She's best known for her roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls and Elka in Hot in Cleveland but to many of game show fans, she made many appearances over a 60 year period.
On Friday, December 31, Betty White passed away at the age of 99.
According to imdb.com, White's first game show appearance came on a short-lived prime time game show from Mark Goodson and Bill Todman Make the Connection in 1955. The show was originally hosted by Jim McKay, who later went on to greater fame hosting ABC's Wide World of Sports. He would be replaced by Gene Rayburn, before becoming the host of a show White would be a guest on many times from 1963-1979, Match Game.
Though Make the Connection was a summer replacement that only lasted 13 weeks, White would be a guest on almost every Goodson-Todman game including various incarnations of To Tell the Truth, including the current version with host Anthony Anderson. She was also a semiregular on the 1970s version of Match Game, usually next to Richard Dawson in the lower right corner.
But the Goodson-Todman game that's been long associated with White was Password. She was a guest early in the show's run in 1961 where she met and fell in love with the host Allen Ludden. They got married in 1963 and remained together until Ludden passed away from stomach cancer on June 9, 1981. Since her first appearance on Password, she has been a frequent celebrity player and one of the best to play the classic word game. She also guested on the other three revivals of Password, including Password Plus and Super Password. In the final Super Password episode, White destroyed the toaster that was used for the Cashword segment.
White also appeared on other game shows outside the G-T realm. She was one of the first celebrities to appear on You Don't Say in 1963, hosted by Tom Kennedy. Other shows included were Hollywood Squares, Liar's Club, including the late 1970s version hosted by Ludden, and numerous incarnations and money amounts of Pyramid.
In 1965, Goodson-Todman was seriously considering White to become of the first female hosts when she was considered for the new game Get the Message. But ABC officials said no and so the show debuted in March with Frank Buxton as host but he was replaced by Robert Q. Lewis. Get the Message didn't get the message for viewers. It was cancelled after 39 weeks.
White did get a hosting opportunity during the four year run of ABC's version of Password when she filled in for Ludden while he played the game. It was the week of March 24, 1975 when the show was in a huge ratings decline due to the show's age and the emergence of the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Three months later, ABC aired the final episode with White appearing the end of the show.
But White's big break as a game show host came in January, 1983 when she became the host of Just Men! Even though the show was a ratings flop due to competition from Family Feud and The Young and the Restless as well as low affiliate clearances in the noon ET time period, White would become the first female host to win a Daytime Emmy Award. Twin Cities TV viewers did get to see Just Men since WTCN-TV (now KARE) moved a rerun of The Bob Newhart Show to 9 AM. There are some Just Men! episodes posted on youtube.com.
Thanks to BUZZR and GSN, viewers can watch episodes of White in action. In wrapping up this tribute, it should also be mentioned that White and Ludden were guest stars on a classic episode of The Odd Couple where Felix and Oscar appeared on Password. It's a very funny episode, so if you have never seen it, watch it.
May she rest in peace.
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