Betty White Quick Info | |
---|---|
Height | 5 ft 4 in |
Weight | 58 kg |
Date of Birth | January 17, 1922 |
Date of Death | December 31, 2021 |
Eye Color | Blue |
Betty White was an American actress and comedian. She was best known for being the actress with the longest television career of more than 80 years and being recognized as one of the first women to have controlled both on and off camera and also being the first woman to produce a sitcom Life with Elizabeth due to which she received the honorary title Mayor of Hollywood in 1955.
Born Name
Betty Marion White
Nick Name
Queen of T.V.
Age
Betty White was born on January 17, 1922.
Died
Betty died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 99 on December 31, 2021.
Sun Sign
Capricorn
Born Place
Oak Park, Illinois, United States
Residence
Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality
Education
Betty White went to Mann School Beverly Hills and Beverly Hills High School.
Occupation
Actress, Comedian
Family
- Father – Horace Logan White (Lighting Company Executive)
- Mother – Tess Curtis White (Homemaker)
- Siblings – None
Manager
Betty was represented by Agency for the Performing Arts.
Build
Slim
Height
5 ft 4 in or 162.5 cm
Weight
58 kg or 128 lbs
Boyfriend / Spouse
Betty had dated –
- Dick Barker (1945) – Betty married her first husband, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot Dick Barker in 1945. Their marriage was, however, was brief and they got divorced in the same year.
- Lane Allen (1947-1949) – She got married to Hollywood agent Lane Allen in 1947. Their marriage also was short-lived and the couple got divorced after 2 years in 1949.
- Allen Ludden (1963-1981) – In 1963, Betty married her 3rd husband, a television host and personality Allen Ludden. They first met on the set of his game show Password where Betty appeared as a celebrity guest in 1961. After marriage, she changed her name to Betty White Ludden legally. Allen passed away on June 9, 1981, in Los Angeles from stomach cancer. The couple did not have any children but she was a stepmother to 3 of his children from his first marriage.
Race / Ethnicity
White
She had English, some Welsh, Danish, and Greek ancestry.
Hair Color
Gray
Eye Color
Blue
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Short Hairs
- Thin Eyebrows
- Broad Nose
Brand Endorsements
She had done advertisement work for brands like –
- Arby’s
- US Healthcare
- Alltel Wireless Service
- 1-800-PET MEDS
- Colgate
- Richard Hudnut’s Fashion Quick Home Permanent
- Snickers Candy Bar
- Spray’n’Wash
- Snickers
- Fantastik Cleanser
- Tide
Religion
Christianity
Best Known For
- Having been the actress with the longest television career of almost 80 years and being recognized as one of the first women to have controlled both on and off camera
- Being the first woman to produce a sitcom Life with Elizabeth due to which she received the honorary title Mayor of Hollywood in 1955
First Film
Betty made her theatrical film debut in American political drama film Advise & Consent as Senator Bessie Adams in 1962.
First TV Show
Betty made her first TV show appearance in an unknown TV show that appeared on an experimental Los Angeles Channel in 1939.
Betty White Favorite Things
- Food – Hot Dogs, Red Vines, Potato Chips, French Fries
Source – IMDb
Betty White Facts
- As a child, Betty used to go to The Sierra Nevada for family vacations that gave rise to her interest in the wildlife.
- Growing up, she aspired to become a forest ranger but at the time women were not allowed to become rangers and so this remained a far-fetched dream for her.
- After giving up on her dream of becoming a ranger, she inclined towards writing and wrote and played the lead in a graduation play in school, she discovered her fascination towards acting and decided to take acting as a career.
- Her television career began in 1939, just 3 months after graduating from high school when she got a chance to sing songs along with her classmates from The Merry Widow on an experimental Los Angeles TV channel.
- She later got professional acting and modeling job at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre.
- In 1939, World War II broke out, due to which Betty decided to put her career on hold and volunteer for the American Women’s Voluntary Services she would help in the transportation of military supplies through California. She also took part in events and activities held before the troops were sent overseas.
- When the war ended in 1945, she began looking for the auditions once again but was always denied as all the studios claimed that she was unphotogenic. Fed up from this, she began looking for radio jobs where photos were not required.
- The initial jobs she got were reading commercials and playing bit parts. She also sometimes did crowd noises and earned $5 per show.
- For quite some time, she worked desperately and even did bits for free. Some of the shows she appeared on included Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This is Your FBI. It was after this struggle that she finally got a show of her own. She then got her own radio show, called The Betty White Show.
- In 1949, Betty was cast as a co-host with Al Jarvis on his daily live television variety show called Hollywood on Television, which ran on KFWB radio and KLAC-TV in Los Angeles which she later began hosting on her own when Al Jarvis left in 1951.
- Betty got her first Emmy Award nomination for “Best Actress” on television where, competing in the same category were legendary stars Judith Anderson, Helen Hayes, and Imogene Coca and this also marked the beginning of this new category designated for women on television in the history of Emmy.
- Apart from her acting work, she was also a pet lover and an animal health advocate who worked with animal organizations, such as Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals.
- Follow Betty White on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Featured Image by David Shankbone / Flickr / CC BY 2.0