LOS ANGELES — A couple of weeks shy of her 100th birthday, on the last day of an already cruel 2021, Hollywood legend Betty White died Friday. News of her passing prompted an outpouring of condolences and remembrances on social media from former co-stars and longtime admirers of the beloved actress, whose work and popularity spanned nearly eight decades.
Best known for her memorable comedic work on sitcoms, most notably as flirtatious TV host Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and ditzy widow Rose on “Golden Girls,” White died at her home in Brentwood at age 99.
Flowers, stuffed toys and cards are displayed at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of the late actress Betty White on Friday in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Henry Winkler, who appeared opposite White in the 1973 episode, “The Dinner Party,” of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” posted on Twitter that it “is very hard to absorb you are not here anymore … But the memories of your deLIGHT are .. Thank you for (your) humor, your warmth and your activism.”
Steve Martin shared a memory on Twitter of his encounter with White in 1974 while he was the opening act for Linda Ronstadt at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. While passing through the lobby, he saw White and husband Allen Ludden waiting in line: “I loved Betty White, so I went up to them: ‘I’m so honored to meet you both.’ And then I said, ‘Isn’t Linda great?’ She said, ‘We came to see you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ ‘Because we heard you were funny.’ I was elated.”
Comedian Kathy Griffin also went down memory lane with a string of tweets, beginning with the first time she met White on the set of the NBC sitcom “Suddenly Susan.”
“I had accidentally parked in her parking spot that day,” Griffin wrote, recalling that White yelled “from the back of the soundstage for everyone to hear, ‘Where’s that redheaded bitch who stole my parking spot?’ SWOON. A friendship was born.”
White would have celebrated her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. She was this week’s People magazine cover girl, where she discussed the prospect of reaching the big milestone: “I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” the veteran actress told the outlet. “It’s amazing.”
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