Betty White

Betty White was an American actor and comedian. A pioneer of early television, with a career spanning eight decades, White was noted for her vast work in the entertainment industry. She was among the first women to exert control in front of and behind the camera and the first woman to produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth),which contributed to her being named honorary Mayor of Hollywood in 1955. She is known as the First Lady of Television, an epithet used to subtitle a 2018 documentary about her life.

After making the transition to television from radio, White became a staple panelist of American game shows, including Password, Match Game, Tattletales, To Tell the Truth, The Hollywood Squares, and The $25,000 Pyramid; dubbed "the first lady of game shows", White became the first woman to receive the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for the show Just Men! in 1983. She was also known for her appearances on The Bold and the Beautiful, Boston Legal, The Carol Burnett Show, and Saturday Night Live. Her most notable roles include Sue Ann Nivens on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977), Rose Nylund on the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–1992), and Elka Ostrovsky on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015).

White worked longer in television than anyone else in that medium, earning her a Guinness World Record in 2018. White received eight Emmy Awards in various categories, three American Comedy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was a 1985 Television Hall of Fame inductee. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Spouses

White married three times:

1. Frederick R. (Dick) Barker - (9 July 1945 - 1945) (divorced)
2. Lane Allan - (8 November 1947 - 1949) (divorced)
3. Allen Ludden - (14 June 1963 - 9 June 1981) (his death)

The New York Times notes that while White had no biological children, "she helped [Ludden] raise his three children by a previous marriage, David, Martha, and Sarah."

Sources

• "Betty White." Wikipedia, revision of 1 January 2022. < link > Accessed 1 January 2022.
• "Betty White Dead at 99." The Village News, published 31 December 2021. < link > Accessed 1 January 2022.
• "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7QF-245 : 18 May 2016), Betty Marion White, 17 Jan 1922; Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 54, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,308,638.
• Mossburg, Cheri. "Betty White died of a stroke." CNN, published 11 January 2022. < link > Accessed 11 January 2022.
• Severo, Richard and Peter Keepnews. "Betty White, a Television Golden Girl From the Start, Is Dead at 99." The New York Times, published 31 December 2021. < link > Accessed 1 January 2022.