American comedy star Betty White, who won the love of television audiences around the world with her Golden Girls series, died less than three weeks before her 100th birthday.
“I thought that even if Betty was about to turn 100, I thought she would live forever,” said the artist’s manager, Jeff Witjas, in the magazine People. The cause of death of the player has not yet been announced.
While film actors entered a difficult period in their careers after their 40s in the youth-dominated entertainment industry, White continued his career in his 60s and became a popular culture phenomenon in his 80s and 90s.
At the age of 92, White starred in the sit-com television series “Hot in Cleveland” until the project was canceled in 2014.
In the interviews he gave to the press in recent days, White explained the secret of his long life by living healthy, being lucky and loving his job.
“It’s unbelievable that I’m still in the industry and you’re still putting up with me,” White said while receiving the honor award at the 2018 Emmys.
Born on January 17, 1922, Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois. His family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression. White attended Beverly Hills High School here.
Beginning her career in the entertainment industry on radio in the late 1930s, White began her television career in 1939 by singing on a Los Angeles station. As a member of the American Women’s Voluntary Service, which assisted the United States with activities during World War II, White became a regular presenter of the “Hollywood on Television” program, which was broadcast live on television for five hours each day in 1949.
A few years later, White, co-founder of a production company and producer and star of the 1950s sit-com “Life With Elizabeth,” became one of the leading women in television.
White appeared on television regularly in the 1960s and early 70s. Presenting the annual Rose Parade Tournament, White also took part in competition programs such as “Match Game” and “Password”. In 1963, he married his third and last wife, “Password” host Allen Ludden.
Increasing her fame with her role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, White won the Best Supporting Actress Emmy Award in 1975 and 1976 for this role.
White won another Emmy in 1986 for her role in the TV series “The Golden Girls”. The series, which chronicles the lives of four elderly women living in Miami, shed light on a demographic that is scarce on US television. White was nominated for an Emmy Award six more times for her role as Rose Nylund, which she played between 1985-1992 in this popular TV series in Turkey.
After “Golden Girls”, White appeared in small episodes in some movies and talk shows, and won another Emmy award for her guest appearance on “The John Larroquette Show”.
Starring in Sandra Bullock’s “The Proposal” in 2009, White appeared in a Snickers chocolate commercial during the US Football League final Super Bowl, and the commercial was a huge success.
A campaign launched by one of his young fans to present White’s comedy “Saturday Night Live” on Facebook made a splash, and White won another Emmy for appearing in every SNL skit he presented.
The Associated Press news agency named White showman of the year in 2010. A 2011 Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that White, who was 89 at the time, was 86 percent the most popular and trusted celebrity in America.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2015, White said, “Who would have thought that at this age I would still be able to work and be this healthy? “It’s a privilege to still receive job offers,” he said.
Childless, White was a staunch animal rights activist.
Famous names who died in 2021
Other names who died in 2021 included former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a number of others.
Colin Powell, the first black US secretary of state and former chief of staff, died at the age of 84 due to complications from Covid-19.
Wounded during the Vietnam War, Powell served as National Security Advisor under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989.
In 1991, under George HW Bush, he was chief of staff during the Gulf War, when US forces drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
Powell served as the US Secretary of State during the George W. Bush administration and supported Democrat President Barack Obama, who was elected the first black president of the US in 2008 by keeping his distance from his party.
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld, who served as defense minister during the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, died this year at the age of 88.
Rumsfeld was secretary of defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977 and under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. Only Robert McNamara has held the post longer than Rumsfeld in US history.
Rumsfeld was also a navy pilot. He served as the US ambassador to NATO and was elected to the US House of Representatives.
Donald Rumsfeld was the man who led the US invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Rumsfeld came under criticism when the torture scandal erupted in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.
Larry King
Larry King, one of the legendary names of the American television world, died in 2021 at the age of 87.
King served on CNN television for 25 years from 1985 to 2010 as the host of the “Larry King Live” program.
During his career spanning more than 60 years, Larry King has interviewed tens of thousands of people, including world leaders, politicians and entertainment celebrities.
After leaving CNN, King continued to broadcast on Ora TV and later on the Hulu internet television service with his online program “Larry King Now”.
Prince Philip
Prince Philip, wife of Queen Elizabeth II, died in 2021 at the age of 99. Contributing to the efforts to modernize the British monarchy, Prince Philip was most noted for his tough personality displayed in public.
Philip, who was outspoken and easily angered, married Queen Elizabeth in 1947 in a ceremony held in Westminster Abbey. Prince Philip, who has the title of Duke of Edinburgh, has been one of the most influential members of the British royal family for more than 70 years, despite not having any official role.
Reforming the court, Philip argued that the growing power of television should be used to reflect the influence of the royal family.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have four children: Prince Charles, born 1948, Princess Anne, born 1950, Prince Andrew, born 1960, and Prince Edward, born 1964.
Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, known as South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero, died in 2021 at the age of 90.
Tutu was one of the most influential figures in ending apartheid in South Africa.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts against the system based on apartheid.
Harry Reid
Former majority leader of the US Senate, Harry Reid, died in 2021 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 82. The Nevada Senator was known as one of the most combative negotiators in Congress.