Betty White, Actress With Eight Decade Career and Philanthropist Turned 96 In January Of 2018

Betty White celebrated her 90th birthday on January 17th, 2012 in style befitting a true nonagenarian. Her birthday was celebrated with a television special, filmed at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, along with a "who's who" cast. The television special aired the day before her birthday, on January 16th. She also celebrated her 96th birthday in January of 2018.

I am still trying to believe she is already 96, so I had to put this under the heading of "Age-Defying Celebrities." I swear, if I look half this good at her age, IF I even MAKE it to her age, I am going to have one heck of a blow out celebration! She is still so beautiful! And I mean, inside, where it counts, as well as outside.

Betty White's birthday celebration was a mini reunion of the surviving members of the cast of the Mary Tyler Moore show, which was on television from 1970-1977. Mary Tyler Moore (age 74) was there, as was Ed Asner (age 82), Valerie Harper (age 72) and Gavin McLeod (80 years old). None of them look their age either! It was wonderful to see them all together once again.

I can remember coming home from school in the 1970s and watching the Mary Tyler Moore show. Betty White played Sue Ann Nivens when she appeared in 44 episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Sue Ann was the kind of friend you always hoped you would find one day. She was very much loved because of that endearing quality.

Betty was born Betty Marion White, in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17th, 1922. She spent part of her childhood in Illinois, then during the Great Depression, her family relocated to Los Angeles, where she graduated High School.

Her career began in 1939, just three short months after her graduation from High School. She and a classmate sang songs from "The Merry Widow" on an experimental Los Angeles TV channel. Betty also worked for a short time as a model, as well as on several radio shows. She went back into television in 1949 and has appeared in television comedies, as well as on game shows and in movies. She has a startlingly long list of both television shows and movies to her credit. She still continues to perform to this day!

After her award winning performances on the Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s, Betty also had one of her most memorable television roles, in the award winning series called "The Golden Girls." She played the part of Rose Nylund, a very memorable character and one that was stunningly naïve and hilarious in her naivete. She is the only surviving member of the cast. The Golden Girls was on television from 1985 to 1992 and was a brilliantly funny series, with such a lovable cast.

Eight years ago, she appeared in a television ad, which aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. The ad was for snickers, and featured a hapless football team with a player who was told that he was "playing like Betty White." It's a very memorable, and hilarious commercial! After that, a petition was started to have her host an episode of Saturday Night Live. She finally got the opportunity to do that on May 8th of 2010.

In August of 2018, PBS aired a special about her life and experiences entitled "Betty White: First Lady of Television". This special was a retrospective of her career in show business that has spanned over eight decades, a feat that is incredibly hard to achieve, but she has done it with grace and style.

Betty White is an avid pet enthusiast and animal activist, who has done television commercials for PetMeds. She has worked with the Los Angeles Zoo and has been a part of the Morris Animal Foundation for over 40 years. She is also a part of Actors And Others For Animals. Her interest in animals and animal welfare came about in the 1970s, when she produced and hosted a series called "The Pet Set." The series spotlighted celebrities and their pets.

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, located next to the star of her husband of 18 years, Allen Ludden. Married to Ludden from 1963, until his death in 1981 from stomach cancer, she has never re-married.

She's received seven Emmy awards, six of those for acting and has been nominated 20 times for Emmy Awards. She is the first woman who has ever received an Emmy nomination for game show hosting, for a short lived game show called "Just Men." Her career has spanned over six decades, which is an amazing feat for any actress or actor.

Betty also received a Humane award in 1987, for the work she has done on behalf of animal welfare, from the American Veterinary Medical Association. Not only is she a brilliant comedienne, actress, and writer, but she has shown that philanthropy for animal causes is very dear to her heart as well.

Happy 96th Birthday to Betty White, and thank you for always being a true inspiration!