“RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end,” Seth Meyers posted on Twitter. And Ryan Reynolds, with whom White had a long-standing, joking flirtation with online and in the press, wrote, “The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret.” White was the last remaining star of “The Golden Girls,” the NBC hit that ran from 1985 to 1992 and co-starred Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. The popular sitcom, which has continued to run on various channels in syndication, spawned a one-season spin-off starring White called “The Golden Palace” in 1992. And though her fame rests mainly on her decades-long run in television programs — including numerous appearances on game shows including “Match Game” and “Password” — she also found a wider audience late in life with sharp comedic supporting roles in films like “The Proposal” and “Lake Placid.” She most recently lent her voice to the Disney+ streaming series of shorts “Forky Asks a Question,” as the character Bitey White opposite colleagues Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks.
“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas told People. “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.”
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) December 31, 2021
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) December 31, 2021
— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) December 31, 2021
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) December 31, 2021
— Debra Messing✍🏻 (@DebraMessing) December 31, 2021
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) December 31, 2021
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) December 31, 2021
— Julie Chen Moonves (@JCMoonves) December 31, 2021
— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) December 31, 2021
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) December 31, 2021
— DB Woodside (@dbwofficial) December 31, 2021
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) December 31, 2021
— Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) December 31, 2021
pic.twitter.com/XsNVvnaEug — jenny lewis (@jennylewis) December 31, 2021
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) December 31, 2021
I’m grateful for every second I got to spend with Betty White. Sending love to her family, friends and all of us. — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) December 31, 2021
— Guy Branum (@guybranum) December 31, 2021
— Caitríona Balfe (@caitrionambalfe) December 31, 2021
— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) December 31, 2021 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
