Timeless: A Tribute to Betty White
By Ronnie Kayla Neiman.
On the very last day of 2021, the world lost one of its icons, a treasure kept for many decades. Betty White tragically passed away in December 31rst 2021. To make it even more tragic, she died mere weeks from celebrating her 100th birthday.
Betty White was part of Television history as it happened. Her career began first in radio in 1939. She was also the first women to produce and star in a sitcom life with Elizabeth which ran from 1953 until 1955. It was cancelled after a short, partly because of biases that existed at the time, and the fact that Betty was ahead of her time and an ally to all. She had hired an African American tap dancer to guest star on the show. When there were demands for the show to be cancelled, Betty responded by giving the man more time in front of the camera and told everyone “Deal with it.” After the unfortunate cancellation of her first sitcom, her career did not slow down at all.
She continued to star in various comedy shows and game shows. She found her first huge role as Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. A role she held from 1973 until 1977. Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls from 1985 until 1992. She became the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live at the age of 88. Elka Ostrovky on Hot in Cleveland from 2010, until 2015.
Betty White has been part of television for eight decades. She has earned a Guinness World Record for "Longest TV career by an entertainer (female)" in 2014 and in 2018 for her lengthy work in television. She has 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 1995 Television Hall of Fame inductee, and was an honorary mayor of Hollywood in 1955 as well.
Betty was a huge supporter of animal welfare, who had always wanted to be a park ranger but do to gender inequality in her younger years, it was not allowed. She also opposed racial injustice, exemplified by her decision to hire Arthur Duncan for her show in her early career on television. A decision that many agreed with, simply because Arthur Duncan is black. Betty White always believed in equal opportunity. Sixty-three years after that decision, he reunited with Betty and thanked her. Betty also supports LGBT+ rights and advocates for education on HIV/AIDS.
Whilst she had been married three times, her third marriage was on of true love. In 1963, Betty married Allen Ludden, host of Password. They never had children of their own, but Allen had three children from a previous marriage, where he was widowed. Allen Ludden died in 1981 from stomach cancer. She never remarried after that. White never remarried. When asked the reason for this in an interview with Larry King, Betty responded by saying "Once you've had the best, who needs the rest?". When asked by James Lipton on Inside The Actor's Studio that should Heaven exist, what would she like God to say to her when she walked through the Pearly gates, White replied "Come on in Betty. Here's Allen.
Betty White had spent the last two years in near isolation. It is said that she died of natural causes and went while she slept. Her long time agent reported that the last word she spoke before her eternal sleep was ‘Allen.’
Betty White has always been a hero of mine and I will miss her deeply. Thank you, Betty. Thank you for being a friend.