Betty White kept audiences laughing for decades with a touch of humility

Over the years, I have enjoyed meeting a wide variety of celebrities, from George Burns and Carol Channing to Julie Andrews. But few have made me feel as warm and appreciative as Betty White.

The actress who died last week at 99, just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday, was really as nice, charming, humble and kind as you would expect. Or else she’s an even better actor than we have realized.

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I remember watching her on old game shows like “Password” before I became a fan when she played Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and later Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls,” a show I often watch for a giggle or a smile at bedtime.

I got to meet her in 1999 when she appeared at a Television Critics Association news conference to promote her role in the new CBS comedy “Ladies Man.”

She played the mother to the star Alfred Molina, a furniture restorer living with his wife and two daughters and putting up with visits from his opinionated ex-wife, his mother and mother-in-law.

There was little memorable about the series despite an impressive cast (Sharon Lawrence, a young Kaley Cuoco, Dixie Carter and Park Overall). It survived eight episodes into a second season.

But I watched it, at least for a while, because I had made what felt like a brief but personal connection with her during the TV Critics press tour.

After interview sessions, reporters would hover around particular stars to ask follow-up questions. As I recall, everyone wanted a moment with Betty White, who smiled, blushed and pooh-poohed all the fuss about her. But when she took a moment to talk to me or the others, it was if we were the only people in the world. I believe that is why people have been so impacted by her passing. She seemed like part of the family. Plus it was so close to her 100th birthday.

She was just 77, a veteran of two major hit series, but may not have reached the icon status that would come as she grew older and remained both active and funny. Since her death last week, she has been praised in many corners for her wonderful timing.

I was reminded of that over the holiday weekend by watching a few of the early episodes of her last series “Hot in Cleveland,” in which she played the 90-ish caretaker of a home that was rented by characters played by Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Jane Leeves. It was never the greatest sitcom, but it was comforting, and just about everything White said had me laughing out loud once again.

As she moved into her 80s and 90s, she was able to get away with saying sassy and unexpected things. Just watch her still-funny performance in 2010 on “Saturday Night Live,” when she was 88 and the oldest guest host in the show’s history. It was by far one of the best episodes in decades on that long-running series, and it included the satirical sketch “CSI: Sarasota.”

There are plenty of talented older actors who have been overlooked by Hollywood, which focuses so much on youth. Remember that when “The Golden Girls” started, nobody thought it would succeed.

“Who would ever want to see a show about four old broads, er ladies, living in Miami?” White said at that interview session.

The problem, she said, was that our society is too age conscious “to the point that that’s the first question anybody asks. ‘Well, how old is so-and-so?’ I mean sure, gravity takes over and maybe you lose a little something physically, but the experience that’s built up and the sense of timing” keep people vital.

In the David E. Kelley feature film “Lake Placid,” she shocked some long-time fans playing a character with a foul mouth.

White shrugged it off. “As long as I don’t know what the words mean I’m an actress, and they give you a part and you do it.”

She was the fourth member of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” cast to pass away in 2021, following Cloris Leachman (at age 94), Gavin MacLeod (90) and Ed Asner (91).

Having enjoyed a nearly eight-decade career, White was always careful to credit the writers of her shows. “You can have the best cast in the world, but if the material isn’t on the page, they can’t really bring it out. If the material is really funny, you can take a mediocre actor and sure, it would be better with maybe somebody else, but the material will stand on its own.”

But few people could give that material the zing, punch and life like Betty White.

Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Legendary comic actress Betty White brought laughs with humanity