Fecha de Nacimiento 1922-01-17
Lugar de Nacimiento Oak Park, Illinois, USA
Betty Marion White is an Emmy Award winning television actress with a career spanning over 50 years. She born on January 17, 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois, but was raised in Los Angeles, California, where she took on leading roles in plays at Beverly Hills High School. Later, takes a roles in local theater, and began working on radio in the Los Angeles area.
Her first television break came in 1949, when she became the “girl Friday” for host Al Jarvis’ music and interview show on local station KLAC. When Jarvis left the show in 1952, White became the new host. That year, she and two male partners teamed up to form Bandy Productions, which would launch her first situation comedy.
White’s early television roles included her portrayal of Elizabeth on “Life With Elizabeth” (1953-1955). Unlike such popular programs as “I Love Lucy”, each “Elizabeth” show featured three self-contained skits about a couple. New episodes ran until 1955. White, who controlled the show, was nominated for her first Emmy in 1952 and won.
She also had her own talk show briefly in 1954 with the original “The Betty White Show” in which she exuded a friendly, person-next-door domesticity that made audiences comfortable. By the 60s, however, she was all but out of primetime, reduced to an occasional guest appearance. Instead, White continued her career as an almost daily celebrity guest on some game show–so much so that many of her younger fans had no idea she was really an actor. Most thought of her as a personality in the same way former beauty queens and male curmudgeons seemed to make a career out of being a panelist.
She returned to series television in 1957, co-creating “Date With The Angels” as Vicki Angel. Sponsored by Plymouth automobiles, the ABC sitcom centered on the first year of bliss for newlyweds Vicki (White) and Gus (Bill Williams) Angel. But the ratings were not good, and the show was reworked as a half-hour comedy-variety series called The Betty White Show. It didn’t do any better than “Angels”, and left the airwaves in April 1958.
Between 1958 and 1973, Betty White would remain in the public eye as a popular guest panelist on various game shows, a frequent fixture on talk shows, and a pitchwoman for commercial products. White is perhaps better known for her appearances on the hit gameshow Password, in which she was a regular as a panelist from 1961 through 1975; it was through her early appearances on Password that she met the show’s host, Allen Ludden, whom she married in 1963 and remained with until his death in 1981. In the 1970s and 80s, Betty appeared on the updated versions of Password (Password Plus and Super Password) on NBC. She also made frequent game show appearances on What’s My Line? (starting in 1955), To Tell the Truth (in 1961 and in 1990), Match Game (1973-1982) and Pyramid (starting in 1982). Both Password and Pyramid were created by White’s friend, Bob Stewart.
White was even offered the chance to host her own game show which she declined. That perception about White changed forever in 1973 when her friends Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker asked her to play a one-shot guest appearance as Sue Ann Nivens from 1973 to 1977, the WJM “Happy Homemaker” having an affair with Phyllis Lindstrom’s husband on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. The inspired casting against type of White as middle-aged man-hungry quick-riposting Sue Ann turned into a five-season full-time gig and won White two Emmy Awards and a host of new fans. At the demise of Moore’s series, White was rushed into her own “The Betty White Show” (CBS, 1977-78) as Joyce Whitman, fading TV star. The effort lasted one season, and White was back on game shows and hosting the annual Tournament of Roses parade on NBC, which she had done since 1970. She also appeared in several TV movies, including “With this Ring” (ABC, 1978) and “The Best Place to Be” (NBC, 1979).
From 1983 through 1986, she played “Ellen Harper Jackson” on the moderate hit show Mama’s Family along with future Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan. When Mama’s Family was picked up in syndication after being canceled by NBC in 1985, White left the show and scored perhaps her most memorable role as the ditzy “Rose Nylund” on The Golden Girls, a show about the lives of four widowed or divorced senior citizens in Miami. The Golden Girls was immensely successful and ran from 1985 through 1992.
With “The Golden Girls”, Betty has won six Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers for Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden.
When “The Golden Girls” ended in 1992, Betty joined Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty on “The Golden Palace” which moved their “Golden Girls” characters to a new network (CBS) and a new locale (a modest hotel). The show flopped, but CBS put White in “Bob”, the network’s latest series with Bob Newhart, in the hopes of adding some adrenaline into fading ratings. The series died anyway. But not she’s popularity. She was a frequent commercial spokesperson, and eager to return to series, she accepted the part of Shirley, mother to Marie Osmond in the sitcom “Maybe This Time” (ABC, 1995). This time, White was oft-married and free-spirited, but she created an entirely new persona, again demonstrating her extraordinarily wide range.
The roles continued to come, and within the span of four years, White was cast in several features (both television and big screen) and co-starred in numerous television series including the short-lived, “Me & George” (1998) and “Ladies Man” (1999). Her voice was the main focus as she brought life to the animated characters Round in the family feature “Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale” (2000) and Aunt Sophie in the kid popular series “The Wild Thornberry’s: The Origin of Donnie” (2001). In 2003, White returned to the big screen in the comedy “Bringing Down The House,” which co-starred Steve Martin and Oscar nominee Queen Latifah.
In addition to appearing in several telepics and small film roles, White was a popular guest star on a variety of TV series, including “Ally McBeal,” “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill,” “Everwood” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” In addition to a recurring role on the popular sit-com “That 70s Show,” White was especially delightful as the sweet-smiling but acid-tongued Catherine Piper, a recurring role she originated on the legal drama “The Practice” in 2004 and carried over into the follow-up series “Boston Legal.”
Emmy Awards
1952 – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series – “Life with Elizabeth”
1975/76 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
1983 – Outstanding Game Show Host – “Just Men!” – (Won)
1986 – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series – “The Golden Girls”
1996 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – “The John Larroquette Show”
TV Work
Hollywood on Television (1949-1950)
Life with Elizabeth (1953-1955) (also producer)
The Betty White Show (1954) (canceled after a couple of months)
Make the Connection (1955-1956)
Date with the Angels (1957-1958)
The Betty White Show (1958) (canceled after 3 episodes)
The Jack Paar Show (regular guest from 1959-1962)
To Tell the Truth (panelist in 1961)
Password (1961-1975) (regular panelist throughout run, but was sub-hostess in 1975.)
What’s My Line? (guest panelist)
The Pet Set (1971-1972)
Vanished (1971) (Cameo)
Match Game (1973-1982) (regular panelist throughout run)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (cast member from 1973-1977)
Match Game PM (1973-1981) (regular panelist throughout run)
Liar’s Club (1976-1978) (regular panelist throughout run)
The Betty White Show (1977-1978)
With This Ring (1978)
The Gossip Columnist (1979)
The Best Place to Be (1979)
Before and After (1979)
Eunice (1982)
Just Men! (1983) (White won an Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host for this series)
Mama’s Family (cast member from 1983-1985 and in 1986)
The Golden Girls (1985-1992)
Santa Barbara (cast member in 1988)
Another World (cast member in 1988)
Chance of a Lifetime (1991)
The Golden Palace (1992-1993)
Bob (cast member in 1993)
Maybe This Time (1995-1996)
The Story of Santa Claus (1996)
A Weekend in the Country (1996)
The Simpsons guest stars “The Family Smile-Time Variety Hour” (1997)
Me & George (1998) (canceled after a few episodes)
The Lionhearts (1998-1999) (voice)
Ladies Man (1999-2000)
The Wild Thornberrys: The Origin of Donnie (2001) (voice)
The Retrievers (2001)
Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003)
Stealing Christmas (2003)
Boston Legal (2004)
Annie’s Point (2005)
Films
Time to Kill (1945) (short subject)
Advise and Consent (1962)
A Different Approach (1978) (short subject)
Hard Rain (1998)
Holy Man (1998) (Cameo)
Gaia Symphony II (1999) (documentary) (narrator)
Lake Placid (1999)
The Story of Us (1999)
Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale (2000) (voice)
Bringing Down the House (2003)
The Third Wish (2005)
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