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Betty White

Betty WhiteAKA Betty Marion White

Born: 17-Jan-1922
Birthplace: Oak Park, IL

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: TV sitcom and game show mainstay

Betty White's family moved to Los Angeles when she was about 18 months old. She began her career as "girl Friday" for the almost legendary Al Jarvis on Los Angeles' KLAC in 1949. When Jarvis quit the station in 1952, she took over as host. That same year she formed a production company, creating the sitcom Life With Elizabeth, and making White one of the first female TV producers. She had several more sitcoms, and was one of the first Hollywood starlets to earn the unofficial title "America's Sweetheart", but through the '50s and '60s she was more commonly seen on game shows.

It was on the game show Password that White met the gentlemanly Allen Ludden. They married in 1963, making her the stepmother to his four children. The Luddens were friends of Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker, so during the fourth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, White came aboard as the sickly sweet nymphomaniac Sue Ann Nivens. After that, she starred in her own Betty White Show, and in 1985 she was cast as sweet, ditzy Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls. Since 2010 she has starred on Hot in Cleveland.

She continues to appear on TV and has attained an unexpected "it girl" vibe in her latter years. Still sharp at 88, she won her seventh Emmy hosting Saturday Night Live, playing up her age with incongruous sexual punchlines. White is also known as an animals' advocate. She has served on the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association Board since 1974.

Father: Horace White (salesman, b. circa 1894, d. circa 1954)
Mother: Tess (b. 1899, d. 1985)
Husband: Dick Barker (chicken farmer, m. 1945, div. 1945)
Husband: Lane Allen (agent, m. 1947, div. 1949, d. 1995)
Husband: Allen Ludden (game show host, m. 14-Jun-1963, d. 9-Jun-1981)
Son: David (stepson)
Daughter: Martha (stepdaughter)
Daughter: Sarah (stepdaughter)

    High School: Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Hills, CA

    Emmy 1975 for The Mary Tyler Moore Show
    Emmy 1976 for The Mary Tyler Moore Show
    Daytime Emmy 1983 for Just Men (outstanding hostess)
    Emmy 1986 for The Golden Girls
    Emmy 1996 for The John Larroquette Show
    Emmy 2010 for Saturday Night Live (outstanding guest actress)
    Los Angeles Zoo Trustee
    Sierra Club
    Endorsement of Mars 2010 (Snickers)
    Endorsement of Arby's 1999
    Hollywood Walk of Fame 6747 Hollywood Blvd (television)
    Kentucky Colonel
    German Ancestry
    Greek Ancestry
    Risk Factors: Vegetarian

    TELEVISION
    Hot in Cleveland Elka Ostrovsky (2010-)
    The Bold and the Beautiful Ann Douglas (2006-09)
    Boston Legal Catherine Piper (2005-08)
    The Practice Catherine Piper (2004)
    That '70s Show Bea Sigurdson (2002-03)
    Ladies Man Mitzi Stiles (1999-2001)
    Bob Sylvia Schmidt (1993)
    The Golden Palace Rose Nylund (1992-93)
    Empty Nest Rose Nylund (1989-92)
    Another World Brenda Barlowe (1988)
    The Golden Girls Rose Nylund (1985-92)
    Mama's Family Ellen Jackson (1983-86)
    The Betty White Show Joyce Whitman (1977-78)
    Match Game Panelist (1973-82)
    The Mary Tyler Moore Show Sue Ann Nivens (1973-77)
    Password Panelist (1961-75)
    Date with the Angels Vicki Angel (1957-58)
    Life with Elizabeth Elizabeth (1952-55)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Toy Story 4 (14-Jun-2019) [VOICE]
    The Lorax (2-Mar-2012) [VOICE]
    The Lost Valentine (30-Jan-2011)
    You Again (24-Sep-2010) · Grandma Bunny
    The Proposal (15-Jun-2009)
    Love N' Dancing (14-May-2008) · Irene
    Your Mommy Kills Animals (20-Jul-2007)
    The Third Wish (22-Apr-2005)
    Annie's Point (22-Jan-2005)
    Stealing Christmas (30-Nov-2003)
    Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (9-Mar-2003)
    Bringing Down the House (7-Mar-2003) · Mrs. Kline
    The Retrievers (27-Jul-2001) · Mrs. Krisper
    Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (10-Mar-2000) [VOICE]
    The Story of Us (13-Oct-1999) · Lillian
    Lake Placid (15-Jul-1999) · Mrs. Delores Bickerman
    Holy Man (9-Oct-1998) · Herself
    Dennis the Menace Strikes Again (14-Jul-1998) · Martha Wilson
    Hard Rain (16-Jan-1998) · Doreen
    Chance of a Lifetime (18-Nov-1991) · Evelyn Eglin
    Before and After (5-Oct-1979)
    Vanished (8-Mar-1971)
    Advise and Consent (6-Jun-1962) · Sen. Bessie Adams

Author of books:
Betty White in Person (1987)
Here We Go Again: My Life in Television (1995, memoir)
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) (2011)


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