Legendary actress, producer, animal-rights activist Betty White died Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 at the age of 99.
Betty Marion White was born on Jan. 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, and was the only child of Christine Tess and Horace Logan White. Her family moved to California when Betty was just a year old. She initially wanted to be a forest ranger but in the 1940s, women weren’t permitted to be in that field. (She was later made an honorary forest ranger by the U.S. Forest Service.)
Related: 23 Betty White Quotes That Make Us Love Her Even More
White found her passion for performing during high school in Los Angeles. “I was in the graduation play…and the president of our senior class and I sang ‘The Merry Widow’ and did a little dance,” White told NPR. “I think that’s when the show biz bug bit me and they haven’t been able to get rid of me since.”
After graduating, she found work modeling. By 1949, the young actress was in the new talk show, Hollywood on Television with Eddie Albert. She was on the live broadcast for 5 1/2 hours a day, six days a week. Within a few years, White co-founded her own production company and was not only a TV pioneer, she was one of the first producers in Hollywood.
When she launched her television show, Life With Elizabeth, White became the rare woman who had creative control both behind and in front of the camera—acting, producing and writing the sitcom. And she won an Emmy for her work.
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A lot has changed in Hollywood, and the world, in the decades since she first dipped into show business, but one thing’s for sure: Betty White is as funny as ever!
When interviewed for her Parade cover story in 2018, White revealed her secret to a long, happy and healthful life: “Enjoy life,” she said. “Accentuate the positive, not the negative. It sounds so trite, but a lot of people will pick out something to complain about, rather than say, ‘Hey, that was great!’ It’s not hard to find great stuff if you look.”
She also said she loved vodka and hot dogs, “probably in that order.”
Related: See Betty White in a Vintage Makeup Ad from the 1950s
On Jan. 17, 2021, when she turned 99, she told ET how she would be celebrating this milestone birthday: “Running a mile each morning has been curtailed by COVID, so I am working on getting [the 1970s television show] The Pet Set re-released, and feeding the two ducks who come to visit me every day.”
With seven Emmy Awards, four different television shows called The Betty White Show, countless other series, and many, many decades later, White remains a force.
“A lot of people really find Betty White inspiring. She has been working as an actor for more than six decades in a business that doesn’t exactly value getting older,” said Sandra Bullock when presenting White with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. “Betty you make me feel like a slacker.”
We’re taking a look back at photos of Betty White through the years, from her early days as a young actress on KLAC-TV to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls and beyond.
Eddie Albert and Betty White 1952
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Betty White with Eddie Albert in front of the KLAC-TV camera during a broadcast of the talk show, Hollywood on Television.
Betty White, 1954
In 1954, Betty White created and hosted her own daily variety and talk show, The Betty White Show.
Betty White, 1954
At 32, Betty White was already a successful producer and Emmy-winning actress.
Betty White, 1955
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A promotional studio portrait of Betty White in 1955.
Betty White, mid-1950s
De Carvalho Collection/Getty Images
Betty White holds a bouquet of roses.
Betty White, 1950
Betty White feeds her St. Bernard, Stormy, before dashing off to the studio where she was starring in Life with Elizabeth.
Betty White, 1955
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Betty White, 1955
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Life With Elizabeth ended in 1955 after a three-year run. White has said that her character was based on sketches that she performed on the show Hollywood On Television.
Betty White, 1954
Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Betty White, March 1954.
Betty White, 1950s
Betty White in a publicity shot from the 1950s.
Betty White, 1955
Betty White is honored as she rides in the Chirstmas Parade in Los Angeles.
Betty White, 1955
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A promotional studio portrait of Betty White.
Betty White, 1956
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
As producer of her talk show The Betty White Show, White hired a female director and Arthur Duncan, an African American actor, to be a regular on the show.
Betty White, 1957
Betty White played Vicki Angel on the ABC sitcom Date with the Angels.
Betty White, 1960s
In this photos from the 1960s, Betty White was described as the “the Cinderella girl-next-door on NBC’s coast-to-coast TV show, chatting, singing, and always friendly.”
Betty White, 1950
A longtime animal lover, Betty White performs with her poodle, Danny. She had two other dogs: a Pekinese and a St. Bernard, but she said neither of them were as talented as Danny.
Betty White, 1950s
Betty White and Lorne Greene, 1969
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Betty White with actor Lorne Greene in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade ad in 1969. The pair presented the telecast for NBC television.
Betty White and Allen Ludden, 1963
Betty White met Allen Ludden when she appeared on his show Password, and they fell in love instantly. After three proposals, she finally agreed to marry him. They wed at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas on June 14, 1963.
Betty White and Allen Ludden, 1966
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Betty White and Allen Ludden at the 18th Emmy Awards, at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, May 22, 1966.
Betty White and Allen Ludden, 1974
Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images
Betty White and her husband, TV producer and host Allen Ludden, at the International Broadcasting Awards dinner tribute to Mary Tyler Moore.
Betty White and Mary Tyler Moore cast, 1976
From left, Ed Asner, Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight. They all won Emmys for their roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show except Asner, who won his for his performance in Rich Man, Poor Man.
Betty White and Leila Ludden 1981
Betty White and her mother-in-law, Leila M. Allen, attend the funeral of White’s late husband and love her her life, Allen Ludden, who passed away from cancer when he was 63.
Betty White and Michael J. Fox, 1986
Betty White and Michael J. Fox pose with their Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress and Actor in a Comedy Series. White won for her role on Golden Girls and Fox for his on Family Ties.
Betty White and Lucille Ball, 1987
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Betty White and Lucille Ball embracw at a book signing event in Los Angeles in October 1987.
Betty White, Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur, 1986
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From left, Estelle Getty, Betty White and Bea Arthur of the Golden Girls in New York City in 1986.
Betty White, 1990
Francesco Da Vinci/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Betty White when she was playing Rose Nylund on Golden Girls.
Betty White, 1994
Ron Davis/Getty Images
Betty White attends the Second Annual Comedy Hall of Fame on August 28, 1994 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Betty White, 2013
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Betty White hosts the Beastly Ball Fundraiser media preview at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2013. White is a longtime trustree of the Los Angeles Zoo.
Georgia Engel, Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves and Betty White attend TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland live show on June 19, 2013, in Studio City, California.
Betty White, 2015
Amanda Edwards/WireImage
Betty White holds a sugar glider at the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association’s (GLAZA) 45th Annual Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Betty White, 2018
Betty White at the 70th Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles in 2018.
Betty White and Golden Girls cast, 1980s
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A promotional portrait of the cast of Golden Girls. From top left, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, Betty White and Estelle Getty.
Betty White with cast of Hot in Cleveland, 2015
Mark Davis/Getty Images for TV Land
Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, Betty White and Jane Leeves attend the Betty White celebration of her 93rd birthday on the set of Hot in Cleveland at CBS Studios.
Betty White with cast of Hot in Cleveland, 2013
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Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, Betty White and Jane Leeves attend the after party for TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland live show on June 19, 2013 in Studio City, California.
Betty White and Alex Trebek, 1986
Alex Trebek and Betty White at the Third Annual Television Academy Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Santa Monica. The duo were great friends.
Betty White, 1975
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Betty White with her Emmy Award. She has been nominated for 22 Emmys and has won seven.
Betty White, 1983
Ron Eisenberg/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Betty White broke another record in 1983 when she became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host. She won for her NBC show Just Men!
Betty White, 1993
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At the ATAS TV Hall of Fame Plaza Dedication, November 20, 1993.
Betty White, 2013
Betty White and Delilah pose together during the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards in 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Betty White, 1994
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Betty White in Los Angeles, 1994.
Betty White, 1995
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Betty White a the premiere of the film Congo in Hollywood, California. The same year she would be inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.
Betty White, 1995
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Betty White attends the 64th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade, December 3, 1995 at KTLA Studios in Hollywood.
Betty White, 1995
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Betty White attends the ABC TV Summer Press Tour, July 20, 1995 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pasadena, California.
Betty White, 2002
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Betty White at NBC’s 75th Anniversary celebration at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
Betty White, 2003
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Betty White attends the 2003 Primetime Creative Arts Awards at the Shrine Auditorium, September 13, 2003.
Betty White, 2014
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At the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association’s 44th Annual Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2014.
Betty White, 2015
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Betty White at the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association’s Beastly Ball fundraiser at Los Angeles Zoo on June 11, 2015. “I have been such a zoo nut all my life that I am practically a zookeeper!,” she told Smithsonian Magazine in 2012.
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