Screenshot: Hulu / The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Betty White’s first role came in 1930, playing an orphan in a schmaltzy radio drama called “The Empire Builders.” Her final appearance will come a few weeks from now, as part of filmed birthday tribute for theaters. In the 91 years between, she’s been a local television star, a game show guest and host, movie actor, writer, animal advocate, and occasional rapper.
Unfortunately, a lot of her earliest work is lost, Betty having had a career in entertainment even before TV was broadcast nationally, or consistently preserved. That’s hundreds of hours of material that could only have been enjoyed in a very particular moment, but there’s still a great deal that remains: Much of it in TV comedy, but also in film dramas, a soap opera (she began a run on The Bold & the Beautiful well into her 80s), and a particularly memorable horror movie. Her roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or (of course) as Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls would be more than enough to make any other career...but Betty’s indefatigable nature and sincere love of her work left us with decades worth of entertainment. Going through her life and work is to take a crash course in television, and in 20th and early 21st century entertainment, more generally.
Her relentless (and apparently entirely genuine) positivity was seen as cloying earlier in her career, but—especially when leavened with her quick-witted sass—came to feel like an antidote for the relentless tide of challenging news the last few years have brought us. With a bit of sadness that it’s over, but mostly gratitude that it happened, here are some of her best, finest, and funniest moments.
