Betty White, Beloved Comedian And Actress, Dead At 99

LOS ANGELES, CA — Betty White, the iconic actress and comedian beloved by generations and best known for her roles on "The Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," has died, her agent Jeff Witjas confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE and The Washington Post. She was 99 years old.

White was preparing to celebrate her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. She died Friday at her home in Brentwood.

"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."

Over the span of six decades, White's witty style gave life to a long list of quirky characters in shows from the sitcom "Life With Elizabeth" in the early 1950s to oddball Rose Nylund in "The Golden Girls" in the 1980s to "Boston Legal," which ran from 2004 to 2008.

She launched her TV career in daytime talk shows when the medium was still in its infancy and endured well into the age of cable and streaming. Bright and likable, with a dimpled, eye-crinkling smile, White was a natural.

SEE ALSO: Betty White: Remembering An American Treasure In Photos

She was also a pioneer for women in television. She was the first woman to produce a national TV show, the first woman to star in a sitcom, and the first woman to receive an Emmy nomination, according to the PBS documentary, "Betty White: First Lady of Television." In fact, she was the first woman to ever appear on television with her performance on an experimental broadcast in the 1930s.

She also stood firm against racial pressure, despite the consequences it may have had on her career at the time.

Her daytime variety show featured Arthur Duncan, a young singer and dancer who credits White with giving him his start in show business. Duncan was the first Black series regular on an American variety show.

Facing boycotts from television stations in the South, which threatened to pull it from the schedule if White didn't remove Duncan, White was steadfast. "I said, ‘I’m sorry. Live with it,'" she said.

Despite decades spent on television, White's career experienced a resurgence when she starred in a 2010 Snickers commercial that premiered during that year’s Super Bowl telecast. In it, she impersonated an energy-sapped dude getting tackled during a backlot football game.

"Mike, you’re playing like Betty White out there," the dude's friend says. White, flat on the ground and covered in mud, fires back, "That’s not what your girlfriend said!"

She also drew laughs with her one-liners in the 2009 comedy "The Proposal" and the horror spoof "Lake Placid." At 88, she hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 2011, becoming the oldest person to host the variety show.

White once said her character Sue Ann Nivens in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" could be "icky-sweet" but was "really a piranha type." That role earned her two Emmys. Over the span of her career, White was honored with a total of eight Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

White also became a role model for how to grow old joyously.

"Don’t try to be young,” she once told The Associated Press. “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."

Born Betty Marion White in Oak Park, Illinois, White and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was a toddler.

"I’m an only child, and I had a mother and dad who never drew a straight line: They just thought funny," she told The Associated Press in 2015. "We’d sit around the breakfast table, and then we’d start kicking it around. My dad was a salesman, and he would come home with jokes. He’d say, `Sweetheart, you can take THAT one to school. But I wouldn’t take THIS one.′ We had such a wonderful time."

Her early ambition was to be a writer, and she wrote her grammar school graduation play, giving herself the leading role.

At Beverly Hills High School, her ambition turned to acting, and she appeared in several school plays. Her parents hoped she’d go to college, but instead she took roles in a small theater and played bit parts in radio dramas.

After marrying twice, White married game show host Allen Ludden in 1963. The marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1981.

Off-screen, White was an animal advocate, raising money for animal causes such as the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. In 1970-1971, she wrote, produced and hosted a syndicated TV show, "The Pet Set," to which celebrities brought their dogs and cats. She also wrote a 1983 book titled "Betty White’s Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us," and, in 2011, published "Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.