Betty White, best known as one of the Golden Girls and one of the most beloved people on the planet, has passed away Friday morning. TMZ is reporting this shocking news just weeks away from her 100th birthday.
Betty White’s Life
Betty Marion White was born in Oak Park, Illinois on January 17, 1922; the only child of Christine Tess, a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, who was a lighting company executive. Shortly after Betty’s birth, the family moved to California and lived there during the Great Depression, which led to her father having to build radios to barter with others.
She would graduate from high school in 1939 and initially wanted to be a forest ranger, but since there were no women forest rangers, it was a moot point, so she decided to focus on writing and even wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School. Which led to her pursuing an acting career like her idols Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.
It wouldn’t be until 1952 till Betty would get her first prominent role in the sketch comedy show, Life with Elizabeth. Here she played the titular role of Elizabeth opposite Del Moore who played her husband Alvin. The show ran for only three seasons.
From there Betty would go on to be featured in other TV shows like Date with the Angels (1957), Advise & Consent (1962), Petticoat Junction (1969), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977 before getting her show, The Betty White Show, which only had one season, that same year.
Betty White would continue to appear in TV shows like Best of the West, St Elsewhere, The Love Boat, Who’s The Boss until she got the opportunity to play Rose Nylund in 1985’s Golden Girls where she would join Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan to create one of the funnier shows of the decade and one of the funnier shows ever. All in all, Miss White has 115 acting credits to her name. She will be missed dearly.
