After the world watched Betty White and Abe Vigoda play tackle football in a candy bar commercial during the Super Bowl -- specifically the best commercial that aired during the event (according to USA TODAY's Ad Meter) -- everyone was talking about her.
Of course, the actress most commonly recognized as Rose Nylund from The Golden Girls has never stopped acting. Her recent appearances on Ugly Betty, Craig Ferguson, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Boston Legal are just a few of the many places television audiences have seen her lately. She is also widely known for her roles on Mama's Family and Mary Tyler Moore. Some generations even remember watching her in the early '50s series, Life with Elizabeth, for which she won an Emmy in 1951.
When Diane Sawyer recently interviewed Betty White about the Facebook campaign to have her host Saturday Night Live, Betty White joked that her supporters "just dig old ladies."
It is more likely that fans dig great comediennes that have been a hot act for over 60 years; but although her reputation as a comedic genius precedes her, Betty White is also a very multidimensional actress who is just as capable of making you cry as laugh. Throughout the years, even in sitcoms, she has been given the opportunity to display this talent with characters that people identify with and care deeply about.
"Don't call it a comeback. Betty White has been here for years," says Jenei Osterheldt in her commentary in the San Jose Mercury News ("Betty White is the right 'Girl' for 'Saturday Night Live'"). "...I don't think this White frenzy is a new thing. Instead, I think it's a result of having developed a lifetime of fans, young and old."
Betty White, whose television career actually began in 1949, was honored with a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in January and was greeted on-stage with a standing ovation from the audience. Having just turned 88, and with a new movie about to be released, she said of the award, "This is the highest point of my entire professional life."
- "Betty White's Hilarious, Touching SAG Award" The Huffington Post, January 24, 2010
- "Betty White on Her 'SNL' Supporters: 'They Just Dig Old Ladies'" by Dave Itzkoff, ArtsBeat - The New York Times, February 18, 2010
- Betty White on IMDb (The Internet Movie Database)
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