My account.
You can manage the account.
Digital magazines.
The help center is open.
You should sign out.
Sections.
Join us.
Customer care.
The US and Canada.
The Global Help Center.
You can reach out.
There are careers.
The press room is located in a building.
Contact the editors.
Permissions and Reprints.
More.
Privacy policy
Your privacy rights in California.
The terms are used.
There is a site map.
You can connect with us.
The Golden Girls solidified Betty White's status as an icon long before she died at 99.
Jeff Witjas, White's agent, told People that he thought she would live forever. She loved the animal world so much that I will miss her.
White was a natural to play the innocent, kind-hearted Rose who considered herself a wild woman because she dared to eat raw cookie dough. White tricked Rose into thinking she was a real person, so she could serve as a foil for the barbs of both Blanche and Dorothy. Rose was not one to blow her own vertubenflugen, whether she was telling another St. Olaf story or doing one of her many altruistic acts. It was the mix of humility, sweet and loyalty that made her so popular.
Rose admitted that it wasn't her fault that her cousins have been marrying each other for generations.
White was smart in real life as well as she was in Hollywood, and she enjoyed a decades-long career in Hollywood that continued to flourish when so many of her peers found the opportunities disappear when they reached a certain age.
White began her television career when she was just a teenager, dancing on an experimental TV show in 1939. She was the holder of the longest TV career for an entertainer in the Guinness World Record book.
She landed a spot in a Parkay margarine commercial after hanging around the office of producer Fran Van Hartesveldt until he caved and offered her a job. She spent six days a week on the show. She produced her own sitcom called Life With Elizabeth. She earned her first Emmy nomination for her work just two years after the awards show began, which is as rare as it is now.
She had two different versions of The Betty White Show, one a talk show and the other a sitcom, and she was a staple on game shows like Password and Match Game. She had a chance to work with her future Golden Girls cohort in the years before the show's debut, earning a few guest spots on shows like Maude and Mama's Family. The Pet Set was one of the shows White worked on, she wrote, produced and starred in. She was able to feature any animals she wanted on the show, a huge bonus for the lifelong animal lover.
Even without The Golden Girls, White would be remembered as a pioneer in the field of comedy, and her sitcomRoseanne earned her new generations of fans who continued to revere her as Roseanne.
The idea for the sitcom came from an accident. Executives at NBC were interested in a show about women of a certain age, which was the reason why executive producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas pitched a different show to them. According to the show's creators, that "certain age" was around the 50s and 60s. While the character ofDorothy Zbornak was written with Arthur in mind, a casting call went out to find who would play her roommates: a Southern girl, a Sicilian, and a Minnesota transplant.
White told the Associated Press in 2010 that everyone knew the show would be special when they first read the pilot. She said at the time that she got a lot of scripts that were not good, but when this one came along it just hit the spot. She said that they first approached her with the idea of doing Blanche.
The director had a stroke of brilliance after White came in and tried to play the homeowner. When Betty came in, she read the part of Blanche, but the director didn't like it. She played that character on Mary Tyler Moore. Susan Harris said in 2017: Why not have her be Rose?
White won her third Primetime Emmy in her very first season as Rose. White was nominated for an Outstanding Actress award every year of the show's seven-year run on NBC. White continued to play Rose on The Golden Palace after the show ended.
White was in her 70s when she said goodbye to Rose.
She joined the cast of Bob in 1993. When she was 88 years old, she turned what was supposed to be a guest spot on Hot in Cleveland into a full-time gig. She had guest spots on That 70s Show, Boston Legal, and Bones, as well as a memorable turn in The Proposal.
A new generation of people loved White because she was so funny. She is one of the most spectacular people on the planet, according to Junger Witt.
Few would disagree.
White used her persona as the gullible Rose in later years to shock audiences with bawdy humor. When she roasted William Shatner for a Comedy Central special, she surprised the audience with her speech. She did a vodka shot with David Letterman and paid tribute to Queen Latifah on the Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens.
White was so popular that some fans started a campaign to get her to host an episode of SNL. White was invited to host the show in May 2010 by SNL creator Michaels, after the campaign gained enough traction online.
White said she had to battle stage fright while hosting the show. White won her fifth Primetime Emmy for her work on SNL, and helped the show earn some of its highest ratings of the season.
White joked about how long she had been working in Hollywood while she was honored for her extraordinary career at the 70th Emmy Awards in September. White said that someone said something about how he is the first lady of television. I heard her say to her daughter that she is that old. She was the first one.
White accepted her Guinness World Record with gratitude and awe. She said she had no regrets. I consider myself to be the luckiest broad.
Contact us at letters@time.com The Golden Girls transformed her from a star to a legend.
There is an update post.
California residents can opt out of sharing their name and contact information with third parties.
Privacy policy
The website cannot function without these cookies. Some parts of the site will not work if you block or alert your browser about these cookies. The cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
We can measure and improve the performance of our site with the help of these cookies. They help us to know which pages are popular and which are not. If you don't allow these cookies, we won't know when you have visited our site and we won't be able to monitor its performance.
The cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They can track your browser and build up a profile of your interests. If you don't allow these cookies, you may not be able to see the sharing tools on other websites.
Our advertising partners may set targeting cookies on our site. They can be used to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertising on other sites. They are based on your internet device's unique identification. You can turn off cookies for targeted advertising here. Cookies are on when the button is green. Targeting cookies are turned off when the button is red.
Enhancements to the website can be provided by these cookies. Some or all of the services may not work if you don't allow these cookies.
