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Tuesday, August 21, 8 p.m.
“Betty White: First Lady of Television,” celebrates the actress’ 80 years in show business.
Filmed over a span of five years, the film focuses on White’s personal life as well as lifetime in the film industry.
"The goal of the film from the beginning was to highlight the universal appeal that is Betty White...to showcase Betty's life in front of and behind the curtain,” said co-director Steven J. Boettcher.
While Betty White’s career began in 1939 singing for an unnamed “experimental” broadcast in Los Angeles, she would one day exceed all expectations by becoming: the first woman producer of a national television show, the first woman star in a sitcom, the first producer to hire a female director and the first woman to receive an Emmy nomination among countless other outstanding achievements.
White is known for her many popular roles including those on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Golden Girls” and more recently, “The Proposal” opposite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds which included the unforgettably hilarious exchange between White and Bullock while dancing to “Get Low” by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz.
“Betty White: First Lady of Television” includes guest interviews from Ryan Reynolds, Valerie Bertinelli, Tiny Fey, Carl Reiner and more. One of the more provocative of these interviews comes from Arthur Duncan, hired by White as a singer and dancer for “The Betty White Show” in 1954, was the first African-American regular on a television talk/variety show. Despite outrage from several stations in the south, Betty refused to bench Duncan’s role-- reinforcing her role as a force of change in the film industry.
“Betty White has created some of the most memorable characters in television history,” said Jerry Liwanag, Vice President of Fundraising Programming, PBS. “This new special reveals that she’s been a groundbreaking pioneer since her earliest days in the fledgling medium – both in front of and behind the camera. Her talent and creativity are timeless, transcending generations and cementing her legacy with each passing decade. She’s truly one of a kind.”
“Betty White: First Lady of Television” premieres Tuesday, August 21 at 8 p.m. on WHRO-15.
