Betty White may be gone but she had a rich and varied history of radio, film and television work that began in 1930 when she was eight years old (!). It would be a giant list to put together everything that she appeared in as a young actress this continued throughout her career. In 1951, not even 30 years old, she was nominated for an Emmy. She went on to win her first Emmy the next year, the first of eight she would win over her career (the last being in 2014) and was nominated a total of 24 times, as well as winning a lifetime achievement award in 2015. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot to pick from to try and pull up some of her notable appearances. Here are some of the ones we liked the most.
Game Shows
Starting more or less in the 1960s, White became a well-known celebrity guest on a lot of game shows, including What’s My Line?, To Tell The Truth, I’ve Got a Secret, Match Game, Pyramid, and most notably Password as she married the show’s host Allen Ludden in 1963.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
In the fourth season of this hugely successful CBS sitcom Betty White joined the cast as Sue Ann Nivens, an obnoxiously perky tv personality whose off-camera disposition was much more aggressive and cynical. The part won her two Emmy awards.
The Golden Girls
The role we most associate with White is unquestionably Rose Nylund from this unexpected 1985 smash hit sitcom. Playing versus Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan all as four widowed or divorced women who shared a house together, it ran until 1992. White won an Emmy for the character in her first year doing the show and was nominated every year the show was on the air.
The Proposal
Your results may vary as to your feelings about this 2009 romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, but for our money the best parts of the film featured White as Ryan’s character’s wacky Grandma Annie.
Community
In season 2 of this cult tv series, White played the Anthropology teacher whose exercise to lead the class in dividing up into tribes leads to romantic chaos. Her finest moment (other than in the video above) was shooting Star-Burns with a knock-out dart to get him to shut up in class.
Saturday Night Live
In 2010, White became the oldest host ever (88) for Saturday Night Live. She had a lot of great moments in this episode but we’ll always love her in her time on the repeating sketch “The Californians” because she got to SERIOUSLY mack down with Bradley Cooper.
Lake Placid
Arguably White’s finest cinematic moment was in the 1999 comedy horror film Lake Placid playing a kindly old widow and animal lover who turns out to have been feeding the giant crocodile of the film and gets to deliver one of her most iconic foul-mouthed lines ever to Brendan Gleeson.