Betty White was a pioneer of early television with a career spanning more than seven decades.

Betty White was one of the first women to work both in front of and behind the camera. She was the first woman to produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth) in the United States, the first woman to star in a sitcom, the first woman to receive an Emmy nomination—and some claim she was the first woman ever to appear on television!

Betty Marion White, born in Oak Park, Illinois on January 17, 1922, stood tall among her peers. Her passing on December 31, just a few weeks short of her milestone 100^th birthday, was met with statements of sympathy and tributes from many people and organizations.

Betty White started in radio after graduating high school. She talked in an HFPA interview about how she got her first show business job in 1949: “What I remember about that era was wonderful. I loved the styles, but now you have an old lady talking. The girls would really work at being feminine. Because of all the glamourous movie stars, you would get dressed up with make-up just to go to the market. Nowadays is fine but I do miss clean-shaven guys with a crisp white shirt. That is the sexiest thing you can find.”

Betty White worked regularly in television, and her wit and timing made her a frequent guest on Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show and popular daytime game shows such as Password. Password was hosted by Allen Ludden, who became the love of her life. They remained married until Ludden’s death in 1981.

The Golden Globe nominee and winner of numerous other awards continued to explain why she has been around in this business for so long: “People have grown up with me on television. They have gotten older too so we have gotten old together. The good stuff about getting older, is people spoil you and so you can take advantage of every possible thing you can.”

Betty White earned Emmy nominations while appearing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s and became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of outstanding game show host for the NBC show Just Men! in 1983.

White’s work pace only speeded up in the years immediately afterward when she was one of The Golden Girls playing Rose Nylund from 1985 to 1992.

On May 8, 2010, White became the oldest person to host SNL. She was 88 at the time and won her seventh Emmy for her performance.

Betty White said that she tried to find something positive in every situation: “I am very happy and genuinely so. We all keep weighing things and maybe thinking of alternatives, but my prayers are always thank you’s. They are not: I want this, or I want that. How lucky am I and how grateful can I be? When you are not happy, you have to dig down and find out why you are not and that might not be fixable. So, if it isn’t fixable, put it over there. Don’t live on it and thrive on it.”