Times exactly like you said. we just watched that obituary and you really saw so many phases of her career from her early stages to hosting saturday night live. as you know, there are many people that can be so cool into their 90s, right? i know a lot of people who can t be cool at half that age! anita: [laughs] as she got older and played some of these character parts, she would often recite these lines that were pretty saucy, maybe drop a couple of words we can t say on television. and people would say, betty white, i can t believe she said that! she played off that, as well. it seems to me that she could have had a very nice retirement 20 years ago. there was something that kept her going. whenever interviewers asked her the secret to longevity, she would say vodka, hot dogs, and french fries. which is pretty cool the way to look at life. anita: [laughs] no doubt. you said you were watching a movie with betty white. i didn t quite hear what you are
Spirits to the screen. i really don t know anyone who didn t admire and love betty white. how about you, gillian? gillian: i like what you said about the gleam in her eye. she really did. she was totally a tv bad i don t know if i m allowed to say that. and a trailblazer in tv. i don t know people realize she set the record, the longest running woman on television. that s a record she takes with her, nobody can break it. what s interesting is her career began in 1939. when you think about the state of television then compared to now, it s incredible the scope of the work she s done, the way people looked and talked and acted on. it s all changed and she was able to adapt herself. she was relevant and engaging and people loved her then and she was relevant and engaging and people loved now. so it s really incredible. anita: it is. you talk about the scope of her work, she started in radio when
Of seats in a movie theater. on golden girls, her character was the opposite of the kindhearted scatterbrained rose, known for sharing stories from her upbringing. last to misstate a left pageant did you 23 years in a row! [laughter] along with acting, that he was passionate about animal welfare. she spent more than four decades working with the morris animal foundation and the los angeles zoo, and won a lifetime achievement award from the jane goodall institute. my life is divided absolutely and have come half show business and half animal business. i will do anything can to make life better for these guys. our guest of honor, miss betty white. in recent years, her career enjoyed a renaissance page first she appeared in a hard-hitting super bowl commercial. that s not what your girlfriend says! than internet campaign helped
Retiring early in that field because it is just too much pressure, the stakes are too high. you got to bring in a billion dollars every time you put out a movie. but she was able to kind of keep her joy for what she did. she was a true pro in that sense. what intrinsic qualities do you think she had that made her able to do that? i had to boil it down to one quality among many, i would say timing. she had this uncanny comic timing. you saw that a little bit in the clip you just played. it s also true in the movie i happened to watch a few days ago. certainly you don t get to do saturday night live until he can deliver the zinger on cue, that sort of thing. i think that and a sense that she didn t take yourself too seriously. she could give the impassioned speech when the part called for it, but she really seemed to have that sense of humor. so many people, when they achieve that kind of success betty white was a household name around the world. they get pretty full of
Her host a episode of saturday night live. he became their highest rated show in two years. i m here tonight because i be wanted me to be. then her new show hot in cleveland premiered and set a ratings record for the tv land network. i ve been the caretaker of this house for 50 years. but you can kick me out. and all, betty earned more than half a dozen enemies, three american comedy words, a granny, and three screen actors guild awards, including a lifetime achievement. this is the highest point of my entire professional life. with her wit, impeccable comedic timing, and generous personality, betty white leaves behind a lasting legacy of love and laughter. jonathan hunt, fox news. gillian: thanks to jonathan hunt for that great package. anita, tmz is reporting that during the pandemic she was very cautious. she wanted to protect her