15 Amazing Facts About Betty White

Betty White at a Los Angeles Zoo event in 2015.
Betty White at a Los Angeles Zoo event in 2015. / Vincent Sandoval/GettyImages
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8. Her meet-cute with husband number three happened on Password.

Betty White, Allen Ludden and Carol Channing
Betty White, Allen Ludden, and Carol Channing in the 1960s. / Dean Conger/GettyImages

Bubbly Betty was a regular on the game show circuit, but she met her match in 1961 when she was a celebrity guest on Password, hosted by Allen Ludden. Though White initially rebuffed Ludden’s marriage proposal (he wore the engagement ring around his neck until she changed her mind), the pair stayed together until his death in 1981. Today, their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sit side by side.

9. White originally auditioned for the role of Blanche on The Golden Girls.

Producers of the series thought of White for the role of the ensemble’s promiscuous party girl because she’d long played the lusty Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Meanwhile, they eyed Rue McClanahan for the part of naive country bumpkin Rose Nylund because of her work as the sweet but dopey Vivian Harmon on Maude. Director Jay Sandrich was worried about typecasting, so he asked the two to switch roles. And just like that, The Golden Girls history was made.