According to the Washington Post, the only surviving "Golden Girl" and comedy icon Betty White died Friday morning local time at the age of 99. White's agent, Jeff Vitjas, confirmed the news to the newspaper, but did not disclose the specific cause of White's death.
"Even though Betty is about to turn 100, I think she will always be alive," Vitjas said in a statement provided to People magazine. "I will miss her terribly, and so will her beloved animal world." I don't think Betty ever feared the past because she always wanted to be with her beloved husband, Alan Luton. She was confident she would be with him again. ”
White's broadcast career began in 1930, when she was only 8 years old, making an appearance on the radio show Empire Builders. Many are most familiar with her role as Sue-Ann Neevins in the 1970s on the Mary Taylor Moore Show, and Rose Neelander in The Golden Girl from 1985 to 1992. She has also appeared on countless other TV shows and movies. She played Elka Ostrovsky in the TV Land sitcom Cleveland, which aired from 2010 to 2015.
White is also known for his philanthropic work and animal rights advocacy involving animals.
In addition to tv sitcoms, White is a major player in game shows, serving on panelists in shows such as Match Game, Password, The Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, Tattletales, and The $25000 Pyramid. In 1983, she was credited with hosting the short-lived show Just Men! and won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host.
White also won seven Emmy Awards and three Actors Guild of America awards, and set a Guinness World Record for working longer in television than anyone. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Language Recording for her 2011 book, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't).
White had been married three times and had no children. She met her third husband, Alan Luton, in 1961, when she was a celebrity guest on the game show Password, which he hosted. Luton died of stomach cancer in 1981. White had told talk show host Larry King that she had decided not to marry again. She said: "Once you have the best, do you need anything else?" ”
After White's death, fans and friends quickly took to social media to honor her.
Matt Asner, son of Ed Asner, wrote that White was "one of the most beautiful people in the world." It was as sweet as you would expect. Seeing her on set as a child, and every time I saw her in the decades since I became an adult, there was a (warmest) greeting. Love you Betty. ”
Journalist Dan Russer also recalled White. Lasser said in a tweet: "A spirit of kindness and hope. Betty White is beloved for who she is and how she embraces the good life. Her smile. Her sense of humor. Her basic integrity. If more people follow her example, our world will be a better place. As she left, it diminished. ”
People are already planning to celebrate White's 100th birthday on Jan. 17 with the theater release of Betty White: 100 Years Young – A Birthday Celebration, a film celebrating her life and career that will be screened on her 100th birthday. There is no news yet on whether the film will be edited or released.