Betty White, the beloved TV star and actress, has died at 99.
Betty White was only weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday on January 17. Her centennial celebration was shaping up to be a high-spirited event, which would be the only appropriate type of celebration for the famed actress. White was promoting the event with a special, star-studded movie called “Betty White: 100 Years Young,” which was to be a feature film following the actress throughout her day-to-day life, ending with her attending her centennial birthday party.
Unfortunately, White passed away before the event could be filmed. Her death was confirmed by White’s agent, Jeff Witjas. There are very few details concerning White’s death at this time.
“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Witjas told People Magazine. “I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband, Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
White had become something of a cultural icon in the past few decades. Her TV career gave her major success, both as the perky yet flirty Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as Rose Nylund, the charming, vivacious, and quick-witted star in the quartet cast of "The Golden Girls." White would go on to star in several other films and shows that earned her 23 Emmy nominations, of which she won six.
A pioneer of early television, Whites' career spanned eight decades. In addition to her acting, White was among the first women to exert control in front of and behind the camera and the first woman to produce a sitcom ("Life with Elizabeth"). She was known as the First Lady of Television, an epithet used to subtitle a 2018 documentary about her life. She was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1995 and also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded White with having the longest television career for a female entertainer. She held the record as the oldest Emmy nominee overall, receiving her most recent nomination in 2012 at age 90.
The American public developed a bit of a fascination with White. Her charming, optimistic attitude, which she maintained throughout her life, was an inspiration to millions of fans. White was a self-proclaimed “cockeyed optimist,” which gave her a reason always to find the positive in life, an attitude that seemed to resonate with so many of her adoring fans.
In the hours following the announcement of her death, social media has exploded, with hundreds and thousands of famous and not-so-famous people expressing their sadness at the news of White’s passing and expressing the joy that she brought to their lives.
