Fun-loving Betty White believes that a good sense of humor is the secret to a long, happy life… and it seems to be working for her – she turned 99 years old this year!
The beloved actress is an author, comedian, and passionate advocate for animal rights. With a prolific acting career that’s spanned over 80 years – longer than anyone else in the television industry – and she’s always pushing the boundaries.
Who doesn’t love her? She’s a household name, a living legend, and a pioneer. To celebrate her, we’ve compiled 20 of the most interesting facts about the sassy Golden Girl we all love!
1. She’s Been Married Three Times
Betty’s marriage to Dick Barker, her first husband, in 1945 ended the same year. Betty’s second husband was Lane Allen, who was also her agent at the time. She gave him the boot in 1949 – just two years into their marriage. Her third and last marriage was to Allen Ludden in 1963.
2. She Wanted To Be A Zookeeper
In an interview with Guinness World Records, Betty was asked what profession she would have chosen if she hadn’t become an actor. She replied: “Hands down, a zookeeper.” This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, she’s known for her love of all animals.
3. She Loathes Animal Cruelty
Betty is such an advocate for animal rights that she turned down a role in As Good as It Gets because she was horrified by the scene where Jack Nicholson’s character shoves a small dog down a trash chute in his apartment building.
4. She Adores Junk Food
As far as Betty’s concerned, her good health has absolutely nothing to do with her diet. In 2011, Jane Leeves spilled the beans about Betty’s eating habits in an interview with US Magazine: “She eats Red Vines, hot dogs, French fries, and Diet Coke. If that’s key, maybe she’s preserved because of all the preservatives.”
5. She Was The First Woman To Produce A Sitcom
In the early 1950s, Betty launched her first television series, Life With Elizabeth. She was one of the first women to produce in Hollywood, and she was the first woman to produce a sitcom. She went on to win her first Emmy nomination because of it.
6. She Was A Member Of The American Women’s Voluntary Services in WWII
Betty put her dreams on hold during WWII and joined the American Women’s Voluntary Services, where she drove a PX truck and delivered supplies throughout Hollywood Hills during the day. At night, she attended dances intended to give deployed soldiers grand send-offs.
7. She Met Her Third Husband On Password
In 1961, Betty was invited as a celebrity guest on the game show Password and the show’s host, Allen Ludden, was immediately smitten. Although Betty rejected his proposal, he wore the engagement ring around his neck until she changed her mind. Betty and Allen stayed together until his passing in 1981.
8. She Auditioned For Blanche’s Role First
Betty originally caught the producers of The Golden Girls’ eye because of her promiscuous party girl role as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Taylor Moore Show, and they intended to cast Rue McClanahan for Rose Nylund’s part. But director Jay Sandrich decided that he didn’t want to typecast the actors, so they switched roles.
9. She Is The Oldest Person To Ever Host Saturday Night Live
In 2010, almost one million megafans of Betty White’s created a Facebook group called Betty White To Host SNL… Please? and the noise got so loud that SNL producer Lorne Michaels was happy to oblige. Betty was 88 years old at the time, and her episode won her fifth Emmy award.
10. She Has A Guinness World Record
The Guinness Book of World Records awarded Betty the title for Longest TV Career for an Entertainer (Female) in 2014. Back then, she’d been in the industry for 74 years. Now, she has 11 more years under her belt! But that’s not the only record she holds.
11. She Is The Oldest Celebrity To Get An Emmy Nomination
At 92 years old, Betty became the oldest entertainer to be nominated for an Emmy award for her show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers in 2017. The reality show’s premise was seniors playing hilarious pranks on the younger generation. The Emmy nomination was Betty’s 21st nomination and was for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.
12. She’s Robert Redford’s Number One Fan
According to People, feisty Betty once told Insider: “My answer to anything under the sun, like, ‘What have you not done in the business that you’ve always wanted to do?’ is: ‘Robert Redford.’ ” Even though she had more than 110 appearances listed in her filmography, she hasn’t worked with him (yet).
13. She’s Never Had Acting Lessons
In LIFE’s illustrated biography of Betty White, she is quoted as saying: “I just want to bring as much natural as I can. I’m not saying that people who take acting lessons are false. They’re much better than I am, but it doesn’t work for me.”
14. She Prefers Animals To Humans
“Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize,” She said in the 2012 book If you Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t), “If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.” Betty estimates that she had around 20 dogs at one time during her childhood years.
15. She Loves Parades
Betty loves parades so much that she hosted NBC’s Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade for nine years in a row – from 1962 to 1971. She was also a color commentator for NBC’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade for 20 years.
16. She’s Written Six Books
Betty has written six books, including If you Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t), Here We Go Again: My Life in Television, and Betty & Friends. Betty is an avid reader and her favorite author is L. Frank Baum, who wrote the Oz books.
17. She Has No Children
When asked if she regretted not having children: “No, I’ve never regretted it,” she told CBS Sunday Morning. “I’m so compulsive about stuff, I know if I had ever gotten pregnant, of course, that would have been my whole focus. But I didn’t choose to have children because I’m focused on my career. And I just don’t think as compulsive as I am, that I could manage both.”
18. She Can’t Remember The Name Of The TV Show She First Appeared In
Betty can’t remember the name of the 1939 TV show that she first acted in… in fact, nobody can. She does remember a few details, though. “I danced on an experimental TV show, the first on the west coast, in downtown Los Angeles,” she recalled in an interview with Guinness Book of World Records, “I wore my high school graduation dress and our Beverly Hills High student body president, Harry Bennett, and I danced the ‘Merry Widow Waltz.'”
19. She Was Named Betty, Not Elizabeth
Betty was born Betty Marion White. In her book If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t), She revealed that her parents named her “Betty” because they did not like any other variation on the name “Elizabeth.”
20. She Was Voted The Best-Looking Female By Her Classmates
Betty was dubbed the best-looking woman by her classmates in the late 1930s, so it’s no wonder that she worked as a model before her acting gig took off. One of her first gigs was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theater in Los Angeles.
To find out more about Betty White’s career through the ages, watch the clip below!
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