BETTY WHITE AT A 2010 GALA EVENT
BETTY WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA AT THE WHITE HOUSE
One of the
most popular women in America today is the ninety-year old actress, television
personality, singer, author, and animal lover and crusader, Betty White. She’s
been an actress for over sixty years and has won seven Emmy Awards. She hosted Saturday Night Live in 2010 and
was the oldest person to ever do so.
She’s been on numerous hit shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show
and Golden Girls, as well as Hot in Cleveland.
There’s an endless list of shows she’s appeared on and actors she’s
worked with.
I have long
admired Betty’s acting talent and zest for life, her infectious humor, and her
unwavering support for animals of all types.
In addition, she has a strong sense of tradition, yet a real quirkiness
and an ability to think “outside the box.”
Betty White
was born in Illinois, but moved to California with her family during the Great
Depression. She wanted to be a writer,
but discovered an acting career in high school.
She’s never given up her love of writing, however.
She still
loves playing poker with friends, as well as games, and is admittedly addicted
to crossword puzzles, which she calls “mental gymnastics.”
Betty grew
up in a family that loved animals and had many of them. She wanted to be a forest ranger or
zookeeper, but at the time she grew up, that was not a possibility for
girls. Instead, she’s worked with a Los
Angeles zoo for nearly fifty years. One
of her proudest moments was being invited to become an Honorary Forest Ranger
at a special ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It was a very emotional moment for her as it
brought up memories of her father. Betty
has said, “I shall continue to work my hardest to spread the word that not only
must we protect our wilderness areas—we must appreciate them. They are an endangered species.”
Betty once
admitted she enjoyed being with animals more than humans. She added, “Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them
better than humans do.”
Loving
animals as I do, I find many of her comments heartwarming. Here are a few additional ones:
“Cats love you very much—they are
just more subtle about it.”
“I can’t imagine being without
animals. And there are so many older
dogs that need homes desperately. So
that’s where I’ll look, and we can grow old together.”
In her
latest book, BETTY WHITE, If You Ask Me, she also offers other important words
of wisdom, gained from experience:
“I think everybody needs a
passion. Whether it’s one passion or a
hundred, that’s what keeps life interesting.”
Betty talked about her passion for writing. She loves to purchase
writing tablets and notebooks, and says that it recharges her battery when she’s
searching for things to write about. She
mentioned John Steinbeck, a good friend who would do the same thing when
experiencing writer’s block.
One thing
I’ve often thought about as I’ve gotten older and Betty expressed so
eloquently:
“One thing they don’t tell you about
growing old—you don’t feel old, you just feel like yourself.”
And finally,
a few additional thoughts from a remarkable woman:
“You can’t get carried away with
your image, because you know better than anyone else who the Real person
is. You don’t just luck into
integrity. You work at it.”
“If you’ve ever lost a loved one, or
witnessed it, you can’t help but see that the body is an envelope for the
letter.”
BETTY'S STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
Betty will
be ninety-one next January and she has no plans to retire. She is a divine inspiration!
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