Television pioneer, Emmy winner Betty White dies at 99
LOS ANGELES — Betty White, a television pioneer and Emmy-winning actress whose long career, often in comedic roles, took flight again in her late 80s, has died.
White, who was the last surviving star of television’s “The Golden Girls,” died overnight in Brentwood, her friend and agent Jeff Witjas told the Washington Post. She was 99.
For decades, White had been best known for the characters she played in a pair of long-running TV series — the conniving “happy homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s and daffy Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls” in the 1980s and early 1990s. She received Emmy Awards for both roles.
But a scene-stealing movie part as a kooky grandmother in the 2009 summer hit “The Proposal,” and a string of TV appearances that followed helped transform her into America’s favorite working comedian in her 80s and beyond.
“I’m not new to live TV,” the 88-year-old White reminded America on “Saturday Night Live” as she became the oldest person to host the late-night comedy show,
