Beloved actress Betty White died on Friday night. She was weeks away from her 100th birthday. Video / NZ Herald
Betty White, the trailblazing television star with a nine-decade career, has passed away at the age of 99.
The beloved Golden Girls actress was just weeks off her milestone 100th birthday on January 17.
White is understood to have passed away peacefully in her home on Friday.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Mike Lopez told The Post that officers responded to a radio call Friday at about 9.30 am concerning "a natural death investigation" at the 99-year-old's home in Brentwood, California.
Her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas later confirmed the news to People magazine.
"Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," Witjas said in a statement.
"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."
Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak, Betty White as Rose Nylund, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo. Photo / Getty Images
The Golden Girls star - who was born in 1922 - was a pioneer of early television with a career spanning nine decades.
White began her television career as a $50-a-week sidekick to a local Los Angeles TV personality in 1949. She was hired for a local daytime show starring Al Jarvis, the best-known disc jockey in Los Angeles.
The comedic actress went on to have a vast career in the entertainment industry, as well as being one of the first women to produce a sitcom, Life with Elizabeth, which saw her named honorary Mayor of Hollywood.
White is also widely known for her roles as Sue Ann Nivens, as a man-crazy TV hostess on the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, and Elka Ostrovsky on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland.
Betty White had a career spanning nine decades. Photo / Getty Images
Her youthful and cheeky humour saw even smaller roles, such as her part in the comedy The Proposal propel her further into stardom with her unique brand of salty language and killer one-liners.
White grew to become a beloved symbol for all generations, and a role model for how to grow old joyously.
"Don't try to be young," she told the AP. "Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won't live long enough to find out about, but I'm still curious about them."
Such was her popularity that even White's birthday became a national event in the US: In January 2012, NBC aired "Betty White's 90th Birthday Party" as a star-studded prime-time special.
In recent years, White enjoyed a quiet life in Los Angeles, where she confessed to having a passion for crossword puzzles and card games as well as a love for animal documentaries, which fitted with her longtime commitment to animal welfare advocacy.
White was also a longtime supporter of the Wildlife Learning Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Actors and Others for Animals.
She tirelessly raised money for animal causes such as the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. She wrote, produced and hosted a syndicated TV show, The Pet Set, to which celebrities brought their dogs and cats. She wrote a book titled Betty White's Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us and published Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo.
Most recently, White, the cover girl of this week's People magazine, told the publication how excited she was to be turning 100 years old in just a few short weeks.
"I'm so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age," said the veteran actress. "It's amazing."
According to White, being "born a cockeyed optimist" is the key to her upbeat nature. "I got it from my mom, and that never changed," she says. "I always find the positive."
The iconic actress was known and loved for her wicked sense of humour. Photo / Getty Images
