She was an icon of American television. Actress Betty White, who has kept audiences laughing for more than seven decades on shows like The Crunchies, died a few days before her 100th birthday, US media reported on Friday (December 31), citing her agent.
“Even though Betty was going to be 100, I thought she would live forever”, told the magazine People his agent, Jeff Witjas. “I don’t think she was afraid of dying, because she always wanted to be with her beloved husband Allen Ludden. She thought she would be by his side again”, he said.
Born in 1922 in the suburbs of Chicago, Betty White began her career in modeling, before working in radio, playing in commercials and obtaining small leading roles.
Her life was then inseparable from the small screen, and it was also in a game show that she met her third husband, Allen Ludden, who then introduced him. The couple remained married from 1963 until the latter’s death in 1981. She never remarried, and had no children.
The actress has enjoyed multiple roles and honors during her exceptionally long career. In The Crunchies, she played the clumsy and often naive Rose Nylund, the counterpart to the more sophisticated characters played by Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty. She had also appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Show or in the famous series Love glory and beauty and in 2010, at 88, became the oldest person to host the famous entertainment show Saturday Night Live. Several times awarded at the Emmy Awards, she still lent her voice to a character from Toy story 4 in 2019.
“It’s amazing that I’m still in this business, and that you still support me!”, said the actress at the Emmy Awards in 2018.