A Golden Girl Graces Long Island

Seven time Emmy Award winning actress Betty White, best known for her roles on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Golden Girls”, was at Barnes and Noble in Lake Grove Thursday night to sign copies of her sixth book, “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)”.

The store started giving fans numbers for the event 10 hours before it was scheduled to start in the evening, but that was not early enough for some of White's most die hard fans.

“We got here at 12:50 a.m. this morning because we are huge Betty White fans,” said Gerard Kelly of North Babylon, who was there with best friend Kelly Ryan of West Islip, “but it was totally worth it to come then because we are numbers one and two in line to see her.”

“She is the biggest entertainer in our country and right now she is stronger than ever,” said Kenny Mitchell of Garden City, who arrived at 3 a.m Thursday morning for his spot on line. “Just think of what she has done in her career.”

Hundreds of fans were on-hand to get a glimpse of the actress, whose appearance closed off the entire second floor to the few shoppers who were not on- hand for the book signing. 

White, who turned 89 in January, has enjoyed a virtually non-stop career resurgence and soar in popularity in the last several years.  In 2009 she appeared in the movie “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock.  A year later, her Snickers Super Bowl commercial became an instant hit with fans.  That lead to a Facebook campaign to have her host “Saturday Night Live”, which she did last May. That appearance earned her her seventh Emmy Award.  

A month after her hosting gig, her latest television series, “Hot In Cleveland”, debuted to high ratings on TV Land.  She has also made memorable guest appearances on several television shows in recent years including “Boston Legal”, “My Name Is Earl”, “30 Rock” and “The Middle”.

Still other fans remember her as a guest on the TV game show “Password” during the 1960's and 1970's which was hosted by her third husband, Allen Ludden.  White and Ludden, who died in 1981, appeared as themselves playing the game on a memorable episode of “The Odd Couple.”

The two roles she is most famous, as Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Rose Nyland on “The Golden Girls”, came later, in the 1970's and 1980's, respectively.  She has won seven Emmy awards during her 72 year career, which started on radio in 1939. Her first Emmy came in the 1950's for her starring role on “Life With Elizabeth”. She has also been a staunch animal activist for most of her life.

Not all of the fans in attendance to see White were from the Long Island area.

“We flew here yesterday from Florida and came straight here at 6a.m. this morning,” said U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist Second Class Fran O'Brien, who was at the event with her mother, her aunt and her friend. “She is only doing book signings in ten cities and this is one of them and we wanted to see her. Why? It's Betty White.”