Born Betty Marion White Ludden in 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois, Betty rose to prominence through the 1950s both in front of, and behind, the screen. Dubbed the “First Lady of Television,” she was one of Hollywood’s first women producers during her work on the sitcom, Life with Elizabeth (1952-1956), as she discussed with the Hollywood Reporter in 2010 after winning the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. She received one of her eight Emmys (per the Emmys) in 1976 playing “neighborhood nymphomaniac” Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and her work as Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls” (1985-1992) remains legendary (per the Guardian). All of this came from Betty getting interested in acting after she wrote herself into her graduation play at Horace Mann Grammar School (per Celebrity Nine).
All in all, Betty’s Guinness World Record for “Longest TV Career for a Female Entertainer” is well-earned and justly deserved (per My Modern Met).
