Betty Marion White born on January 17th 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois. I know her mostly from the Golden Girls show. She was also on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Hot in Cleveland.
Her Mother Tess Curtis (née Cachikis) a homemaker she was of Greek, English, and Welsh descent and her Father Horace Lawrence White, a traveling salesman and electrical engineer. He was of Danish and English.
Betty attended Horace Mann School in Beverly Hills, California and Beverly Hills High School.
Betty's career was put on hold when World War II broke out. At the time she was modeling and acting at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. During the 1940's she worked in Radio on the shows Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve and This Is Your FBI.
In 1945, White married Dick Barker, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot. Unfortunately that marriage was short-lived. In 1947, she married Lane Allen, a Hollywood agent. This marriage ended in divorce in 1953.
On June 14, 1963, White married television host and personality Allen Ludden whom she had met on Ludden's game show Password where she was a celebrity guest in 1961. 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. Allen appeared as a guest panelist on Match Game with White sitting in the audience. (She was prompted to rip apart 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 on June 9, 1981, in Los Angeles. They had no children together. White has not remarried since Ludden's death. When asked about her real-life heroes Betty told Vanity Fair that "Charles Darwin" was her hero.
Betty White has won seven Emmy awards including Funniest Female in 1987 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. In all she received 20 Emmy nominations.
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 next to the star of her late husband Allen Ludden. Betty has also released several books over the span of her career including Pet-Love: How Pets Take Care if US, Betty White in Person, The Leading Lady: Dinah's Story, Here We Go Again: My Life In Television. In August 2010, she entered a deal with G.P. Putnam Sons to produce two more books, the first of which is scheduled for release in 2011 called If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't). So keep an eye out for those as well.
Here is a song she sang in 1954 "Never The Less (I'm In Love With You)"
2 minutes 33 seconds