Betty White turns 99 today, a life milestone that few people ever reach, let alone performers who are still in the public eye.
In September, White reflected on her 70 years in television in an interview with Variety.
She knew the medium was here to stay when she saw the impact of her first TV series, “Hollywood on Television.” In the early 1950s, she spent five hours a day on live TV, talking about the day’s headlines, interviewing guests, spinning records and doing commercials alongside popular L.A. deejay Al Jarvis.
“I think once people got used to entertainment coming right into their living rooms…Well, there we were, and we weren’t going anywhere,” White observed.
Earlier this month, White offered her observations on living nearly a century in an interview with People magazine.
“I am blessed with good health, so turning 99 is no different than turning 98,” White said. Another important factor: “A sense of humor. Don’t take yourself too seriously. You can lie to others — not that I would — but you cannot lie to yourself,” White told People.
White’s big 9-9 comes as she has set a deal to re-release a gem of a talk show series that she hosted in 1971. “The Pet Set” featured White conversing with celebrity friends and their beloved animals. White has long been a vocal animal lover and was a longtime trustee of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and its foundation arm.
“The Pet Set” was a syndicated labor of love that White produced with her late husband, “Password” host Allen Ludden. The 39 half-hour episodes feature such guests as Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore, Doris Day, Burt Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart, Shirley Jones and James Brolin with their furry, four-legged and feathered pals. The series also featured a menagerie of exotic animals filmed in studio and on location, including tigers, bears, elephants, lions, wolves, gorillas, cougars, seals, kangaroos, zebras and eagles.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety