Getting Better With Age

There are a few things that were created in 1922 still hanging around; the Lincoln Memorial, the British Broadcasting Company, to name a few. Most have come and gone since that time; the Premiership of Mussolini, Italy's youngest leader in history, and the original Yankee stadium would be two.  But there is one person born in 1922 who is still going strong and getter better. I'm referring to Ms. Betty White, age 90.

My first exposure to this delightful blonde was as a young child watching the "Mary Tyler Moore" show with my mother. White played Sue Ann Nivens, a character that is hard for me to define.  Nivens was in her own world, slightly out of touch with those around her.  But why try to explain, when I can show you?

 

White's IMDB page is quite extensive; let's just say this fair lady really hasn't stopped working in over 65 years. Following "Mary Tyler Moore", White starred in several sitcoms including the "Betty White Show" and  "Mama's Family", and guest starred on numerous others.  Then in 1985, she landed the role for which she is known to a whole new generation of TV viewers; Rose Nylund on NBC's "The Golden Girls", alongside an ensemble cast including Bee Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan. Set in south Florida, the show centered around three fifty something single women who were either widowed or divorced, and the sometimes senile mother of one of the characters. White's role as a Minnesota Swede who had married her childhood sweetheart and lived her entire marriage in ignorant bliss was, for lack of a better word, endearing.  Her naivete was performed superbly,and her innocence was a delightful contrast to the divorced Dorothy Zbornak (Arthur), the rather fast and loose Blanche Devereaux (McClanahan) or age-wizened Sophia Petrillo (Getty).

 

Since the finale of "Golden Girls" in 1992,  White has been active in various TV sitcoms and made for TV movies, and has even lent her voice to voice overs on "King of the Hill" and "The Simpsons".  She even spent three years on the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful".  Then in 2009, she starred as the smart mouthed grandmother on "The Proposal", and she's never looked back.  Her most recent success has been Superbowl commercials, last year for Snickers and this year upstaging the judges from "The Voice":

 

Betty White proves that you're never too old to give those young things a run for their money!