The legendary, Emmy award-winning actress Betty White, whose career has spanned 80 years in Hollywood, has died.
White, who began her career in the 1940s in radio before making the jump to a variety show called “Hollywood in Television”in 1949, was just weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday.
Many Americans will remember her quirky and lovable roles on shows like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” in the 1970s and of course, the incredibly successful sitcom, “Golden Girls,” which aired from 1985 to 1992.
According to a 2020 interview with Forbes magazine, White reflected on her breathtaking and diverse career in the entertainment industry: “I started in this business doing live television — five-and-one-half hours a day, six days a week on a variety show called Hollywood in Television. That was in 1949, and this is boring, I know, but I have never had any regrets. Some things works, and some didn’t.”
Betty White, in addition to being a comedienne, actress, and author, was also a passionate animal rights activist who originally dreamed of being either a zookeeper or a forest ranger as a child. A 2012 interview with the Smithsonian Magazine detailed her lifelong passion for animals and zoos, noting that she served as the trustee for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association for almost 40 years. “I have been such a zoo nut all my life that I am practically a zookeeper!” she told the magazine.
White, whose impeccable comedic timing and memorable shows and movies have warmed the hearts of Americans for eight decades, was preceded in death by her husband, Allen Ludden. White’s passing marks the end of an era in the American film industry and leaves a void in entertainment that can never be filled.
