Betty White Dies: Legendary ‘Golden Girls’ Star and Multiple Emmy Award Winner Was 99

[Autbot_Benz]

Multiple Emmy Award-winning actress and animal rights activist Betty White, who most famously starred in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, has died, just days short of her 100th birthday. White passed peacefully Thursday night at her home, her agent Jeff Witjas confirmed to Deadline.

“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Witjas said in a statement. “I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”

Although White is most notably known for playing sweet and naive Rose in The Golden Girls from 1985-1992, her career began more than four decades prior in her adopted home of Los Angeles. But the road to becoming a star would be paved with challenges for Betty Marion White Ludden, the only child of Christine Tess White and Horace Logan White, born in Illinois in 1922.

https://deadline.com/2021/12/betty-w...er-1234903146/

[IndigoErth]

Darn her, she's not allowed to go...

Too sad. If ghosts were real, no doubt she of all people surely would have "woken up," looked at her body and had a few uncensored words about this just before her 100th. Though I wouldn't have put it past her either just to go early to troll those planning and attending. lol

RIP Betty White...

[Jester]

This sucks. When I saw the massive hype for her star-studded 100th birthday celebration I thought and maybe even said, "She's not 100 yet. Let's not jinx it." And now just shy of 100, 2021 had to give one last middle finger before finally just getting the heck over with.

[MikeandRaph87]

I blame People magazine. There is the elaborate article and the first time I paid attention to it in years. Jinxed her.


There has not been any publicly known aliments. I suppose it is simply old age. She had enjoyed such good health to the end. June Foray was mere weeks away from 100 before God claimed her, but she was frail when she was a guest on Rob Paulsen's podcast.

She was blessed with a quick wit and ahead of her time. Definitely a legend in her field. What a horrible way to end 2021.

[CyberCubed]

Damn you to hell, 2021! How could you do this to us, 2021! 2021 had to pull one last F you to the human race....die in a fire, 2021!

Stop dying, everyone, stop dying!

[sdp]

I've never watched the golden girls only seen a few screencaps from the show, they looked like dinosaurs in the 80s, it's a miracle any of them is alive in the 2020s. How many where there? I swear I see a "golden girls cast member dies" every other year on my feed.

[triplexxx]

Betty White, very close to being a centenarian, still 99 is a lot to be proud of, now she's back with her pals Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty along with many of her fellow stars from the golden age of TV, and of course her husband and past family. Her wit and personality will always be loved and missed. Right at the end of the year, just like when the dearly departed Shredder, James Avery, went at the end of 2013. RIP Betty White, make them laugh in heaven.

[Vicky82]

Damn, this is a shock. I actually thought it was fake when I saw it on Twitter earlier. only a few days ago she said she was feeling great and looking forward to her 100th birthday.

RIP Betty White

[IMJ]

Terrible news....
Loved her on Golden Girls as a kid and was excited for her the other day when I heard the news talking about her upcoming 100th birthday.

She's an honest national treasure. Terrible news.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Jester

This sucks. When I saw the massive hype for her star-studded 100th birthday celebration I thought and maybe even said, "She's not 100 yet. Let's not jinx it." And now just shy of 100, 2021 had to give one last middle finger before finally just getting the heck over with.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I blame People magazine. There is the elaborate article and the first time I paid attention to it in years. Jinxed her.

Yep. Exact same thing I was thinking. That's how it always works when you celebrate too soon. Things go sour.

The ONLY thing that makes me think there's a God is because of these little cosmic practical jokes. The fact that some things seem like they were meant to happen out of pure spite. Too much to be any sort of coincidence.

I mostly knew her from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. That was a good one. Really great ensemble cast, I used to watch that one every night on Nick At Night.

It's a shame, but ah well. She had a better run than like 90-something% of people get.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I suppose it is simply old age.

Heh heh, this reminded me of something probably nobody else will remember, MAYBE some of the very old-school members like Andrew or Cubed. But way back in the day there was a weird drugged-out slutty girl called Hannah who used to post here, and I forget who it was or what the scenario was but someone old had died, and another poster had mentioned how "it was probably old age", or something like that, and this girl Hannah got SO bent out of shape about it. "Nobody dies of 'old age', that isn't a thing!" And kept going on these pedantic semantic rants about it. Like how it had to be "complications RELATED to being old but not LITERALLY "old age". And other people were like "YES, you're right, technically, but c'mon, don't be a f*cking spaz." And she kept getting SO mad about it. It was weird!

Anyways, your comment just made me think of that out of nowhere. It's weird the stuff you remember. Had to be almost 15 years ago by now.

[IndigoErth]

Say no to drugs, kids. But what about old age itself being the complication? lol Since things just wear out eventually from... well, age.



I'm choosing to pretend to believe that 2021/2022 demanded a sacrifice to earn a better year, a sacrifice whose loss will touch nearly all, and Betty volunteered.

[Leo656]

The very idea of the human heart vexes me. It's just a muscle, and they get tired. The idea of a muscle working non-stop, 24/7 for decades upon decades just... seems like f*cking witchcraft. Can you imagine doing 50-60 bicep curls per minute for even a DAY, let alone 99 years? Even with zero resistance, your biceps would wear out in an hour or less. I know that the heart is "built for that" sort of stress, but I honestly can't fathom How or Why. It scares the sh*t out of me. Because one day, I know that muscle is gonna quit. And given how awful a calf cramp feels, I can't imagine how it must feel when your heart suddenly decides it's done working. I am not convinced that people who "go peacefully" actually do. That seems... rather not possible, to be perfectly honest. I'm sure that dying is quite horrifying even at the best of times.

But yeah, I'm sure that almost every time anyone "dies of old age" their heart just said "F*ck it, I'm done." But even "just that" has to be f*cking horrible.

I know it sounds weird coming from someone with a very outspoken history of being suicidal, but at some point a while ago I realized that in fact I'm completely f*cking terrified of dying, especially since I'm quite sure there's no God or afterlife. Part of it is the whole "not being here anymore" thing, but part of it is... I'm pretty sure the physical act of dying is f*cking terrible, and I just don't wanna deal with it.

Hi, I'm Leo656 and my standard state of existence is "In The Middle Of An Existential Crisis." Every f*cking day, man.

[IndigoErth]

I dunno, some people seem to just drift off and stop or are already unconscious.

The illness that killed my dad had a habit of making him pass out, stop breathing and try to die on us. The 3rd time was the one that got him. I hate that he had a terminal illness that has no cure, but in a way I'm grateful that if he had to go, then just passing out in his own home and not waking up is probably one of the better ways to do it. (And the two times we got him back, it was just dramatic for us, not him.)

And if not that, then doped up on things like morphine like my maternal grandmother was.

My grandfather however... yeah, not like him. Luckily I was not there to witness it, however I was told that in his last breath he suddenly sat up and screamed then died. I'm sure it may have been a reaction to his heart giving up or some perfectly explainable thing, but my mom's theist friends who are aware of the childhood abuse my mom saw had some other thoughts on that... But he's the only one I've personally known to go in some dramatic fashion, the rest were all peaceful, as far as us living people perceive it at least.

[Leo656]

My Dad had a slight cold. Christmas Eve 2010 he got up to take a leak around 6am, my sister's boyfriend said, and then like two hours later they went to wake him up and he was gone. They said he looked peaceful but I'unno. It appears that his heart probably quit when he coughed, or something.

Which is weird because he had a lot of issues with pneumonia, water in his lungs, things like that. Many hospital stays of a couple weeks or so. One would think one of those would've got him, not getting knocked out at home by a minor cold.

I had two cats die in my arms of "natural causes". One went rather quietly and seemed very peaceful - she went in for a hug, she held onto me, and then gradually just "stopped holding on" and then she was gone.

Her daughter, not so much. I was asleep, and my wife and her Mom woke me up screaming there was something wrong with the cat. I ran downstairs and she was trying frantically to crawl behind the box freezer, making the most godawful noise you ever heard. She was in a total panic, all four legs scrambling in its own direction, and her eyes were weird. You could tell something was wrong immediately. I scooped her up and tried to keep her calm, but she was frantic. I knew this was it, so I put her bed on the kitchen table, lay her down on that and kept petting her while she looked up at me, terrified. I've never felt so helpless in my life. Then she made a little rattle and was just... gone. We think she had a heart attack or something. The other cat had stomach cancer but this one had no health issues we were aware of, but she WAS 19 years old, so I'm guessing her heart just said "screw this, I'm out."

If you've never looked into the eyes of someone/something as it dies... it's strange. I can't exactly describe it but it's like... I don't exactly believe in this but "it feels like you can literally see their soul leave their body" is the best way I can describe it. I'unno, it ain't good. I can't describe it, but I'll never forget it.

Anyways... seeing THAT, I think, more than anything, has me very skeptical about just how "peaceful" dying is. That poor girl did NOT want to go, and she seemed terrified beyond words.

I know *I* don't wanna go like that, but that's about all I know.

[Coola Yagami]

Yeah it sucks knowing that when you get to your 80's or 90's even if you're in amazing health for that age, hell even if you could somehow do cartwheels and **** at 80-something, your heart can randomly be like 'yeah.... I think I'll cash in my chips here' and shut off on you. I sometimes wonder in those cases where doctors manage to jumpstart you back to life part of your heart is yelling, 'DAMMIT!!!!! I SAID I WAS DONE!!!!'.


The part that bothers me about death is not knowing what the world thinks of you once you're gone. If people miss me or start some sort of 'glad he's finally dead' campaign, like I'd kinda like to know. Somehow.

[Leo656]

Yeah, in some ways I'm glad there probably won't be enough money to bury me and they'll have to stick me in some anonymous pauper's grave, or else just incinerate me and toss me in a dustbin. I imagine were they to put me in a proper grave, the conga line atop it would be epic.

I mean, I'll be dead, so I probably won't care, but... yeah, I am kinda curious as to what kinda sh*t people are gonna talk when I'm gone.

Can't be much worse than the kinda sh*t people say whenever I take a year or so off from this place, but still.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, in some ways I'm glad there probably won't be enough money to bury me and they'll have to stick me in some anonymous pauper's grave, or else just incinerate me and toss me in a dustbin. I imagine were they to put me in a proper grave, the conga line atop it would be epic.

I mean, I'll be dead, so I probably won't care, but... yeah, I am kinda curious as to what kinda sh*t people are gonna talk when I'm gone.

Can't be much worse than the kinda sh*t people say whenever I take a year or so off from this place, but still.

When my mom passed all sorts of people showed up, even people we never knew cared and one of our neighbors who was more of a selfish busybody than an actual friend-friend was there and she was actually crying.

On the way home my dad had one of those 'oh wait' moments when he was telling me 'Wow, even so an so was there, and even so and so was crying. Wait til we tell mom about this one!' Y'know, before reality sat in that mom was exactly who we just buried and all that.


IDK, my parents call themselves by their names of course, but they always did call each other mom and dad around us, I guess to further enforce that my bro and I call them mom and dad. I don't know if that's how most families did it or not, but that's how it was with us.

I guess the oddest example was when our mom originally passed, we were headed for a trip, so dad had to do who-knows-what to get her transported back home. I remember sometime during that, my dad told us 'Man.... how are we gonna tell Mom about this one.." but to be fair, that was incredibly recent, the reality didn't hit yet.


Damn, dying sucks.

[Leo656]

One thing about funerals that amazes me is that it's always surprising who Is and Isn't there. You always see people you don't expect to see... but you also DON'T see some people who absolutely should be there, and that's always sh*tty. But I guess that's life.

RoxxStar Trivia Fact: I was actually at Balls Mahoney's funeral, as were a ton of other "local legend" indy guys. He still lived around here and a lot of us worked with him or knew him in passing. So I've attended the funeral of at least one somewhat-famous person.

[Roseangelo]

She was one of the good ones.