Betty White: Sue Ann Nivens
Dear, cryptic, brash, dirty-minded Sue Ann Nivens, was the creation of one Betty White, who has been called "the lady who's been around television forever." True.
Betty Marion White was born to Horace and Tess White in Oak Park, Illinois on 17 January, 1922. When she was two years old, her family moved to Los Angeles. However, she didn't really want to be a television star. She wanted to be an opera singer. All that changed when she did a play in high school called "Spirit Flower", and somehow that led to an interest in TV. She opted to enter the entertainment industry instead of attending college, and started her career after graduating high school. She was a wartime aide, and visited US military bases on the west coast, delivering food and utilities by truck. She studied acting at a school run by veteran actress Lela Bliss and her husband in the late 1940's after the war years. Around the same time, she appeared on radio programs with Jack Carson and other luminaries, and eventually got her own radio show, the first of four productions under the title of "The Betty White Show." She made her TV debut on a local TV show in LA called "The Al Jarvis Show" around 1950. Her first break came in 1952 when she landed the role of Elizabeth on "Life with Elizabeth." On the now all-but-forgotten series, she played a zany housewife with an equally zany husband, Alvin (Del Moore). This role brought home her first of six Emmy Awards (her next one wouldn't come until 1975). After "Elizabeth," she was a panelist on "Make the Connection" (1955), and also appeared on "Date with the Angels", "The Jack Paar Show", and an early version of "The Tonight Show." In 1958 came the first of two "Betty White (TV) Show"'s, which co-starred Del Moore, Frank Nelson, Reta Shaw, and Johnny Jacobs. During and after her MTMS years, she was a panelist on "Match Game" and also guested on Rod Serling's gameshow "The Liar's Club" as panelist. She and her then-husband, the game show host Allen Ludden ("College Bowl" and "Password") made a cameo on a hilarious episode of "The Odd Couple" , playing themselves, in 1972. Their marriage lasted eighteen years, until his untimely death in 1981. Betty and Allen were good friends with Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker. Mary and Betty remain close friends.
During the third season of MTMS, Mary came up with the idea of having a WJM 'household hints' lady join the cast. This lady was also to be a lascivious maneater, on the older side, with pinprick wit and an uncanny ability to lure unsuspecting men into her trap. Betty White fit the description. Very possibly, the name Sue Ann Nivens was inspired by Sue Ann Langdon, an actress who often portrayed perky, sticky-sweet women on 1960's sitcoms. Betty watched MTMS take off in 1970, and was eager to jump on board when they asked for her. Betty's Sue Ann Nivens made a grand entrance on "The Lars Affair" (the first show of the fourth season) and quickly won the hearts of millions with her recipe for Veal Prince Orloff and a thousand and one ways to get rid of lint. She won two Emmys for her MTM work, one in 1975 and one in 1976.
After mid-season cancellation of "The Betty White Show" in 1978, she worked off and on in small roles until around 1982, when she joined the cast of "Mama's Family", a semi-popular 1980's series based on the famous 'family' sketches done on "The Carol Burnett Show" in the 1970's. Betty played Ellen Harper-Jackson, Mama's eldest daughter. The character of Ellen was similar to Sue Ann Nivens, but Ellen was more of a "rich witch" who had married into money, unlike the man-eating Sue Ann, whose career was constantly on the rocks. Rue McClanahan played the part of Mama's sister. "Mama's Family" was cancelled temporarily after two years, then renewed in 1986. In the mean time, Betty and Rue signed for parts on "The Golden Girls".
"The Golden Girls" gave Betty White a drastically different task. In the well-known eighties comedy she played Rose Nylund, a cute but utterly clueless older lady who had grown up in the Swede-populated farmlands of St. Olaf. She captured an Emmy in 1986 in the show's first year, and was nominated every year until its cancellation in 1992. In her 1995 chronicle Here We Go Again, she makes mention of a fruitful working relationship with director Terry Hughes, who seemed to help her make the alteration from her Sue Ann mentality to that of Rose. Indeed, Betty White is an actress with a sizeable range.
Ms. White is an animal rights advocate, and has turned down roles in productions where animals were exploited. In 1998, James L. Brooks offered her the part of Helen Hunt's mother in "As Good as it Gets", and she declined the part for that very reason. She describes her connection with animals as "the single, unwavering constant in my life".
Betty White has been the recipient of a number of television awards, including one in 1998 from Viewers for Quality Television, and in 1990 the Television Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy. In 2000, she won the American Comedy Award for Funniest Female Guest Appearance in a TV Series for "Ally McBeal". In 1995, Ms. White was inducted into the TV Hall of Fame. She won her most recent Emmy in 1996 for a single guest appearance on The John Larroquette Show, and in 1997 won a nomination for a guesting on "Suddenly Susan". In 1998, she co-starred with Don Rickles in "Dennis the Menace Strikes Again." In 2000, she appeared on the documentary "'70's: The Decade that Changed Television" presenting a segment that, of course, included the Show that changed the face of TV comedy. Her recent work (2004-2005) has included guestings on "Ellen," "Boston Legal," and "Complete Savages," and the feature film "Bringing Down the House" with Steve Martin in 2003.
Betty White leads the scene in the episode "A New Sue Ann" wherein she admits to having
food-poisoned her friends, for the good of the Happy Homemaker Show.
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From "The Odd Couple" episode "Password", with husband Allan Ludden (1972)
From "Mama's Family" (as Ellen), with Vicki Lawrence (Mama Thelma Harper)
Rue McClanahan (sister Fran Crowley) and Carol Burnett (Eunice Harper-Higgins), 1983
From "The Carol Burnett Show", with Vicki Lawrence, Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman
November 22, 1975
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