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[[File:BettyWhite_2490.jpg|frame| "I'm still hot."]]
{{quote|''"A lot of people really find Betty White inspiring — I mean, she's been working as an actor in an industry for more than six decades in a business that doesn't exactly value getting older. There's a lot to admire. Me, I find Betty White annoying. I'm sorry, it's true. Betty, you make me feel bad about myself, you make me feel like a slacker."''|'''[[Sandra Bullock]]'''}}
|'''[[Sandra Bullock]]'''}}
The grand dame of American TV comedy of her time, '''Betty White''' is(January currently17, 981922 years– young<ref>AsDecember of31, late-January 2020</ref> and has been at2021) workworked in the entertainment industry since 1939, when she began her career on the radio. She then got in on the ground floor of the newfangled medium of television, with her first [[IMDb]] credit for TV dating to 1949. By 1953, she had her first starring role (the sitcom ''Life With Elizabeth''). First nominated for an Emmy in 1951, she was nominated a further 19 times and so far has won seven times.
White iswas notable for the number of times she has rebuilt her career based on playing against her previous image:
* In her initial phase, lasting from the 1950s until the early 1970s, she became known to the public through her various sitcoms and her appearances on ''[[Password]]'' and other game shows hosted by her third husband, Allen Ludden. This Betty was a sweet and charming woman, the classic sitcom mother.
* Then she landed the role of Sue Ann Nivens in ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'', a parody of this sort of character to the point that the creators originally wanted to cast a "Betty White type" in the part. Sue Ann pretended to be that sort of nice person on her TV program, but offscreen she was greedy, bitchy, and man-hungry. This won her two of her [[Emmy Award]]s and set the tenor of her appearances for the next decade or so...
* ...until she was cast on ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', which became probably her most iconic role. She was originally suggested for the role of Blanche, a character more in line with Sue Ann and the character she played on ''[[Mama's Family]]'', but she ended up as Rose Nylund, [[The Ditz]] of the group.
* White's career sincefrom the end of ''The Golden Girls'' in 1992 hasuntil beenher passing in 2021 was playing against her image as Rose. Thus, when she shows up todayin works made in the 21st century, expect her to be a [[Racist Grandma]] or some other subversion of Rose's affable ditziness.
White has undergoneunderwent something of a late-career renaissance inafter the lastturn yearof orthe somillennium. In 2009, she had a supporting role in the successful romantic comedy ''[[The Proposal]]'' starring [[Sandra Bullock]]. She appeared in a famous Snickers ad for the 2010 Super Bowl (which also happened to include [[Abe Vigoda]]), which inspired an originally semi-ironic [[Facebook]] campaign to get her to host the long-running sketch show ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' during Season 35. The campaign was a big hit, and Lorne Michaels brought her on the show, making White the oldest host in the show's history at age 88 and a half (and beat out the only non-celebrity host — Miskel Spillman, who was 80 at the time, helmed the 1977 Christmas show after winning the "Anyone Can Host" contest in Season 3). She also had numerous high-profile guest appearances, like a recurring professor on ''[[Community]]'', and received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award in 2010. SheIn recentlythe early 2010s, she contributed to [[TV Land]]'s [[Network Decay]] by starring in ''[[Hot in Cleveland]]'', although that's hardly a bad thing. In 2012, she began hosting a new prank show on NBC, ''Betty White's Off Their Rockers'', featuring old people pranking youngsters. She showed off her voice acting chops in 2019, with a role in ''[[Toy Story]] 4''.
She hashad her own clothing line, and t-shirts with her face on them are,have at the moment,been [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|huge in Tokyo]].
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{{creatortropes}}
** Not[[Cool justOld now,Lady]]: she'sVery much her image in the first two decades of the 21st century. She had this reputation since ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', since the show had a large [[Periphery Demographic]] among young people (and still does). ▼* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Very much her image these days.
* [[The Danza]]: A number of times. ▼▲** Not just now, she's had this reputation since ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', since the show had a large [[Periphery Demographic]] among young people (and still does).
* ''[[D.C. Follies]]'': Betty was the special guest in an episode of the 1980s series. {{context|reason=Is this a trope, or a work that should be listed in her 'actorroles' section?}}▼▲* [[The Danza]]: A number of times.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Many of her recent21st-century roles have her do this. She 's was ''extremely'' good at it. ▼▲* ''[[D.C. Follies]]'': Betty was the special guest in an episode of the 1980s series.
** She 's was prone to the snark in real life too. ▼▲* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Many of her recent roles have her do this. She's ''extremely'' good at it.
* [[The Ditz]]: As Rose Nylund on '' [[The Golden Girls ]]'' and its spinoff ''The Golden Palace''. ▼▲** She's prone to the snark in real life too.
* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Her love of animals is well-known. ▼▲* [[The Ditz]]: As Rose Nylund on ''The Golden Girls'' and its spinoff ''The Golden Palace''.
* [[Game Show Host]]: Of ''Just Men!'', for which she won her only daytime Emmy despite [[NBC]] canning it after 13 weeks. Due to the way the Emmy nomination period worked at the time, she was actually nominated for it a second time. ▼▲* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Her love of animals is well-known.
▲* [[Game Show Host]]: Of ''Just Men!'', for which she won her only daytime Emmy despite [[NBC]] canning it after 13 weeks. Due to the way the Emmy nomination period worked at the time, she was actually nominated for it a second time.
* [[Happily Married]]: [http://youtu.be/upofiPa8od8 To Allen] [http://youtu.be/BJOTbY0Eums Ludden] before he passed away.
* [[Older Than They Look]]: SheWhen she was 90, she lookslooked like she's was in her 60s,. butShe shestill didn'st actuallylook '''90'''her age up to the day she died.
* [[Playing Against Type]]: As discussed, she has donedid this several times, reinventing herself repeatedly.
* [[Racist Grandma]]: In ''[[Everwood]]'', among other places, though that specific example was only latently racist.
* [[Self-Deprecation]]: She's frequently made jokes at her own expense. When she was on Jimmy Kimmel recently,{{when}} he asked her about first moving to Hollywood, and she mentioned that she wasn't sure if California was a state yet at the time.
* [[Signature Style]]: Not so much her, just the people around her. Since Hollywood doesn't exactly value age, most writers arenweren't sure what to do with her, so a few of her appearances have her play a sweet old lady saying crass and bizarre things (such as her appearances on ''[[The Late Late Show]]'' and ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'').
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[[Category: Betty White{{PAGENAME}}]] ▼[[Category:Actors]]
▲[[Category:Betty White]]
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