Still Golden: Happy 98th Birthday to Betty White!

During the Depression, my dad made radios to sell to make extra money. Nobody had any money to buy the radios, so he would trade them for dogs. He built kennels in the backyard, and he cared for the dogs.

Betty White was born on this day in 1922 in Oak Park Illinois. Her family moved to California during the Great Depression and White attended high school in Los Angeles. It was there that she had her first taste of show business when she wrote and played the lead in her graduation play. A lifelong animal lover, she aspired to become a zookeeper or a park ranger. But when she found that these jobs were typically reserved for men, she shifted her focus to writing and performing. After high school, White found whatever work she could singing, acting, and modeling. After being told that she was not photogenic, she pursued radio work for a time, reading commercials and singing, but eventually found her way back to television and began to find success on variety shows.

It's been phenomenal, but everybody keeps congratulating me on my resurgence and my big comeback. I haven't been away, guys. I've been working steadily for the last 63 years.

In the early 1950s, when White was not yet thirty, she cofounded a production company and began to create her own programs, becoming one of the first women to work on both sides of the camera. In 1954, she produced and hosted her own variety show, The Betty White Show. Initially a ratings success, the show faced criticism for the inclusion of Arthur Duncan, an African-American performer. In response to demands that she replace him, she instead gave him more screen time. As a result, the show was shuffled to less desirable time slots and was eventually canceled due to declining viewers.

In addition to variety shows, White found her place hosting several game shows throughout her career. In 1983, she was the first woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host. Over the course of her career, she has won eight Emmy Awards, in addition to many other accolades. Learn all about her trailblazing career in her book Here We Go Again: My Life in Television.

I stayed in show business to pay for my animal business.

White's passion for animals has always been a big part of her life. She has said, "You can always tell about somebody by the way they put their hands on an animal." She has written several books about her work as an animal welfare advocate, including Betty and Friends: My Life at the Zoo, in which she got to play at her dream of being a zookeeper. The book relays stories about White's experiences with animal friends and boasts a series of beautiful photographs of her interacting with animals from the Los Angeles Zoo.

My mother always used to say: The older you get, the better you get, unless you're a banana.

Despite her forty-plus years in the business before The Golden Girls many of us remember her most fondly as ditzy Rose from the beloved television program. When it premiered in 1985, nobody expected it to be a success, lining up against powerhouse sitcoms like Cheers, Who's the Boss?, and The Cosby Show. But the cast—White, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan—proved a magical combination and the hit show ran for seven seasons, racking up a staggering 58 Emmy nominations. In Golden Girls Forever by Jim Colucci, get an insider view behind the scenes. Thank You for Being a Friend by Emma Lewis focuses on the show's iconic characters and their winning chemistry.

You can also enjoy books by a couple of White's castmates. From Estelle Getty, who played the witty, sarcastic Sophia, If I Knew Then What I Know Now...So What? shows how closely the actress resembled her famous character. Likewise, Rue McClanahan's memoir, My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away, tells the story of her life and loves with the humor and warmth you would expect from the woman who brought Blanche to life. As a point of interest, McClanahan was initially slated to play Rose, while White was lined up as the lascivious Blanche. Can you imagine?

Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way.

Some years ago when asked about retiring, Betty White proclaimed, "I'm having the time of my life and the fact that I'm still working—how lucky can you get? I'm 90 years old and still able to work as much as I do. That's a privilege." Around that same time, she published her seventh book, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), her candid take on life, celebrity, and love. This volume is funny, sweet, and straight to the point—just like the actress herself.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon