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Betty White is 95! Here are 95 reasons to love her

In honour of the nonagenarian's birthday, we compiled her snappiest lines, her silliest TV appearances and more nuggets of Betty White trivia than you could ever possibly need.
By Shanda Deziel and Diana Duong
Updated July 24, 2017
Betty White Photograph by Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
            1. Still winning awards and making quick-witted acceptance speeches.
            3. Is America’s favourite and most-trusted personality — the one whose endorsement of a company would be most likely to help a business, according to a 2011 Ipsos poll. (Followed by Denzel Washington and Sandra Bullock.)
            4. Helped inspire a new Golden Girls-themed restaurant in Manhattan, set to open this year, and featuring a signature dessert called "Betty White Cake."
            5. Hangs out at the L.A. Zoo with Slash.
            6. "My exercise secret — I have a two-storey house and a very bad memory!"
            8. Has a hot dog named after her at the iconic Hollywood hot-dog stand Pink's despite being a vegetarian.
            9. Turned down the role of Helen Hunt's mother in the As Good As it Gets (1997) because she objected to a scene where Jack Nicholson's character puts a dog down the trash chute
            10. Voted best Super Bowl commercial of 2010.
            11. Was nominated as the honorary mayor of Hollywood (1955).
            12. Began her career just three months after graduating from Beverly Hills High School.
            13. There was a formidable internet campaign to have her host Saturday Night Live in 2010.
            14. Is the oldest person to ever host SNL...
            15. ... and when she hosted, she drew the season's highest ratings — performing alongside Jay-Z.
            16. Won the heart of this Marine:
            17. Has been nominated for the Emmy Awards in the 1950s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s.
            18. Earned first Emmy nomination at age 30, for her starring role on the sitcom Life With Elizabeth — a show that she also produced, making her one of the first female producers ever.
            19. Is the oldest person to have been nominated for an Emmy.
            20. Is also the only woman to have won an Emmy in all the performing comedic category groups.
            21. Her 1959 commercial for "home permanents."
            22. Has not remarried since her husband, Alan Ludden, passed away in 1981. Says one of the best moments in her life was marrying him.
            23. “All creatures must learn to coexist. That’s why the brown bear and the field mouse can share their lives in harmony. Of course, they can’t mate or the mice would explode.” — Betty White
            24. Was made an honorary forest ranger by the USDA Forest Service in 2010.
            25. Named her first production company after her dog, Bandit.
            26. Has a retired guide dog as a pet.
            27. Is good friends with Koko, the gorilla.
            28. Created and hosted The Pet Set, a show featuring celebs and their animal companions, that ran for a single season in 1971.
            29. On animals: “They never lie to you. You know when they tell you something, they mean it. They love you unconditionally.”
            30. Prized possession: her golden retriever.
            31. If she could play a real-life character: Jane Goodall.
            32. Idea of perfect happiness: being with animals.
            33. Is a true child of Hollywood (moved to L.A. at age 2).
            34. There's a statue of her at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
            35. Dances like nobody's watching. Part One: Betty White dancing arms waving
            36. Part Two: Betty White dancing again
            37. Part Three: Betty White dancing again haha
            38. Played herself on The Simpsons.
            39. As Sue Ann Nivens on Mary Tyler Moore:
            40. When asked about the Golden Girls active sex lives: "I think we were just trying to tell it like it is. I think older women still have a full life. Maybe the writers don’t address it these days, but it doesn’t change the fact."
            41. Penned a four-step guide to defending yourself from a Mountain Lion.
          1. Likes older men (although admits there aren't many choices left).
          3. Has a crush on Robert Redford. 
          4. "Condoms, condoms, condoms."
          5. Was seduced by an alien
          6. Learned backgammon from Lucille Ball, one of her dearest friends.
          7. Danced with Sandra Bullock on the Teen Choice Awards in 2010.
          8. Rocks Twitter.
          9. Jokes there’s no one old enough today who reminds her of herself.
          10. Sliced bread is the best thing since Betty White. The former was invented in 1928. White was born in 1922.
          12. Favourite drink: "Vodka on the rocks with a big lemon squeeze."
          13. Favourite smells: "New puppies, pine trees, and new kittens."
          14. Favourite movie: Out of Africa.
          15. If she weren’t in acting, she would be a zookeeper.
          16. "I have to stay in show business to pay for my animal charity work." White's donated hundreds of thousands to the Los Angeles Zoo.
          17. Played Eve to Johnny Carson's Adam (1979) — wearing fig leaves, no less!
          18. Says she’s childish at heart.
          19. Would love Meryl Streep or Julie Andrews to play her in a biopic. But jokes it would probably be Chris Rock.
          20. Guilty pleasure song: Sarah Vaughan's 'Misty'.
          21. Played a biker chick to Steve Martin's Frankie Valli.
          22. Got the Mary Tyler Moore gang back together on Hot in Cleveland.
          23. Played word games and riddles between takes on Super Password with Rue McClanahan.
          24. Loses her cool during an episode of the game show Password in 1989.
          25. Met her third (and final) husband, Allen Ludden, on the game show Password.
          27. "I'm not saying that people who take acting lessons are false," she's quoted as saying in a biography. "They're much better than I am, but it doesn't work for me."
          28. Took "very serious" singing lessons, spurred by a childhood desire to be an opera singer.
          29. Was originally set to play Blanche on The Golden Girls — a natural move from lusty Sue Ann Nivens, the part she played on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Midway through auditions, the producers encouraged her to swap roles with Rue McClanahan — and the rest is (St. Olaf) history.
          30. She has rapped with Childish Gambino.
          31. Won a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors' Guild in 2010.
          32. SAG acceptance speech: "I look out at this audience and I see so many famous faces, but what really boggles my mind is that I actually know many of you, and I’ve worked with quite a few. Maybe had a couple…uh."
          33. Set a Guinness World Record for the longest TV career for a female entertainer in 2013.
          34. Is the only woman (so far) to have won an Emmy for game-show hosting.
          35. Has outlived all her Golden Girls' costars: Estelle Getty died in 2008, Bea Arthur in 2009, and Rue McClanahan in 2010.
          36. She can build (and use) a killer weapon for the sake of teaching Anthropology class.
          37. Supported Obama during the 2012 elections. He wished her Happy Birthday on her 90th. 
          38. Bill Clinton endorses Betty for president: "When I think about the future of this great nation, I still know that amazing things can be accomplished, but only if we work to elect Betty White president...After all, she's gained praise all the way from President Obama to George Dubya. Of course I'm talking about Presidents Barack Obama and George Washington."
          39. Top 10 tips for living a long and happy life.
          40. "If a couple has been together all that time – and there are homosexual relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones — I think it's fine if they want to get married. I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don't worry about other people so much." — Betty White
          41. Real-life hero: Charles Darwin.
          42. Worked with a 300-lb Bengal tiger while planning the 1979 Morris Animal Foundation Annual Health Conference and luncheon.
          43. Is a muse. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zutx6
          44. Betty and her wax figure. Betty White kissing her Madame Tussaud wax statue
          45. Has a wicked potty-mouth.
          46. Is game for satire: Betty White dyes.
          47. Is meme-worthy. Betty White dyes her hair not dies
          48. Joke-threatened Kim Kardashian. Betty White and Kim Kardashian
          49. Pulls pranks on young'uns on her TV show, Off their Rockers, with the help of other seniors, including The Love Boat's Ted Lange.
          50. "Hey @RyanSeacrest — my new show airs tomorrow and I hear we're in the same time slot. I've always dreamed of sharing a night with you..." — Betty White
          51. "Once upon a time in the magical land of Flanfluefinhauffen."
          52. She has a book called Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo.
          53. She's so beloved that a South Carolina man actually started a GoFundMe campaign last fall "to help protect Betty White from 2016."
          54. "Retirement is not in my vocabulary." — Betty White

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