BETTY WHITE
THOUGH BETTY WHITE HAD BEEN A household name since the 1950s, it was her work on NBC’s The Golden Girls that cemented her status as an icon long before she died on Dec. 31 at 99.
When the show premiered in 1985, White was a natural as the kindhearted Rose Nylund. She cleverly aired for seven seasons, and White was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Actress every year of its run. She won her third Primetime Emmy in its very first. Whether telling yet another St. Olaf story or doing one of her many selfless deeds, Rose just “wasn’t one to blow [her] own vertubenflugen.” And it was precisely that mix of innocence and loyalty that endeared her to viewers.
