reason we haven't referred to her as "Queen" is because she's American; if she was British, we'd use that title, rest assured![[/note]] Betty Marion White Ludden (January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021) began her eight-decade-long entertainment industry career in 1939. She got in on the ground floor of the newfangled medium of television, with her first Website/IMDb credit for TV dating to 1949. By 1953, she had her first starring role, as the title character in the sitcom ''Series/LifeWithElizabeth''; even before then, she'd earned the first of her 21 Primetime UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations in 1951.

* TheShowMustGoOn: She was to have [[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young a 100th birthday event]] released in theaters on January 17, 2022. However, she died on December 31, 2021. Despite this, Fathom Events, who hosted the event, plans to hold it as scheduled.

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday from complications of a stroke she suffered six days earlier; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned for the latter; Fathom Events confirmed though that they will still show the documentary, now under the shortened ([[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young per their website]]) title of ''Betty White: A Celebration''.

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday from complications of a stroke she suffered six days earlier; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned for the latter; Fathom Events confirmed though that they will still show the documentary, now under the shortened ([[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young per their website]]) title of ''Betty White: A Celebration''. For one brief moment, at her death, the whole world put aside their differences ''and cried.''

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned for the latter; Fathom Events confirmed though that they will still show the documentary, now under the shortened ([[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young per their website]]) title of ''Betty White: A Celebration''. For one brief moment, at her death, the whole world put aside their differences ''and cried.''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: White had her own sitcom on Creator/{{CBS}} in 1977, titled ''The Betty White Show'', which lasted only 14 episodes. It aired at 9:00 on Monday nights, during the same hour as the final season of ''Series/{{Maude}}'' - which starred future ''Golden Girls'' co-stars Creator/BeaArthur and Creator/RueMcClanahan.

* AdamWesting: On her guest appearance on ''Series/UglyBetty''.

James Corden once joked that she was "older than sliced-bread ''and'' Mickey Mouse". For those of you interested, ''both'' of those facts are ''literally true''.[[note]]The first automatically sliced commercial loaves were produced on July 6, 1928, in Chillicothe, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Rohwedder, an Iowa-born, Missouri-based jeweler. Mickey Mouse made his public debut in ''Steamboat Willie'' on November 18, 1928.[[/note]]

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned for the latter; Fathom Events confirmed though that they will still show the documentary, now under the shortened ([[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young per their website]]) title of ''Betty White: A Celebration'') For one brief moment, at her death, the whole world put aside their differences ''and cried.''

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned ([[TheShowMustGoOn and still is]], as distributor Fathom Events confirmed) for the latter. For one brief moment, at her death, the whole world put aside their differences ''and cried.''

* OldMaster: Betty White was an absolute pioneer of entertainment media. She was a rare radio voice in an era which was (and to an extent, still is) male dominated. She was a leading lady of television before many others, men or women, having had her first television credit in 1949. She then became a mainstay in television and film for over half a century, and up until her death, was damn near universally cited as being a mainstay in Hollywood.

She passed away on December 31, 2021, less than three weeks from her 100th birthday; a celebratory documentary titled ''Betty White: 100 Years Young - A Birthday Celebration'' was planned for the latter. For one brief moment, at her death, the whole world put aside their differences ''and cried.''

* SelfDeprecation: She frequently made jokes at her own expense. When she was on Series/{{Jimmy Kimmel|Live}}, he asked her about first moving to Hollywood, and she mentioned that she wasn't sure if California was a state yet at the time.