Betty White Biography 

Emmy-winning American actress Betty White has cultivated an impressive career that has spanned nearly six decades. She remains most known for her roles in Mary Tyler Moore and The Golden Girls.

Betty Marion White was born January 17, 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois. Her parents were Tess White and Horace White, a homemaker and salesman respectively. White was subsequently raised in Los Angeles, California.

She obtained her initial education from Horace Mann Middle School followed by Beverly Hills High School. She was a 1939 graduate.

Although White always harbored a love for acting, her first professional gigs were as a model. Earning enough to launch her acting career, White made her onscreen debut in 1945 with a bit part in Time to Kill. She appeared with George Reeves and Barry Nelson.

White’s first sizable exposure, however, came in 1953 the television series Life with Elizabeth. She shared the screen with Del Moore and Jack Narz until the show’s cancellation in 1955.

She followed with a long-running stint on Date with the Angels. She was with this program from 1957 to 1958. Bill Williams costarred.

During the 60s, White spent time with programs such as Password, where she appeared as a celebrity guest. The show was hosted by Allen Ludden, who would later become White’s husband. She could also be seen intermittently on What’s My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Match Game, and others. Her frequent association with these programs even earned her the title of “First Lady of Game Shows.”

But it was 1970 that brought one of White’s greatest opportunities. In that year, she was cast on Mary Tyler Moore as Sue Ann Nivens. She shared the screen with Mary Tyler Moore, Gavin MacLeod, Edward Asner, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman. White was with the program until 1977. For her time with the show, White was honored with an Emmy win in 1976 and an Emmy nomination in 1977.

She continued to appear in various film and television projects until her next major project came along. It wasn’t long before she found herself on the new television series Golden Girls. She played Rose Nylund from 1985 to 1992. During this time, she shared the screen with Beatrice Arthur (Bea Arthur), Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty.

Her time with the show was marked by seven consecutive Emmy nominations (from 1986 to 1992). Her only win from that slew of nominations came in 1986.

Since the end of this wildly popular show, White is noted for her time with Ladies Man (with Alfred Molina and Sharon Lawrence), That ‘70s Show (as the mother of Kitty Forman, Debra Jo Rupp), and Boston Legal (with James Spader, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen).

Most recently, she took a role on The Bold and the Beautiful. She played the mother of Susan Flannery’s character, Stephanie Forrester.

Outside of acting, White is known for her extensive charity work with animals.

In her personal life, White has been married three times. Her first husband was Dick Barker. Married in 1945, the relationship lasted less than one year.

In 1947, she married Lane Allen, and they divorced in 1949. She didn’t marry again until 1963, when she wed her long-time game show co-host Ludden. They were together until his death on June 9, 1981.