Dale's Tails

Golden Grrrl

A candid talk with legendary actress and animal lover Betty White

 

How beloved is Betty White? In a recent telephone interview I suggested her neighbors stand and applaud as she walks by and that she must get a standing ovation in the fruit section of her local supermarket. “Not true, but you should see what happens when I buy meat,” says the 84-year-old comedic actress. “I’ve just been around forever, that’s all it is.”

The second audiences get a glimpse of her when she appears on The Tonight Show or on Ellen, they jump to their feet, and the applause is thunderous. Again, she deflects the compliment. “You know they’ve been sitting for so long, it feels good to get up,” she says. “Well, at least they recognize me.”
    Indeed, White’s career pretty much parallels the history of TV. It began with a long forgotten but relatively successful show in the 1950s called Life with Elizabeth, in which she starred. In the 1960s, there were countless appearances with her late husband Allen Ludden on Password. A decade later, a whole new generation discovered White as happy (and conniving) homemaker Sue Ann Nivens on Mary Tyler Moore Show. Most famous was her portrayal of sweet-natured Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. And after a single guest shot on Boston Legal last season, producers wanted more, and she’s been back for many episodes since in the recurring role of the calculating and gossip-mongering Catherine Piper.
    “[Catherine Piper’s] so much fun to play,” White says. “She’s not the nicest lady in the world. She commits murder and gets away with it.
    “Sue Ann, well she was, let’s call her the neighborhood nymphomaniac,” says White of her Mary Tyler Moore Show character. “My favorite has to be Rose. I don’t know. I just liked her optimism. We get so much negative these days; it’s great to play positive.”
    However, she maintains her favorite program of all wasn’t a sitcom, but a show that debuted back in 1970 called The Pet Set, which only lasted one season. “It was my dream job, coming to work and my co-stars were animals,” White says. “We’d invite a celebrity friend who would bring in his or her pet for an interview. Then, the pet would be excused and we’d bring in other animals. Everybody thought, ‘We’ll have accidents all over the stage.’ That’s wasn’t the case at all. And the cameras would get close up and we’d all see these magnificent creatures.”
    Of course, The Pet Set predated cable networks, such as the National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet, which are devoted to animal programming.  “Have you ever come face to face with a water buffalo?” she asks. “Anyone who works with animals can tell you how dangerous they are. And I had this water buffalo on the show, and I began to scratch his ear. He liked it. It was a lovely moment. Then all the sudden he turned, and he,” she pauses, using her still perfect comic timing. “He gave me a big wet kiss. If you haven’t been kissed by a water buffalo, you haven’t lived.”
    At around that same time White began her relationship with the Morris Animal Foundation (MAF), which she continues to this day. The MAF funds humane animal-health studies to advance veterinary medicine. “Oh, the research has done so much, from helping to develop the vaccine for feline leukemia to funding research for the mountain gorillas [the same gorilla troupes Dian Fossey studied in Rwanda],” White says. “We’re very proud of the work the Morris Animal Foundation has made possible by funding these talented young researchers.”
    Under the watch of the MAF and others funding the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Program, the number of great apes has increased from more than 200 (which is the figure their population had sunk to just a few years ago) to just under 1,000.
    White believes she was born caring for animals. “I probably did begin way back in the womb,” she says. “My mother was just as bad as I am. I was the lucky little kid who had parents who would bring home an animal and say, ‘Oh Betty, we found it; can we keep it?’”
    Walk down a street with White or join her in a personal appearance and an interesting phenomenon occurs. People pull out photos of their pets. And White is thrilled to see them.
    “I do have more in common with animal people,” she says. “I find myself disappointed with those who are not interested in animals; they lack a certain warmth and tend to be a little self-centered. Animal people have a certain empathy—this isn’t just me talking now. Research has shown this to be true.”
    “Look what we learned about our pets when Hurricane Katrina happened,” White says. “America saw what pets mean to families. The tragedy somehow wasn’t quite as awful if people were holding on to their cat or dogs. In some cases, that’s all they had left in the world. But they were somehow better because they were with their beloved pets.”
    Hurricanes, threat of terrorists, war in Iraq, there’s a lot to worry about. And while White understands the frazzled nerves, she says she doesn’t waste her time on things she has no control over. “Instead, think optimistic,” she says. “Even if it’s not in your nature to do so. You’ll be happier for it. Besides, you can make a difference—we all can if we think about it. Clean a small area of highway, volunteer at a shelter. I’m sure my age is showing, but I grew up and was taught, okay you can’t do anything about that, but you can do something about this. I’d rather accentuate the positive. When people help animals, they’re considering something besides themselves—wouldn’t it be nice if we all did that?”