Carol Off is a Canadian television and radio journalist, associated with CBC Television and CBC Radio. She has been a host of CBC Radio's As It Happens since 2006.^[1] Previously a documentary reporter for The National, Off also hosted the political debate series counterSpin on CBC Newsworld.

She is the vice-president of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. She was awarded ACTRA's John Drainie Award, for distinguished contributions to Canadian broadcasting, in 2008.^[2]

Off has also written several books on the Canadian military, including The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle (2000) and The Ghosts of Medak Pocket: the Story of Canada's Secret War (2005, ISBN 0-679-31294-3). In 2006, she released a book, Bitter Chocolate, about the corruption and human rights abuses associated with the cocoa industry. She claimed that French-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer, who was kidnapped in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire in 2004, had been murdered for exposing Ivorian government corruption in connection with cocoa.^[3]

Off got her start in journalism as a staff writer for The Gazette, the student newspaper at The University of Western Ontario.

Personal life[link]

Off married fellow CBC broadcaster Linden MacIntyre in 2000.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carol Off bio - As it Happens, CBC Radio
• Profile on Off

This article about a Canadian journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Carol Burnett
At the White House in 2005
Born	Carol Creighton Burnett (1933-04-26) April 26, 1933 (age 79) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, comedian, singer, dancer, writer
Years active	1955–present
Spouse	Don Saroyan (m. 1955–1962) «start: (1955)–end+1: (1963)»"Marriage: Don Saroyan to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett) Joe Hamilton (m. 1963–1984) «start: (1963)–end+1: (1985)»"Marriage: Joe Hamilton to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett) Brian Miller (m. 2001) «start: (2001)»"Marriage: Brian Miller to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett)
Children	Carrie Hamilton Jody Hamilton Erin Hamilton

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Burnett moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show which combined comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many characters during the show's television run.

Early life[link]

Carol and Chrissy on Person to Person, 1961.

Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Ina Louise (née Creighton), a publicity writer for movie studios, and Joseph Thomas Burnett, a movie theater manager.^[1][2] Both of her parents suffered from alcoholism, and at a young age she was left with her grandmother, Mabel Eudora White. Her parents divorced in the late 1930s, and Burnett and her grandmother moved to an apartment near her mother’s in an impoverished area of Hollywood. There, they stayed in a boarding house with her younger half-sister Chrissy.^[3]

When Burnett was in the second grade, she briefly invented an imaginary twin sister named Karen, with Shirley Temple-like dimples. Motivated to further the pretense, Burnett recalled fondly that she "fooled the other boarders in the rooming house where we lived by frantically switching clothes and dashing in and out of the house by the fire escape and the front door. Then I became exhausted and Karen mysteriously vanished."^[4]

For a while, she worked as an usherette at what is now the Hollywood Pacific Theatre (the forecourt of which is now the location of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; see the section in the theatre's article for more information). After graduating from Hollywood High School in 1951, Burnett won a scholarship to UCLA, where she initially planned on studying journalism. During her first year of college, Burnett switched her focus to theater arts and English, with the goal of becoming a playwright. She found she had to take an acting course to enter the playwright program; "I wasn't really ready to do the acting thing, but I had no choice."^[5] She followed a sudden impulse in her first performance; "Don't ask me why, but when we were in front of the audience, I suddenly decided I was going to stretch out all my words and my first line came out 'I'm baaaaaaaack!'"^[5] The audience response moved her deeply:

They laughed and it felt great. All of a sudden, after so much coldness and emptiness in my life, I knew the sensation of all that warmth wrapping around me. I had always been a quiet, shy, sad sort of girl and then everything changed for me. You spend the rest of your life hoping you'll hear a laugh that great again.^[5]

During this time, Burnett performed in several university productions, garnering recognition for her comedic and musical abilities. Her mother disapproved of her acting ambitions:

She wanted me to be a writer. She said you can always write, no matter what you look like. When I was growing up she told me to be a little lady, and a couple of times I got a whack for crossing my eyes or making funny faces. Of course, she never, I never, dreamed I would ever perform.^[4]

The young Burnett, always insecure about her looks, described her reaction to her mother's advice of "You can always write, no matter what you look like", in her 1986 memoir One More Time: "God, that hurt!"

In 1954, during her junior year, a professor invited Burnett and some other students to perform at a black-tie party. A man and his wife approached her afterward, as she was putting cookies in her purse to take home to her grandmother.^[6] Instead of reprimanding her, the man complimented Burnett's performance and asked about her future plans. When he discovered that she wanted to go try her luck with musical comedy in New York, but did not have enough money, he offered her^[6] and her boyfriend Don Saroyan each a $1000 interest-free loan on the spot. The conditions were that it was to be paid back in five years, his name was never to be revealed, and if she became a success, she would help others attain their dreams.^[6] Burnett took him up on his offer. She and Saroyan left college and moved to New York to pursue acting careers. That same year, Burnett's father died of causes related to his alcoholism.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

After spending her first year in New York working as a hat-check girl and failing to land acting jobs, Burnett along with other girls living at The Rehearsal Club, a boarding house for women seriously pursuing an acting career, put on The Rehearsal Club Revue on March 3, 1955. They mailed invitations to agents, who showed up along with stars like Celeste Holm and Marlene Dietrich, and this opened doors for several of the girls. Burnett was cast in a minor role on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in 1955. She played the girlfriend of a ventriloquist’s dummy on the popular children’s program. This role led to her starring role opposite Buddy Hackett in the short-lived sitcom Stanley from 1956 to 1957.

After Stanley, Burnett found herself unemployed for a short time. She eventually bounced back a few months later as a highly popular performer on the New York circuit of cabarets and night clubs, most notably for a hit parody number called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (Dulles was Secretary of State at the time). In 1957, Burnett performed this number on both The Tonight Show, hosted by Jack Paar, and The Ed Sullivan Show. Burnett also worked as a regular on one of television's earliest game shows, Pantomime Quiz, during this time. In 1957, just as Burnett was achieving her first small successes, her mother died.

Burnett and Larry Blyden from The Garry Moore Show, 1960.

Burnett's first true taste of success came with her appearance on Broadway in the 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress. The same year, she became a regular player on The Garry Moore Show, a job that lasted until 1962. She won an Emmy^[7] that year for her "Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series" on the show. Burnett portrayed a number of characters, most memorably the put-upon cleaning woman who would later become her signature alter-ego. With her success on the Moore show, Burnett finally rose to headliner status and appeared in the 1962 special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, co-starring her friend Julie Andrews. The show was produced by Bob Banner, directed by Joe Hamilton, and written by Mike Nichols and Ken Welch.^[8] Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music. Burnett also guest-starred on a number of shows during this time, including The Twilight Zone episode "Cavender is Coming" and a recurring role as a tough female Corporal, later Gunnery Sergeant in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Burnett became good friends with the latter show's star, Jim Nabors, who would later be her first guest every season on her variety show.^[9]

In 1963, Lucille Ball became a friend and mentor to Burnett, and after having the younger performer guest star on The Lucy Show a number of times, Ball reportedly offered Burnett her own sitcom called "Here's Agnes", to be produced by Desilu Productions. Burnett declined the offer, however, deciding instead to put together a variety show. The two remained close friends until Ball's death in 1989. Ball sent flowers every year on her birthday. When Burnett awoke on the day of her 56th birthday in 1989, she discovered via the morning news that Ball had died. Later that afternoon, flowers arrived at Burnett's house with the note "Happy Birthday, Kid. Love, Lucy."^[10]

In 1964, Burnett was cast opposite Caterina Valente and Bob Newhart on the variety show The Entertainers which ran for only one season. She also starred in the Broadway musical Fade Out - Fade In, but was forced to quit after sustaining a neck injury in a taxi accident. The show’s producers sued the actress for breach of contract, but the suit was later dropped.

[edit] The Carol Burnett Show

The hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the ninth season),^[11] Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a younger Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety, but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make.^[12] She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes.

A true variety show, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers. Among other things, it parodied films ("Went With the Wind" for Gone With the Wind), television ("As the Stomach Turns" for the soap opera As the World Turns) and commercials. Musical numbers were also a frequent feature. Burnett and her team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.

Burnett opened most shows with an impromptu question and answer session with the audience, lasting a few minutes, during which she often demonstrated her ability to humorously ad lib. On numerous occasions, she obliged when asked to perform her trademark^[13] Tarzan yell.

Burnett ended each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to her grandmother who had raised her. This was done to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her. During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On an Intimate Portrait episode on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider, but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"^[14] Burnett continued the tradition of tugging her ear.

The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show.^{[citation needed]} It continues to have success in syndicated reruns.

Other roles[link]

Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.

Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password, an association she maintained until the early 1980s. She was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.^[15]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Burnett made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's "The Family" sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. She returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You, playing Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).

Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds) and causing trouble for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo appearance as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005, episode which celebrated the show's 35th anniversary. Burnett reprised her role as Grubbs in September 2011 as part of the series' finale.

In 2008, Burnett had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan. In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. In November 2010, she guest starred on an episode of Glee as the mother of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.^[16]

Burnett was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph, and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."^[4]

Personal life[link]

The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was [her] idea of spacious."^[4]

She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer (1991). On November 24, 2001, Burnett married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.

In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother, and Michele Pawk as the mother, Louise. Pawk went on to receive the 2003 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.

Since the '60s, Burnett's been best friends with Julie Andrews. Carol is the godmother of Julie's first child Emma Walton Hamilton.

Lawsuits[link]

Burnett drew attention in 1981 when she sued the tabloid newspaper National Enquirer for libel after the Enquirer described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case, Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc., was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal. She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "cab fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.

In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her cleaning lady character "charwoman" in an episode of Family Guy.^[17] On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.^[18] The judge used Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as the general basis for the decision.^[19]

Awards and recognition[link]

Emmy Awards[link]

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6439 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre (below), where she was once fired from a job as an usherette. At the time, it was known as the Warner Hollywood Theatre.

• 1962 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
• 1963 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
• 1969, 1970, 1971 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1972 – Outstanding Variety Series – Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
• 1972 – Nominated for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Musical – Variety and Popular Music, Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center
• 1973 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
• 1974 – Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1974 – Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
• 1975 – Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1976, 1977, 1978 – Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1977 – Nominated for Outstanding Special – Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
• 1979 – Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
• 1983 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
• 1993 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
• 1995 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
• 1997 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
• 1998 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
• 2002 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
• 2009 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Golden Globe Awards[link]

• 1968 – Best TV Star – Female, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 – Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 – Nominated for Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1973 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
• 1979 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
• 1982 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
• 1983 – Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical, Annie
• 1983 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
• 1991 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company

Other[link]

• Burnett received a Peabody Award in 1962.
• She was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1980.^[20]
• In 1997, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.^[21]
• She was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors.
• President George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.^[22]
• She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
• She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
• On December 1, 2009, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
• Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.

Work[link]

Television[link]

• The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
• Stanley (1956–1957)
• Omnibus (October 1956)
• The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
• Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
• The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode "Cavender Is Coming" – 1962)
• An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
• Calamity Jane (1963)
• Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
• The Entertainers (1964–1965)
• The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
• Carol + 2 (1967)
• Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
• The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
• The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
• Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
• Sesame Street (1971) giving a lecture about noses
• Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
• 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
• Out to Lunch (1974)
• Twigs (1975)
• Cher (1975)
• Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
• All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, 2005, and 2011)
• Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
• The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
• Friendly Fire (1979)
• Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
• The Tenth Month (1979)
• The Muppet Show (1980) (Guest star Season 5, Episode 15)
• Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
• Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982)
• Between Friends (1983)
• Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
• Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
• Magnum, P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
• The Laundromat (1985)
• Follies in Concert (1986)
• Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
• Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
• Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
• Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
• Hostage (1988)
• Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
• Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
• The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
• The Larry Sanders Show (1992) - episode The Spider Episode
• The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
• Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
• Seasons of the Heart (1994)
• Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
• Mad About You (Theresa Stemple, 1996–1999)
• Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
• The Marriage Fool (1998)
• Putting It Together (2000)
• Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
• The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
• Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
• Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
• American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance^[6])
• The Bonnie Hunt Show (2010) (Special guest)
• Glee (2010) (Special guest star)^[16]
• Conan (2012)

Filmography[link]

• Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
• Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
• Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
• Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
• The Front Page (1974)
• A Wedding (1978)
• Health (1980)
• The Four Seasons (1981)
• Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
• Annie (1982)
• Noises Off (1992)
• Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
• Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
• The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2004) (documentary)
• Once Upon a Mattress (2005)
• Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
• Post Grad (2009)
• The Secret World of Arrietty (2012) (voice)

Stage[link]

• Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
• Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
• Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
• Putting It Together (1999)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carol Burnett

• Carol Burnett at the Internet Movie Database
• Carol Burnett at AllRovi
• The Carol Burnett Show
• Interview by Terry Gross
• Carol Burnett news on Topix.net
• John Foster Dulles song
• Once Upon A Mattress debut sketch
• Carol Burnett, The Ed Sullivan Show
• Carol Burnett at Emmys.com

This article is about the U.S. sociopolitical commentator. For other people with a similar name, see Brian Fisher (disambiguation).

Bryan J. Fischer is the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA). He hosts the talk radio program Focal Point on American Family Radio and posts on the AFA-run blog Rightly Concerned.

Fischer opposes abortion, national health care, gay adoption,^[2] and same-sex marriage.^[3] Fischer's controversial comments on racial and ethnic minorities were cited by Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in explaining the hate group designation they gave to the AFA in November 2010.^[4]

Biography[link]

Fischer has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Stanford University, and holds a graduate degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Fischer served at the Cole Community Church in Boise, Idaho and founded the Cole Center for Biblical Studies and was the church's director for thirteen years. Fischer then founded Community Church of the Valley and was senior pastor for twelve years. Before joining the board of directors of American Family Association, Fischer was also executive director of Idaho Values Alliance.^[3]

In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition, a group dedicated to keeping a Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a commissioner for the city's Park and Recreation Department.^[3]

In November 2010, the SPLC changed their listing of the AFA from a group that used hate speech to the more serious one of being designated a hate group.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The SPLC's Mark Potok said that the AFA's "propagation of known falsehoods and demonizing propaganda" was the basis for the change.^[10][11] Fischer's anti-gay comments were given as an example by SPLC in support of the hate group designation.^[4]

Recently, Fischer has become a supporter of the AIDS denial movement. His guest on the January 3, 2012 edition of Focal Point was prominent AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg. On that show, Fischer strongly supported Duesberg's contention that AIDS is not caused by HIV, but by recreational drug use.^[12][13] Fischer expanded on this further in a post on Rightly Concerned, saying that it isn't possible for a virus to remain dormant for a long period of time. He cited as an example Magic Johnson, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and has remained healthy for over 20 years. This is despite overwhelming scientific consensus that HIV can stay dormant for several years before the onset of AIDS. In Fischer's view, HIV is a hoax that was concocted by cancer researchers who needed an excuse to keep their grants.^[14] He has also expressed support for tax protester theory; on the April 17, 2012 edition of Focal Point he made the common tax protester argument that the 16th Amendment does not count wages and salaries as income.^[15]

MormonVoices, a group associated with Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research, included Fischer on its Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011 list for saying "Mormonism is not an orthodox Christian faith. It just is not ... It's very clear that the Founding Fathers did not intend to preserve automatically religious liberty for non-Christian faiths."^[16]

References[link]

1. ^ Adler, Ben (January 18, 2011). "The Liberal Media's Conservative of the Month". Newsweek.
2. ^ Fischer, Bryan (June 15, 2011). "Homosexual adoptions victimize children". http://afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147508635. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Biography at American Family Association. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
4. ^ ^{a b} Potok, Mark (December 15, 2010). "SPLC Responds to Attack by FRC, Conservative Republicans". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/12/15/splc-responds-to-attack-by-frc-conservative-republicans/. Retrieved April 26, 2011. 
5. ^ Schlatter, Evelyn (Winter 2010). "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners. Retrieved December 17, 2010. 
6. ^ Waddington, Lynda (November 23, 2010). "Groups that Helped Oust Iowa Judges Earn 'Hate Group' Designation; SPLC Adds American Family Association, Family Research Council to List". Iowa Independent. http://iowaindependent.com/47947/groups-that-helped-oust-iowa-judges-earn-hate-group-designation. Retrieved November 25, 2010. 
7. ^ "SPLC's Anti-Gay Hate List Compiled With Diligence and Clear Standards | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. December 23, 2010. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-s-anti-gay-hate-list-compiled-with-diligence-and-clear-standards. Retrieved March 19, 2011. 
8. ^ Eichler, Alex (November 23, 2010). "13 New Organizations Added to Anti-Gay 'Hate Groups' List". The Atlantic Wire. The Atlantic Monthly Group. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/11/13-new-organizations-added-to-anti-gay-hate-groups-list/22153/. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
9. ^ Benen, Steve (December 18, 2010). "This Week in God". Political Animal. Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/027153.php. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
10. ^ Banks, Adele M. (November 29, 2010). "Religion News Service: Hate group watchdog adds Family Research Council to its list". The Pew Forum. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. http://pewforum.org/Religion-News/RNS-Hate-group-watchdog-adds-Family-Research-Council-to-its-list.aspx. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
11. ^ Nelson, Josh (November 29, 2010). "Judge-ouster supporters blast 'hate' label". WCFCourier.com. http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_0d224deb-9ca4-5f17-9ae0-cdd5c98e47f5.html. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
12. ^ Part 1 of Fischer interview with Duesberg from AFA YouTube channel
13. ^ Part 2 of Fischer interview with Duesberg from AFA YouTube channel
14. ^ Fischer, Bryan. "Why is Magic Johnson healthy as a horse? HIV does NOT cause AIDS". American Family Association, January 5, 2012.
15. ^ "16th Amendment exempts wages and salaries from taxation" (video). American Family Association. 2012-04-17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58YvmJHCZ10. 
16. ^ Walker, Joshua (January 8, 2012). "Group lists Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/700213557/Group-lists-Top-Ten-Anti-Mormon-Statements-of-2011.html. 

External links[link]

• American Family Association

Betty White
White at the Time 100 gala in 2010
Born	Betty Marion White (1922-01-17) January 17, 1922 (age 90) Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Other names	Gerrie, Betty White Ludden[1]
Education	Horace Mann School
Alma mater	Beverly Hills High School
Occupation	Actress, comedienne, writer
Years active	1939–present
Home town	Beverly Hills, California
Television	Life with Elizabeth Date with the Angels The Mary Tyler Moore Show The Betty White Show The Golden Girls The Golden Palace Hot in Cleveland Betty White's Off Their Rockers (host)
Spouse	Dick Barker (1945) Lane Allen (1947–1949) Allen Ludden (1963–1981; his death)

Betty Marion White Ludden (born January 17, 1922), better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and television personality. With a career spanning over seven decades, she is best known to contemporary audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. Since the death of co-star Rue McClanahan in 2010, she is now the only living Golden Girl. She currently stars as Elka Ostrovsky in the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland and hosts the practical-joke show Betty White's Off Their Rockers.

White has won seven Emmy Awards (six for acting) and has received 20 Emmy nominations^[2] over the course of her career, including being the first woman ever to receive an Emmy for game show hosting (for the short-lived Just Men!) and is the only person to have an Emmy in all female performing comedic categories. In May 2010, White became the oldest person to guest-host Saturday Night Live, for which she also received a Primetime Emmy Award. White also holds the record for longest span between Emmy nominations for performances – her first was in 1951 and her most recent was in 2011, a span of 60 years – and has become the oldest nominee as of 2012^[update], aged 90. She has made regular appearances on the game shows Password and Match Game and played recurring roles on Mama's Family, Boston Legal, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Community.

Early life[link]

Born Betty Marion White in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922, she is the daughter of Tess Curtis (née Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Lawrence White, a traveling salesman and electrical engineer.^[3][4][5] Her mother was of Greek, English, and Welsh descent, and her father was of Danish and English ancestry.^[6][7][8] White's family moved to Los Angeles, California during the Great Depression.^[9] She attended Horace Mann School Beverly Hills and Beverly Hills High School. Hoping to become a writer, she wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School and discovered her interest in performing.^[1]

Career[link]

[edit] 1939–1973: Radio career, Life With Elizabeth and television pioneer

White began her television career in 1939, three months after high school graduation, when she and a classmate sang songs from The Merry Widow on an experimental Los Angeles channel.^[10][1][11] White found work modeling, and her first professional acting job was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. White's career was disrupted immediately, as World War II broke out, causing her to join the American Women's Voluntary Services.^[12] In the 1940s, she worked in radio appearing on shows such as Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve and This Is Your FBI. She then got her own radio show, called The Betty White Show.^[13]

In 1949, she began appearing as co-host with Al Jarvis on his daily, live variety show Hollywood on Television on KLAC in Los Angeles.^[2][11] White began hosting the show by herself in 1952 after Jarvis' departure,^[2] spanning five and a half hours of live ad-lib television six days per week over a contiguous four-year span altogether. In all of her various variety series over the years, White would sing at least a couple of songs during each broadcast. In 1950, Betty was nominated for her first Emmy Award as "Best Actress" on television, competing with such legendary stars as Judith Anderson, Helen Hayes, and Imogene Coca (the award went to Gertrude Berg). This was the very first award and category in the new Emmy history designated for women on television.

In 1952, the same year she began hosting Hollywood on Television, White co-founded Bandy Productions with writer George Tibbles and Don Fedderson, a producer.^[2] The trio worked to create new shows using existing characters from sketches shown on Hollywood on Television. White, Fedderson and Tibbles created the television comedy Life With Elizabeth, based on a Hollywood on Television sketch.^[2] White portrayed the title character on the sitcom from 1952 to 1955, which effectively boosted her career.^[2] Life With Elizabeth was nationally syndicated by the mid-1950s, allowing White to become one of the few women in television with full creative control in front of and behind the camera at the time.^[2] Although several sources state White won an Emmy for the show ^{[2][4][11][14]} this appears to be incorrect,^[15] and may be a matter of confusing the 1950 nomination with a win.

White in The Betty White Show (1954)

In 1954, she briefly hosted and produced her own daily talk show, The Betty White Show, on NBC^[2] (not to be confused with her 1970s sitcom of the same name). Following Life with Elizabeth, she appeared as Vicki Angel on the sitcom Date with the Angels from 1957 to 1958. The show later became another variety series before going off the air.^[2] White performed in commercials seen on live television in Los Angeles, including a spirited rendition of the "Dr. Ross Dog Food" advertisement at KTLA during the 1950s.

She made her feature film debut as Kansas Senator Elizabeth Ames Adams in the 1962 drama, Advise and Consent. It would be her only big-screen appearance for decades.

Betty White's greatest fame during the 1960s and early 1970s with the general public was likely from her long stint as hostess and commentator on the annual Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast on NBC, often co-hosting with Lorne Greene. White began a nineteen-year run as host on the program in 1956; NBC replaced her in 1975, feeling she was too identified with rival network CBS due to her new-found success on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. White admitted to People magazine it was difficult "watching someone else do my parade",^[16] although she soon would start a ten-year run as hostess of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for CBS.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, White appeared on a number of late night talkshows and daytime game shows, including Password.^[2] White made many appearances on the hit game show Password as a celebrity guest from 1961 through 1975. She married the show's host, Allen Ludden, in 1963.^[2] She subsequently appeared on the show's three updated versions Password Plus, Super Password, and Million Dollar Password, having been on versions of the game with five different hosts (Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, Tom Kennedy, Bert Convy, and Regis Philbin). White made frequent game show appearances on What's My Line? (starting in 1955), To Tell the Truth (in 1961 and in 1990), I've Got a Secret (in 1972–73), Match Game (1973–1982) and Pyramid (starting in 1982). Both Password and Pyramid were created by White's friend, Bob Stewart. In 1983, she became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host, for the NBC entry Just Men!. Due to the amount of work she has done on them, she has been deemed the "First Lady of Game Shows".^[17]

[edit] 1973–1985: Continued success, comedic endeavors and The Mary Tyler Moore Show

In 1973, White made a guest appearance in season four of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as The Happy Homemaker.^[2] As a result of her guest appearance, White landed her most significant role at that point as the sardonic, man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens, The Happy Homemaker, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a full time cast member.^[2] The running gag was that Sue Ann's hard-edged private personality was the complete opposite of how she presented herself on her show. "We need somebody who can play sickeningly sweet, like Betty White," Moore herself suggested at a production meeting, which resulted in casting White herself. White won two back-to-back Emmy Awards for her role in the hugely popular series.^[2]

Following that show's end in 1977, she was given her own sitcom on CBS, The Betty White Show,^[2] during the 1977–78 season, in which she co-starred with John Hillerman and former Mary Tyler Moore co-star Georgia Engel. It was canceled after one season. White appeared several times on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson appearing in many sketches, and began guest-starring in a number of television movies and television miniseries, including With This Ring, The Best Place to Be, Before and After, and The Gossip Columnist.^[2]

White at the 1988 Emmy Awards

1988 Emmy Awards

From 1983 through 1985, she had a recurring role playing Ellen Harper Jackson on the series Mama's Family,^[2] along with future Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan. White had originated this character in a series of sketches on The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s. When Mama's Family was picked up in syndication after being canceled by NBC in 1985, White left the show (with the exception of one final appearance in the show's syndicated version in 1986).

[edit] 1985–2000: The Golden Girls and new career heights

In 1985, she scored her second signature role and the biggest hit of her career as the St. Olaf, Minnesota-native Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls.^[2] The series chronicled the lives of four widowed or divorced women in their "golden years" who shared a home in Miami. The Golden Girls, which also starred Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan, was immensely successful and ran from 1985 through 1992. White won one Emmy Award, for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, for the first season of The Golden Girls^[2] and was nominated in that category every year of the show's run (the only cast member to receive that distinction — Getty was also nominated every year, but in the supporting actress category). When Beatrice Arthur left in 1992, White, McClanahan, and Getty reprised their roles Rose, Blanche, and Sophia in the spin-off The Golden Palace.^[2] The series was short-lived, lasting only one season. In addition, White reprised her Rose Nylund character in guest appearances on the NBC shows Empty Nest and Nurses, both of which were set in Miami.^[2]

White was originally offered the role of Blanche in The Golden Girls, and Rue McClanahan was offered the role of Rose (the two characters being similar to roles they had played in Mary Tyler Moore and Maude, respectively). Jay Sandrich, the director of the pilot, suggested that since they had played similar roles in the past, they should switch roles, Rue McClanahan later said in a documentary on the series. White was originally scared to play Rose, feeling that she would not be able to play the role—until the show's creator took her aside and told her not to play Rose as stupid but to play her as someone "terminally naive, a person who always believed the first explanation of something." Despite being the eldest of the four women, White is the only surviving regular cast member, following the deaths of Estelle Getty in July 2008, Bea Arthur in April 2009, and Rue McClanahan in June 2010.^[18]

After The Golden Girls^[2] ended, White guest-starred on a number of television programs including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, My Wife and Kids, That '70s Show, Everwood, Joey, and Malcolm in the Middle. She received Emmy Award nominations for her appearances on Suddenly Susan, Yes, Dear and The Practice. She won an Emmy in 1996 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, appearing as herself on an episode of The John Larroquette Show. In that episode, titled "Here We Go Again", a spoof on Sunset Boulevard, a diva-like White convinces Larroquette to help write her memoirs. In one bit, Golden Girls co-stars McClanahan and Getty appear as themselves. Larroquette is forced to dress in drag as Beatrice Arthur, when all four appear in public as the "original" cast members. White comically envisions her Rose as the central character with the other cast members as mere supporting players.

The actress has lent her voice to several animated shows, including The Simpsons, King of the Hill, The Wild Thornberrys, Family Guy, and Father of the Pride.^[2] In 1999, she had a supporting role in the monster film Lake Placid, as a widow who later is revealed to have raised the giant crocodile (which accidentally ate her husband).

2000–present: Hollywood mainstay and career resurgence[link]

White at the premiere for The Proposal in June 2009

White's career has been in revival throughout the first decades of the 2000s, and her continuing cultural relevance is reflected in the numerous television and film projects she has been a part of. In December 2006, White joined the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in the role of Ann Douglas, the long-lost mother of the show's matriarch Stephanie Forrester, who is played by Susan Flannery. In February 2007, White returned as Ann, who had an intent to move to Los Angeles to be near her daughters.^[19] The characters of Ann and Pamela Douglas (Alley Mills) disappeared after their March 27, 2007, appearance and were not mentioned again until October 19, 2007, when Ann appeared briefly. White would go on to appear in three more episodes following that, one on December 10, 2007; August 28, 2008; and October 28, 2008. She returned to the show on November 18, 2009 and in the November 19, 2009 episode her character revealed that she was dying of advanced pancreatic cancer. To date she has made 22 appearances as Ann Douglas. In the November 23, 2009 episode Ann passes away due to complications from her illness, with both of her daughters at her side on the beach at Paradise Cove.

In the broadcast of the 2007 TV Land Awards, White starred in a parody of Ugly Betty, aptly titled Ugly Betty White, in which she played America Ferrera's title character, with Charo playing White's sister Hilda, and Erik Estrada playing her father Ignacio.^[20] Her performance earned her a part on Ugly Betty as herself, the victim of Wilhelmina Slater's temper as they vie for a cab in the episode "Bananas for Betty", which aired December 6, 2007.

White had a recurring role in ABC's Boston Legal from 2005 to 2008 as the calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, a role she originally portrayed as a guest star on The Practice in 2004.^[2]

White appeared as a roaster on the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner in 2006. On May 19, 2008, White appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, taking part in the host's Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion special alongside every surviving cast member of the series.

Beginning in 2007, White was featured in television commercials for PetMeds, highlighting her interest in animal rights and welfare.^[21]

She was honored at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards with the Pop Culture Award on June 8, 2008. She accepted it along with co-stars Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan.

White returned to Password in its latest incarnation, Million Dollar Password, on June 12, 2008, (episode #3), participating in the Million Dollar challenge at the end of the show. Her quick correct responses helped the contestant win $100,000. White returned to the show again on December 28, 2008 (episode #9), helping the contestants win $25,000 each. White has made a number of appearances in skits on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, playing the part of an Exxon representative, a Girl Scout, an accountant with a briefcase full of cocaine, a nurse who just got her medical license from El Salvador, a newspaper delivery girl, a prison guard, and an Apple representative. She appeared as herself with a shoe box full of receipts, explaining that she was doing her taxes. She appeared as herself to promote Together: A Story of Shared Vision by her and Tom Sullivan. On July 18, 2008, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in a skit entitled "Can You Make Betty White Flinch".

White guest starred as the "Witch Lady" on an episode of My Name is Earl, and starred on Chelsea Handler's late night show Chelsea Lately. Some of her other most recent television credits in the 2000s include Stealing Christmas, Annie's Point and The Retrievers.^[2] Her film credits in the late 1990s and early 2000s included Hard Rain, Dennis the Menace Strikes Again and Bringing Down the House, in which she co-starred with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah.^[2]

White appeared in the 2009 motion picture The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.^[2] White provided the English-language voice of Yoshie in the anime film Ponyo,^[2] which was released in Japan in 2008 and in the United States and Canada on August 14, 2009. She co-starred with Kristen Bell in the 2010 film, You Again.^[2]

White appeared alongside Abe Vigoda in an advertisement for Snickers during the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV. The ad won the top spot on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. The slogan was, "You're not you when you're hungry".

A grassroots campaign on Facebook called "Betty White to Host SNL (Please)" began in January 2010. The group was approaching 500,000 members when NBC confirmed on March 11, 2010 that White would in fact host Saturday Night Live on May 8. The appearance made her, at age 88, the oldest person to host the show, beating Miskel Spillman, the winner of SNL's "Anybody Can Host" contest, who was 80 when she hosted in 1977.^[22] The May 8 SNL episode garnered the show's highest ratings since November 1, 2008, when Ben Affleck hosted.^[23] In her opening monologue, White thanked Facebook and joked that she "didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time."^[24] The appearance earned her a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series, her seventh Emmy win overall.

In June 2010, White took on the role of Elka Ostrovsky the house caretaker on TV Land’s original sitcom Hot in Cleveland, now in its third season.^[25]

A Betty White calendar for 2011 was published in late 2010. The calendar features photos from her career and her pictured with various animals.^[26] She also debuted her own clothing line on July 22, 2010, which features shirts with her face on them. All proceeds will also go to various animal charities she supports.^[27]

She guest-starred in the second-season premiere of NBC's Community as an anthropology professor.^[28] In 2010 she also guest starred in The Middle and 30 Rock. She also had a role as Mrs. Claus in Prep & Landing: Operation: Secret Santa, the sequel to Disney's Prep & Landing.

Betty also starred in the Hallmark Hall of fame presentation of The Lost Valentine on January 30, 2011. This presentation garnered the highest rating for a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation in the last four years and according to the Nielsen Media Research TV rating service won first place in the prime time slot for that date.^[29]

White has published several books over the span of her career. In August 2010, she entered a deal with G.P. Putnam Sons to produce two more books, the first of which, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), was released in 2011.^[30] In December of 2011, White received her first ever Grammy nomination ("Best Spoken Word Recording") for the audio recording of the book.

NBC announced in early 2011 that White will be hosting a new show, Betty White's Off Their Rockers, where senior citizens play practical jokes on the younger generation.^[31]

In 2011, Betty White appeared in the Visit California promotional film aimed at boosting tourism from the UK.

In September 2011, she teamed up with English singer Luciana to produce a remix of her song "I'm Still Hot". The song was released digitally on September 22, 2011^[32] and the video later premiered on October 6, 2011. It was made for a campaign for a life settlement program, The Lifeline. White served as a judge alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Wendy Diamond for the American Humane Association's Hero Dog Awards airing on The Hallmark Channel on November 8, 2011 at 8PM ET/PT.^[33]

A special Betty White's 90th Birthday Party aired on NBC a day before the star's birthday on January 16, 2012. The show featured appearances of many stars with whom White has worked over the years.^[34] Betty White's Off Their Rockers aired following the celebratory event, and returned in April 2012 as a recurring show.

Charity[link]

White is a pet enthusiast and animal health advocate who works with a number of animal organizations, including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals. Her interest in animal rights and welfare began in the early 1970s while she was both producing and hosting the syndicated series, The Pet Set, which spotlighted celebrities and their pets.^[2]

As of 2009, White is the president emerita of the Morris Animal Foundation, where she has served as a trustee of the organization since 1971.^[2] She has been a member of the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association since 1974.^[2] Additionally, White served the zoo association as a Zoo Commissioner for eight years.^[2]

According to the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Garden's "ZooScape" Member Newsletter, White hosted "History on Film" from 2000 to 2002. White donated nearly $100,000 to the zoo in the month of April 2008 alone.

Betty White served as a presenter at the 2011 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 1, 2011 in Los Angeles. ^[35]

Personal life[link]

White and Ludden in 1968.

In 1945, White married Dick Barker, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot. The marriage was short-lived. In 1947, she married Lane Allen, a Hollywood agent. This marriage ended in divorce in 1949.

On June 14, 1963, White married television host and personality Allen Ludden, whom she had met on his game show Password as a celebrity guest in 1961,^[36] and her legal name was changed to Betty White Ludden. He proposed to White at least twice before she accepted. The couple appeared together in an episode of The Odd Couple featuring Felix's and Oscar's appearance on Password. Ludden appeared as a guest panelist on Match Game, with White sitting in the audience. (She was prompted to criticize one of Ludden's wrong answers on camera during an episode of Match Game '74). The two appeared together on the Match Game panel in 1975.

Allen Ludden died from stomach cancer^[37][38] on June 9, 1981, in Los Angeles.^[39] They had no children together, though she is stepmother to his three children from his first marriage. White has not remarried since Ludden's death.

When asked about her real-life heroes White told Vanity Fair, "Charles Darwin".^[40]

White is a practicing member of the Unity Church.^[41]

She is also a registered Democrat.^[42] She endorsed President Barack Obama in 2012 saying she "likes how he represents us"^[43].

Awards, honors and nominations[link]

White at the 1992 Emmy Awards

White has won seven Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers For Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6747 Hollywood Boulevard alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden.

White was the recipient of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Golden Ike Award and the Genii Award from the American Women in Radio and Television in 1976.^[2] The American Comedy Awards awarded her the award for Funniest Female in 1987 as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.^[2] She was formally inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2009, White received the Career Achievement Award from the Television Critics Association.^[2]

The American Veterinary Medical Association awarded White with its Humane Award in 1987 for her charitable work with animals.^[2] The City of Los Angeles further honored her for her philanthropic work with animals in 2006 with a bronze plaque near the Gorilla Exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo.^[2] The City of Los Angeles named her "Ambassador to the Animals" at the dedication ceremony.^[2]

Walk of Fame

In September 2009, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced plans to honor White with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sandra Bullock presented White with the award on January 23, 2010, at the ceremony, which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.^[2] She is a Kentucky Colonel.^[44] In 2009, White and her now deceased Golden Girls cast mates Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty were awarded honorary Disney Legend awards. Betty was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December 2010. In 2010 she was chosen as the Associated Press's Entertainer of the Year.^[45]

On November 9, 2010, the USDA Forest Service along with Smokey Bear made actress Betty White an honorary forest ranger,^[46] fulfilling her lifelong dream. White said in previous interviews that she wanted to be a forest ranger as a little girl but that women were not allowed to do that then. Today’s United States Forest Service is 38 percent female, including rangers, scientists and leaders at every level.

In January 2011, White received a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot in Cleveland. The show itself was also nominated for an award as Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, but lost to the cast of Modern Family.^[47] She won the same award once again a year later.

A 2011 poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos revealed that White was considered to be the most popular and most trusted celebrity among Americans, beating out the likes of Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks.^[48]

In October 2011, White was awarded an honorary degree and white doctors coat by Washington State University at the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association’s centennial gala in Yakima, Washington.

Filmography[link]