LOS ANGELES — Actress Betty White says she couldn’t believe it when the Screen Actors Guild decided to honor her.
“They told me about the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, and I thought they were putting me on,” the “Golden Girls” star said. “I really did. I thought, ‘Oh, sure.'”
She’ll finally have tangible proof Saturday night, when Sandra Bullock, her co-star in “The Proposal,” hands over the guild’s statuette, paying tribute to White’s more than 60-year career. The SAG Awards will air on cable stations TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT).
She started in local Los Angeles television during the medium’s earliest days, and her first 20 years in the business included a 1951 Emmy for the comedy “Life With Elizabeth,” and various talk-show and game-show appearances. But it wasn’t until 1973 that she became part of a TV classic, as sex-crazed “Happy Homemaker” host Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
“Ethel Winant, the casting director, had said, ‘We want a sickeningly sweet Betty White type,'” White recalled. “Well, they couldn’t find anybody sickening enough.”
So, they hired White, who eventually became a regular on the series, won back-to-back Emmys, and a place in TV history.
In 1985, she was earmarked for the role of Blanche on “The Golden Girls.” ”It was Jay Sandrich, who directed most of the ‘Mary’ shows, who, in his wisdom said, ‘If Betty plays Blanche, another neighborhood nymphomaniac, they’re going to think it’s Sue Ann all over again.’ And he said, ‘Let’s switch them.'”
So co-star Rue McClanahan took on Blanche. White got the naive Rose. They both went on to win Emmys, and eternal lives in reruns.
At 88, Betty is White-hot again, coming off a scene-stealing stint as Ryan Reynolds’ grandmother in the blockbusting “The Proposal,” and with a handful of TV and big-screen projects in the pipeline.
“I think the most surprised person is my agent,” White said. “‘They still are using YOU?’ But it’s beyond-belief exciting.”
Is there anything in show business she’s yet to do?
“Robert Redford,” White replied, with a sly smile.