Betty White (1922-2021)

Sometimes celebrities enter a different plane, a different level where they are honestly legends in a way that even their body-of-work cannot accommodate.  This always seemed to be the case with Betty White, who passed away this past week after a near century of life.  White was not someone who lacked in terms of credentials.  Though she couldn't find a career early on in the movies, she became one of the most important actor-entertainers in the long history of television.  Nominated at the first Emmy Awards for her work on Life of Elizabeth, White would spend the next couple of decades becoming a quintessential face of American game & panel shows, appearing on everything from What's My Line to Match Game to Password, the latter with her husband of 18 years Allen Ludden.

But White was a damned fine actress, and she returned to this vocation with two iconic television turns, first as the randy Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and then later with arguably her best part, the dimwitted Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls.  This is where I, and really a generation of gay men, first fell for Betty White.  White, a longtime champion of LGBTQ causes (as well as a host of others, particularly a lifelong devotion to animal rights), was always pretty proud of the legions of gay men who became obsessed with Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, & Sophia, on a show that seemed to transcend pop culture and stay omnipresent.

That was partially because Betty White knew how to adapt to the times.  Though she had a relatively quiet period of guest spot work in the 1990's & early 2000's, a chance Snickers commercial she did with Abe Vigoda, as well as another television success in Hot in Cleveland brought her back into the spotlight.  She became the oldest person ever to host Saturday Night Live, and suddenly a new generation of fans were charmed by this woman, ageless & beloved in a way few celebrities ever dream of.  Honestly, Betty White graduated from being a longtime supporting player in network comedies to becoming perhaps the most beloved woman in America.  In a country where politics, age, race, geography all seem to be seen as wedges rather than ways to connect, we agree on few things...but everybody likes Betty White.

Though she was 99 and she was not someone that most of us knew, it's still hard to let go.  I rarely cry when celebrities die...I'm crying writing this though.  I think it's because Betty White, like almost no one else, was able to find a way to connect with everyone who appreciated her work.  She took nothing for granted, and kept working until the end (long after her celebrity & legend had been cemented).  A true titan, a brilliant actress, and a genuinely good person, she represented the show business dream, and thankfully for all of us, Betty's dreams were as good as gold(en).