TV queen Betty White passes away at 99
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Los Angeles: Actress Betty White, who had a remarkable later-career resurgence in films, TV commercials and the hit series 'The Golden Girls' and 'Hot in Cleveland', died Friday at age 99.
Citing law enforcement sources, reports reveal that White died at her home on Friday morning, less than three weeks before her 100th birthday on January 17. The cause of her death is still unclear.
"Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas told PEOPLE in a statement on Friday. "I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don't think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband, Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again."
Witjas emphasised that White had not been ill but had been extremely cautious during the pandemic. She spent most of the past two years at the home she loved with her many pets. She had round-the-clock caretakers in her final years, Witjas said.
In a youth-driven industry where an actress above age 40 often faces career twilight, White remained a star in her 60s and became a pop culture phenomenon in her 80s and 90s.
Playing on her imminent likability, White was still starring in the TV sitcom "Hot in Cleveland" at age 92, until it was cancelled in late 2014.
In 2010, she became the oldest person ever to host 'Saturday Night Live'.
In January 2012, the NBC special 'Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl was the most-watched program on the night.
White hosted and produced the hidden-camera reality show "Off Their Rockers" in 2012-13, earning two more Emmy nominations.
Her most recent book, 'If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't)', was published in 2011. She won a Screen Actors Guild life achievement award in 2010.
