mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Between her Snickers Super Bowl ad, the petition to have her host Saturday Night Live and just because she’s awesome in general, Betty White has been getting a lot of press lately. She’s been in the business since the 1940s, so you can bet Betty has a few interesting stories up her sleeve. Wouldn’t you just love to sit at the kitchen table and eat late-night cheesecake with her? (That’s for you fellow Golden Girls fans.) Here are a few of the tales she might tell.
1. Like a bunch of other celebrities, Betty graduated from Beverly Hills High School. Class of ’39!
2. Don’t call her Elizabeth – it’s not her name. Her parents went with “Betty” on her 1922 birth certificate because they weren’t too keen on any of the other nicknames that can go along with Elizabeth.
3. One of her first gigs was as a disc jockey, kind of. She was the assistant to Al Jarvis, who hosted a program called Hollywood on Television, a variety show that included playing records just like a radio disc jockey did. Betty was Al’s right-hand woman for a few years in the ‘40s and ended up taking over the show entirely when he left.
4. She’s been calling the shots since a time when women didn’t get to call the shots very much. Betty received credits as co-creator, producer, and star of the 1952 sitcom Life with Elizabeth. The show earned Betty her first Emmy – Outstanding Lead Actress. She wouldn’t see another one until 1975, when she won for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (see #8).
5. You probably don’t want to have her over for game night, unless you don’t mind losing. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, Betty was known as “The First Lady of Game Shows” thanks to her appearances on Password, What’s My Line, To Tell the Truth, Match Game and Pyramid.
6. In fact, she even married a game show host. She met her third husband, Password host Allen Ludden, during a guest appearance. If you’re familiar with Ludden, you know he later started his shows with the trademark phrase, “Hi, Doll.” This was his little nod to Betty’s mom, Tess, who was an avid watcher. Betty and Allen were married from 1963 until his death in 1981. Here’s a fun clip of the two of them appearing on the game show Tattletales together. I love it when Betty cracks up.
7. She might seem sweet, but Ms. White has a wicked sense of humor. When fellow Golden Girl Rue McClanahan was hospitalized after having a stroke a few weeks ago, a friend of Rue’s reported that Betty had sent Rue a “Don’t Get Well” card that said something along the lines of, “Dear Rue, I hope you hurry up and die so I can be the last Golden Girl left. NOT KIDDING.” Rue apparently got a huge kick out of it.
8. There’s a generation of us who probably know Betty White mostly from her ditzy role as Rose Nylund on Golden Girls. When our favorite show about sassy elderly women first came on the scene, though, television audiences were most familiar with Betty as the tart-tongued, man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In fact, she was initially offered the role of similarly insatiable Blanche Devereaux because of her previous role as Sue Ann. At the first table reading for the show, Rue and Betty switched characters to avoid being typecast (Rue had previously played a sweet, naïve, Rose-type character) and it was declared genius. You can read more about the Golden Girls days in Kara Kovalchik’s post that followed Estelle Getty’s death in 2008.
9. Another example of Betty’s not-so-sweet humor: if you ask her if there’s anything she hasn’t done in her career, her stock reply is, “Robert Redford.” She confessed a couple of weeks ago that she’s never actually met him and would now be embarrassed if she did.
10. Despite all of her success in the television and film industries, Betty has said that when her time comes, she would rather be remembered for her work with animals and animal-related charities. But don’t call her an activist! Here’s what she has to say about that:
“I don’t get into the political side or the demonstrative side. I’m just totally devoted to health and welfare. You know what the problem that animal activists sometimes have? They only concentrate on the heartbreaking things to the point where the general public think, ‘Oh, here comes those animal folks again and I’m going to hear all the things I don’t want to hear.’ They forget to celebrate all the gains that we’ve made. … Sure, there are still big problems, but we’re making some good moves. I’m a big cockeyed optimist. I try to accentuate the positive as opposed to the negative.”
What do you think about the Betty on SNL campaign? I’m all for it! I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Betty White moments – when she played beer pong on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
More from mental_floss…
11 Famous Actors and the Big TV Roles They Turned Down
*
14 Quirky College Donations (and the Strings Attached)
*
10 Weird Celebrity Phobias
*
8 U.S. Presidents With Statues Abroad
*
4 Amazing Things Chili Peppers Can Do
Comments (32)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
Betty White for President!!!
posted by BorgQueen on 2-10-2010 at 6:51 pm
Oh, I just love Betty!
posted by Erin on 2-10-2010 at 8:39 pm
I’ve been watching the Golden Girls for years and I LOVE BETTY. Loved her appearance on Kathy Griffin’s bravo show.
posted by BETTTTTTTY on 2-10-2010 at 8:41 pm
I joined the Betty White to host SNL as soon as it hit Facebook!!! She rules
posted by Fran on 2-10-2010 at 9:09 pm
I can’t believe you didn’t include her performances on Boston Legal. Her character Catherine was priceless!
posted by Sherry on 2-10-2010 at 9:10 pm
When it was announced that Betty White would be part of the Roast of William Shatner awhile back, I thought it was going to be embarrassing.
It turned out she told some of the filthiest jokes of the night. It was great.
posted by Northern on 2-10-2010 at 9:21 pm
I just love Betty!
posted by mary on 2-10-2010 at 9:26 pm
Seconding how awesome her appearance on Kathy Griffin’s Life on the D List was – you should post a video of that madness.
posted by Bekka on 2-10-2010 at 9:42 pm
Betty White is a lovely, sassy woman. Looks like a lady, and has a tongue that could make a sailor blush..
posted by mrs.arno on 2-10-2010 at 10:17 pm
Big, big Betty White fan. I’ve loved her since MTM, but later got to see some of her earlier work. What a genius! Her new Superbowl Snickers spot rocked!
posted by Dixon on 2-10-2010 at 10:29 pm
Voiced on Family Guy too, who knew? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VI7djiaay8
Sorry for the quality, but is listed in the credits. :)
posted by Scott on 2-10-2010 at 10:30 pm
Betty is hilarious on Craig Ferguson’s show. Love her!
Nice to see Jimmy Fallon stealing a few of Craigy’s tricks ;)
posted by shirleyfeeney on 2-11-2010 at 1:20 am
I’ve wanted Betty White as my grandma since I was 8 years old an still do!
posted by Kate on 2-11-2010 at 8:20 am
I absolutely loved her as Eunice’s “perfect” sister, Ellen, in the Carol Burnett Show sketches.
posted by Juliet on 2-11-2010 at 9:56 am
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Golden Girls and know most episodes by heart, but I remember her more as Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was awesome as the man-hungry happy homemaker who was always after Lou Grant. That still supplies me with lots of laughter and great memories. Thanks Betty!
posted by Nathan on 2-11-2010 at 10:00 am
I was a fan of Betty White at age nine, and still am in my 30′s. I would Tivo AND what her host SNL live. She’s great!
posted by fesc42 on 2-11-2010 at 10:04 am
She’s too good for SNL.
posted by Rufus T. Harlemberry on 2-11-2010 at 10:31 am
My mom has every season of GG on DVD and watches a few episodes every single night. My entire family can now apply a GG quote to almost any situation. I loved! her character in “The Proposal”…”I’m ready, the Spirits can take me now.” I would ditch my friends on a Saturday night to stay home and watch her on SNL if they ever gave her the chance!
posted by Shash on 2-11-2010 at 11:22 am
I can’t believe no one has mentioned her role as Mrs. Delores Bickerman in Lake Placid. While I can’t tell you what the movie was about besides an overgrown crocodile, I do know it has some of Betty’s best comedy. A few of her lines would make a sailor blush! She is absolutely hilarious and a few of my friends and I were complimenting her on Super Bowl Sunday. I wish she were my grandma! Go to her IMDB page for the movie and look at her line to the sherriff…..all time classic!
posted by JW on 2-11-2010 at 12:31 pm
She is also pretty much fearless. She used to appear on Jay Leno’s show and do these crazy spots where people would have to guess “Will Betty White Flinch?” – and no matter what happened, sh never did.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 2-11-2010 at 1:08 pm
I LOVE Betty White! My mom was a game show junkie in the ’60s, so I grew up seeing her on Password. She was so perfect as Sue Ann on MTM that you would have believed that she was like that, instead of devoted to Alan Ludden.
When our mom started dressing like “an old lady”, my sister and I started giving her outfits based on the sort of stuff that Betty wore on GG.
posted by Tammy on 2-11-2010 at 1:23 pm
Gotta agree with Northern on the Shatner Roast. She was hilarious. The other one to definitely try to catch is the Saget Roast with Cloris Leachman. She kiled on that show!
posted by crocostimpy on 2-11-2010 at 1:23 pm
Betty was a hottie.
She looks gorgeous in that pic. up top. Even then she looks likes she up to no good.
posted by Chrystani on 2-11-2010 at 1:39 pm
My fave Betty story comes from my great uncle. He was a train porter in the 60′s and Betty White and her husband would ride in to New York City in his car daily. He said she was the filthiest mouthed person he’d ever met. Apparently he would hang out within hearing distance of the couple and look around to watch the shocked reactions of the other passengers when they told each other dirty jokes.
posted by MLE on 2-11-2010 at 2:49 pm
Thanks for the article! Proud memeber of the Betty White to Host SNL group.
posted by Gina on 2-11-2010 at 2:59 pm
Someone once asked Allen Ludden if Betty was different from her character of “desperate housewife” Sue Ann Nivens…
“Oh.. they are exactly the same”, he replied. “Except Betty can’t cook”
LOL!!!
posted by Goliath The Pickle on 2-11-2010 at 5:05 pm
Bow down, Bitches. Betty is the Queen! Represent!
posted by tina on 2-14-2010 at 9:23 pm
I especially like reason number two, as I’ve heard that a nickname for Elizabeth back then was “huge bitch”. Betty for Prez 2012.
posted by Victor @ I Complain Therefore I Am on 2-14-2010 at 10:17 pm
I remember her well from the MTM show – Sue Ann Nivends was my favorite character. She played the host of a cooking show called The Happy Homemaker but her off-screen personality was a super-bitchy nymphomaniac.
In one episode, Mary and Sue Ann met a group of men who are attending a mortician’s covention. They all flirted with Mary but ignored Sue Ann, who was visibly miffed and later asked Mary, in a falsely-sweet tone, ‘Doesn’t it bother you that you’re really attractive to men who spend all their time with dead people?’ Meow!
posted by Barbara on 2-15-2010 at 12:19 pm
As near as I could tell Sue Ann Nivens was based on the real life hostess of a 15-minute daily show of “household hints” that aired on local TV in L.A. back in the 1950s. Her name was Betty White and she did let the camera capture an occasion swipe of cattiness aimed at her sometime co-host (Dick Gardiner?). Other aspects of Sue Ann’s character would not have been allowed past the censors in those days.
posted by Michael on 2-19-2010 at 12:00 am
Check out the Betty White is Friend of Mine t-shirt – http://bit.ly/bettywhitetee
posted by Jason on 5-3-2010 at 1:49 pm
I wonder how she feels about this one now:
7. She might seem sweet, but Ms. White has a wicked sense of humor. When fellow Golden Girl Rue McClanahan was hospitalized after having a stroke a few weeks ago, a friend of Rue’s reported that Betty had sent Rue a “Don’t Get Well†card that said something along the lines of, “Dear Rue, I hope you hurry up and die so I can be the last Golden Girl left. NOT KIDDING.†Rue apparently got a huge kick out of it.
posted by Lola on 6-11-2010 at 7:40 pm