One of television's most beloved. talented actress Betty White began as a local TV  "personality''  and then, defying convention, became star and producer of her own nationally broadcast sitcom. In a pair of very different roles on sitcom hits, in the 1970s and 1980s, her skillful acting as part of an ensemble and her way with a comic line earned her acclaim  and  a  loving fol­lowing- a following that has made her a legend.

     Early on, White played leads at Beverly Hills High School. After graduation, she took on stage roles at the Bliss-Hayden Little Theater Group. She began  to work as a radio actress as well: local TY quickly followed since it was a natural "option for someone just  starting." In 1949 Los Angeles TV personality Al Jarvis called White and gave her her first regular TV assignment. Jarvis took to the airwaves six days a week on KLAC to act as a "disc jockey,"  to  play  records  just like on radio. Between selections, he delivered commercials, performed in sketches, and  conducted interviews. White was hired as his on-air "girl Friday" to do much of the same. Jarvis left in 1952, and soon after White took over full hosting duties.

     While still appearing on daily Los Angeles television, White, with two male partners, cofounded Bandy Productions in 1952 to produce her own self-starring situation comedy. A direct outgrowth of some of White's daytime sketches, Life With Elizabeth told the story of married couple Elizabeth and Alvin (played by Del Moore). It was an unusual program in several respects, not the least of which was its 28-year-old co­ creator, producer, and star. White was one of only two women in the early days of television (Gertrude Berg being the other) to wield creative control in front of and behind the camera. A second distinctive feature of the program was its nonlinear stories-each episode consisted of three vignettes, three different plots. Leisurely paced, Elizabeth's stories had a ring of I Love Lucy about them. While Elizabeth never launched any outrageous schemes, the comic conflicts often grew out of husband Alvin's disapproval of her logic.

     Originally, Elizaheth aired only in the Los Angeles area, but by 1953 Guild Films began to syndicate the series nationally, and the program was in production until 1955. Afterward, the show's three-act format made it possible for each episode to be divided up and marketed to stations as fillers. As ten-minute segments, Elizabeth ran successfully and profitably for many years. Betty White earned her first Emmy in 1952 for Life with Elizabeth.

     While Elizabeth was still in production, White moved to NBC and to her own daily daytime variety show. Bandy Productions's The Betty White Show premiered February 1954. White would appear in the two programs simultaneously for a year. The NBC daytime show ended in early 1955, and White filled the next two years working, primarily, for game show packagers Goodman and Toddson.

     In 1957 White co-created the prime-time sitcom A Date with the Angels. She played Vicki Angel, and Bill Williams starred as her husband, Gus. More typical in its format and stories than life with Elizabeth, the Angels were newlyweds and were seen fumbling through their first year of wedded bliss. The program aired on ABC for six months before the network retooled it into the comedy-variety vehicle The Betty White Show. Lackluster ratings, which inspired the revamping, lingered, and that program ended in April 1958.

     Over the next several years, White concentrated on guest work. She was a regular visitor to The Jack Paar Show, where her funny, slightly risque remarks made her an audience favorite. She also was a frequent visitor to daytime, as a game show panelist.

     It was on Password in 1961 that White met her husband, host Allen Ludden. They were married in Las Vegas in 1963. The Luddens were good friends of actress Mary Tyler Moore and her producer husband Grant Tinker, the two powerhouses behind the hit The Mary Tyler Moore Show. When script number 73 for the series came along it called for an "icky sweet Betty White type," and the show's casting director eventually decided to call the genuine article. Though usually thought of as a series regular, White did not make her first appearance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show until the program's fourth year, and in her most active season she appeared in only 12 of 26 regularly scheduled episodes. Nevertheless, she made herself an integral part of that show's family dynamic. As Sue Ann Nivens, the host of "The Happy Homemaker," White created a sparkling presence. Satirizing her own image, White threw herself into the role of a catty, man­ chaser who hid her true self behind a gooey shell of sugar. White won Emmys in the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons for Best Supporting Actress. She was part of The Mary Tyler Moore Show's final episode in 1977.

     After its end White began her own series. The sitcom The Betty White Show premiered in 1977 on CBS. Critically acclaimed and co-starring such pros as John Hiller­ man and Georgia Engel, the program faced tough competition on Monday nights, and CBS did not wait for the show to build an audience. It was canceled in early 1978.

     In 1983 White joined the small, exclusive group of women to have hosted a daytime game show. Just Men! had White as host and seven male guest stars who tried to help two female contestants win cars. Though the program lasted only six months, White proved funny and unflappable as "femcee" and won the Emmy for best game show host that year. She remains, to date, the only female winner of that top honor. Back on prime time she took guest roles on St. Elsewhere and other shows.

     In 1985 White, at age 63, began the biggest hit of her career, The Golden Girls, from Disney, reunited three of TV's greatest comedians: White, Beatrice Arthur, and Rue McClanahan. (From the New York stage it imported Estelle Getty.) A highly anticipated show, it was the biggest hit of NBC's new fall season. At the end of the first year, all three lead actresses were nominated for Emmys. White won for her innocent, adorably ignorant Rose Nylund, whose nature bespoke a more optimistic and trusting time.

     Golden Girls ran for seven years. The program was repackaged. without Arthur, for CBS the following season. Golden Palace, with White , McClanahan, and Getty running a Florida hotel, aired for one year. White has continued to act in sitcoms and to do guest appearances and television commercials.White's eagerly awaited autobiography, Here We Go Again: My Life in Television, was published that summer not long after it was announced that she would re­turn to series TY. Maybe This Time, a Disney-produced sitcom co starring actress and singer Marie Osmond premiered   in   the  fall   of   1995.  That  same  year saw White's induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. Inducted along with  Dick Van Dyke, Bill Moyers, and Jim McKay, among others, White was the tenth woman so honored.