The Disney Legends program was created in 1987 for those who have made remarkable contributions to the Walt Disney Company. From actors who have starred in movies and/or television, to animators who designed cartoon characters, to “Imagineers” who built theme park attractions, the award is given to anyone whose work continues to be endearing since it was originally produced. Today I’d like to tell you about someone who not only won that designation, but has enjoyed a decades long career working throughout show business. We’ll focus just on her Disney work for this blog, as a celebration of her 99th birthday: Betty White!
Betty White made her very first contribution to Disney when she accepted the role of Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls (1985-1992). In the early 1980’s, White learned that NBC was developing a new sit-com about four elderly women who share house together in Miami, Florida and how they live the second act of their lives. Entitled “The Golden Girls,” the show was to be produced by Touchstone Television, which is now known as ABC Signature, the production arm of the ABC Television Network which is owned by Disney, and distributed by Buena Vista Television. White also learned the studio wanted her to play Southern Belle Blanch Devereaux. But Jay Sandrich, who had directed White in her other signature role, Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and who was also hired to direct the pilot episode of “Golden Girls,” suggested that since Blanche was too much like Sue Ann Nivens, that Betty play Rose instead. White was nervous about playing an air-headed character, but the show’s creator, Susan Harris, at one point took White aside and encouraged her to play Rose as “terminally naive, someone who always believed the first explanation of something.” This role won White the third Emmy of her career, as well as four Golden Globe Nominations throughout the show’s seven-year-run. She briefly reprised the role of Rose Nylund on a spin-off called The Golden Palace (1992-1993).
The success of “Golden Girls,” led to White being named a Disney Legend in 2009, along with her other co-stars, Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. Prior to that though, White also lent her voice to an episode of ABC/Disney Television Show Hercules: TV Series (1998), as well as the CGI/Live-Action film Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale, released in 2000. In 2008, she lent her voice to the English dub of Disney/Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo, which was directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In 2010, she provided the voice of Mrs. Claus ABC’s television short Operation: Secret Santa (2010), and lent her voice to the fourth episode of the Disney Channel Series Mickey Mouse (2013-2019).
In 2019, Betty White lent her voice to Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4 (2019), which also featured cameos by comedy legends Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks. The group all played toy parodied versions of themselves: Bitey White, Chairol Burnett, Carl Rhinoceros and Melephant Brooks, and the film won the Best Animated Feature Oscar. The group also reprised these characters for the Disney+ short series Forky Asks a Question (2019).
Though younger fans will recognize her often for her voice-over work, Betty White will forever be remembered by Disney fans for her portrayal of Rose Nylund. In addition to these roles, Betty White also starred in Touchstone-produced films, including The Proposal (2009) starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds and You Again (2010) which starred Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. In a career lasting for nearly a century, she has made a great deal of exceptional contributions to entertainment and is an extraordinary legend. Happy Birthday Betty White!
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