Film will recount life of Betty White

A documentary created to celebrate Betty White’s 100th birthday will appear in theaters this month with a modified title, producers said. White died on New Year’s Eve at age 99 of natural causes.

What were the highlights of her long career? White’s television career began in the 1950s with the sitcom Life With Elizabeth and a self-titled variety show. She continued to act in sitcoms, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and appeared on game shows such as Password and What’s My Line? She hosted the NBC broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade for 19 years.

In 1985, White shot to superstardom with the sitcom The Golden Girls, on which she played the naïve yet emotionally intelligent Rose Nylund. Racy jokes, sexual innuendo, and irreverent humor filled the dialogue between the show’s lead characters, four widowed or divorced women living together in Miami. White’s role on The Golden Girls marked a new era in her career in which, as she aged, she fought to adapt her comedy and acting to a mainstream pop culture that relished vulgarity. Her strategy worked, and she went on to appear in numerous movies and TV shows—along with a popular Super Bowl ad for Snickers in 2010. That same year, she became the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live. Though she was the oldest cast member of The Golden Girls, castmates Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Bea Arthur all preceded her in death. Her husband, Allen Ludden, died in 1981, and she never remarried. White is survived by her three stepchildren. The documentary Betty White: A Celebration is set for release on Jan. 17, which would have been her 100th birthday.