Betty White's Real Name: Betty Marion White

Quick answer: Betty White's documented full name is Betty Marion White. She was born on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, and died on December 31, 2021, in Brentwood, California, at 99. She was a comic actress best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls (Britannica; Biography).

Real name and early life

Britannica lists her as also known as Betty Marion White. Biography.com says the comedic actress Betty Marion White Ludden was born on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, the only child of Horace and Tess White, and that the family moved to Los Angeles when she was 2. The Library of Congress heading is "White, Betty, 1922-2021," with the variant "Ludden, Betty Marion White, 1922-2021." Ludden was her married name from her marriage to the game-show host Allen Ludden, whom Biography.com says she met on Password in 1961. One Library of Congress citation lists a 1924 birth year, which conflicts with the January 17, 1922, date given by Britannica and Biography.com.

Career highlights

Biography.com says she began her television career in the late 1930s and, in the early 1950s, launched Life with Elizabeth, which she developed with George Tibbles; she later recalled that he wrote and she produced, making her one of the first women producers in Hollywood. She was a frequent game-show and talk-show guest, including on Password.

On The Mary Tyler Moore Show she played Sue Ann Nivens, the flirtatious "Happy Homemaker," Britannica says, and won Emmy Awards in 1975 and 1976. After that series ended in 1977 she starred on The Betty White Show (1977–78) and later appeared on The Love Boat and Mama's Family. In the 1980s she played the good-natured Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, with Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, and Estelle Getty; Biography.com says the series ran seven seasons and brought White another Emmy Award. Later work included Hot in Cleveland, beginning in 2010, a supporting role in The Proposal (2009), and the voice of Bitey White in Toy Story 4 (2019). She wrote the memoirs Here We Go Again: My Life in Television (1995) and If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) (2011); the audiobook of the latter won a Grammy Award, and she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1995.

Death

Britannica says she died on December 31, 2021, in Brentwood, California, at 99.

Name notes for searchers

Betty Marion White is the documented full name; she was billed as Betty White. Betty White Ludden appears on some records as a married name. She should not be confused with other entertainers named Betty White.