“Even though Betty was going to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” her agent Jeff Witjas told People magazine.

“I don't think she was afraid of dying, because she always wanted to be with her beloved husband Allen Ludden. She thought she would be by his side again,” he said.

Betty White, one of America's most beloved actresses, has enjoyed multiple accolades during her exceptionally long career.

Multiple Emmy Award-winning, she first appeared on television in 1949 and again lent her voice to a "Toy Story 4" character in 2019.

"It's amazing that I'm still in this job, and that you still support me!", Said the actress at the Emmy Awards in 2018.

In "Les Craquantes", she played the awkward and often naive Rose Nylund, the counterpart to the more sophisticated characters played by Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.

She had also appeared on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" or in the famous series "Love, Glory and Beauty" and was in 2010, at age 88, the oldest person to host the famous entertainment show "Saturday Night Live. ".

Actress Betty White in Studio City, Calif. On January 16, 2015 MARK DAVIS GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

"True legend"

Born in 1922 in the suburbs of Chicago, Betty White began her career in modeling, before working in radio, playing in commercials and obtaining small leading roles.

Her life was then inseparable from the small screen, and it was in a game show that she met her third husband, Allen Ludden, who then introduced him.

The couple remained married from 1963 until the latter's death in 1981. She never remarried, and had no children.

Along with her acting career, the star was one of the first female producers of the series "Life with Elizabeth", in which she also starred, in the 1950s.

Betty White, with the recognizable blonde cut and light blue eyes, was known for her irreverent lines.

Asked by presenter David Letterman about her favorite hobbies, this great animal advocate said she loved "playing with animals, mainly. And vodka is a kind of hobby."

"Betty White has put a smile on the lips of generations of Americans. She is a cultural icon that will be sorely missed," tweeted US President Joe Biden.

“Who didn't love Betty White? We're so sad,” his wife Jill Biden told reporters.

Actress Betty White in Universal City, Calif. On December 6, 2012 Robyn BECK AFP / Archives

Hollywood was quick to honor his memory, with actor Ryan Reynolds saying, for example, that "the world now looks different".

“She was very good at defying expectations,” he tweeted.

The US military has also paid tribute to this "true legend on and off the screen" who also "served during World War II in the American Women's Volunteer Services".

The healthy actress would have turned 100 on January 17.

"My 100th birthday ... I can't believe it's coming," she tweeted on Tuesday, sharing an interview she did on the occasion.

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