Betty White - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Betty White biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Betty Marion White (born January 17, 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois) is an Emmy Award-winning television actress with a career spanning 60 years, often referred to as "The first lady of Television" and "America's Sweetheart". She also appeared in radio programs, in movies and the theater, and was also a talk show host and a game show host, but is best known for her roles in the sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois, but was raised in Los Angeles, California, and was the second wife of game show host Allen Ludden.

Career

Before embarking on her television career, White found work modeling as a 'glamour' model. White launched her television career with her portrayal of Elizabeth on Life With Elizabeth from 1953 to 1955. The show, which garnered White her first Emmy Award, was co-produced by White. She also appeared as Vicki Angel on the sitcom A Date With the Angels from 1957 to 1958. She also had her own talk show briefly in 1954 with the original The Betty White Show (not to be confused with her 1970s sitcom of the same name).

White made many appearances on the hit game show Password, which she was a regular guest celebrity on from 1961 through 1975; it was through her early appearances on Password that she met the show's host, Allen Ludden, whom she married in 1963 (Ludden died in 1981. White's two previous marriages ended in divorce). In the 1970s and 80s, White appeared on the updated versions of Password on NBC -- Password Plus and Super Password.

White also made frequent game show appearances on What's My Line? (starting in 1955), To Tell the Truth (in 1961 and in 1990), I've Got a Secret (in 1972-73), Match Game (1973-1982) and Pyramid (starting in 1982). Both Password and Pyramid were created by White's friend, Bob Stewart. In 1983, White became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host, for the NBC entry Just Men!

White played sardonic, man-hungry "Sue Ann Nivens", the host of The Happy Homemaker Show, in Mary Tyler Moore from 1973 to 1977. White won two Emmy Awards for her role in the hugely popular series. Following that show's end, she was given her own sitcom on CBS, The Betty White Show, during the 1977-78 season, in which she co-starred with John Hillerman and (former Mary Tyler Moore co-star) Georgia Engel. From 1983 through 1985, she played "Ellen Harper Jackson" on the moderate hit show Mama's Family along with future Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan.

When Mama's Family was picked up in syndication after being canceled by NBC in 1985, White left the show and scored perhaps her most memorable role as the ditzy St. Olaf, Minnesota native "Rose Nylund" on The Golden Girls, a show about the lives of four widowed or divorced women in their golden age who shared a home in Miami. The Golden Girls, which also starred Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty was immensely successful and ran from 1985 through 1992. When Bea Arthur left the show in 1992, it was renamed The Golden Palace and moved to another network, CBS. It still featured the characters of Rose, Sophia and Blanche, who sold their Miami home and bought a hotel. The show ran until 1993. White won an Emmy Award, for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, for the first season of The Golden Girls and received multiple nominations throughout the run of the show.

White has won five Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers for Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden.

After Golden Girls, White frequently guest starred on a number of television programs including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, That 70s Show, Everwood, Joey and Malcolm in the Middle. She received Emmy Award nominations for her appearances on Suddenly Susan, Yes, Dear and The Practice.

She won an Emmy Award, 1996, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, appearing as herself on a memorable episode of The John Larroquette Show. In the episode, titled Here We Go Again, which is a spoof on Sunset Blvd., a diva-like White convinces Larroquette to help her write her memoirs. The best bit has fellow Golden Girls co-stars Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty appearing as themselves. Larroquette is forced to dress in drag as Bea Arthur, when all four appear in public as the "original" cast members. White makes fun of herself as she envisions her character of "Rose" as the central character with the other cast members as mere supporting players.

Currently, White has a recurring role in ABC's Boston Legal. She plays the vicious, calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, which she originally played, as a guest star, on The Practice.

Along with her guest appearances in several of writer-producer David E. Kelley's television series, White also appeared in the Kelley-scripted horror film Lake Placid. She also appeared in Hard Rain. Her film debut was in the Otto Preminger-directed political drama Advise and Consent, in which she played a U.S. Senator.

She is also a cartoon voice actress who had worked on The Wild Thornberrys and King of the Hill.

White is well known as a pet enthusiast and animal welfare activist.

White is a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame and works with a number of animal organizations including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals.

In 2006 she joined in the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner.

In December of 2006, she is set to begin a limited run on the popular soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, in the role of Ann Douglas, the mother of the show's matriarch Stephanie Forrester, played by Susan Flannery.

Emmy Awards

1951 - Best Actress
1975 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Won)
1976 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Won)
1977 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Nominated)
1983 - Outstanding Host/Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show - "Just Men!" (Won)
1986 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Won)
1987 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1988 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1989 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1990 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1991 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1992 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "The Golden Girls" (Nominated)
1996 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - "The John Larroquette Show" (Won)
1997 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - "Suddenly Susan" (Nominated)
2003 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - "Yes, Dear" (Nominated)
2004 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series - "The Practice" (Nominated)

TV Work

Hollywood on Television (1949-1950)
Life with Elizabeth (1953-1955) (also producer)
The Betty White Show (1954)
Make the Connection (1955-1956)
Date with the Angels (1957-1958)
The Betty White Show (1958)
The Jack Paar Show (regular guest from 1959-1962)
To Tell the Truth (panelist in 1961)
Password (1961-1975) (regular panelist throughout run, but was sub-hostess in 1975.)
What's My Line? (guest panelist)
The Pet Set (1971-1972)
Vanished (1971) (Cameo)
Match Game/Match Game PM (1973-1982) (regular panelist throughout run)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (cast member from 1973-1977)
Liar's Club (1976-1978) (regular panelist throughout run)
The Betty White Show (1977-1978)
With This Ring (1978)
The Gossip Columnist (1979)
The Best Place to Be (1979)
Before and After (1979)
Eunice (1982)
Just Men! (1983)
Mama's Family (cast member from 1983-1985 and in 1986)
The Golden Girls (1985-1992)
Santa Barbara (cast member in 1988)
Another World (cast member in 1988)
Chance of a Lifetime (1991)
The Golden Palace (1992-1993)
Bob (cast member in 1993)
Maybe This Time (1995-1996)
The Story of Santa Claus (1996)
A Weekend in the Country (1996)
Me & George (1998)
The Lionhearts (1998-1999) (voice)
Ladies Man (1999-2000)
The Simpsons guest star "Missionary: Impossible" (2000)
The Wild Thornberrys: The Origin of Donnie (2001) (voice)
The Retrievers (2001)
That 70's Show (2002-2003)-guest starred as Kitty's Mother
Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003)
Stealing Christmas (2003)
Malcolm in the Middle (c. 2002-2003)
Complete Savages guest star "Man Without A Ball" & "Saving Old Lady Riley" (2004-2005)
Boston Legal (2005-2006)
Annie's Point (2005)
Family Guy guest star "Peterotica" (2006)
Gameshow Marathon (2006) - panelist on Match Game episode
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - guest
Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner - roaster
The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy- voice, Ms. Doolin 2003
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - guest on Jackass: Number Two sketch
The Bold and the Beautiful - Ann Douglas (2006-)

Partial filmography

Time to Kill (1945) (short subject)
Advise and Consent (1962)
A Different Approach (1978) (short subject)
Hard Rain (1998)
Holy Man (1998) (Cameo)
Gaia Symphony II (1999) (documentary) (narrator)
Lake Placid (1999)
The Story of Us (1999)
Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) (voice)
Bringing Down the House (2003)
The Third Wish (2005)

External links

Archive of American Television Video Interview with Betty White [1]
Betty White Online

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