Betty White wheedled Emmy nods out of single appearances on a number of ratings-deprived television series: The John Larroquette Show, Yes, Dear, and the final season of My Name is Earl, among others. Tonight the 87-year-old legend doggedly attempts to achieve the same accolade on 30 Rock, playing herself amid TGS's crew of caricatures. I'm putting 20 down on Jenna Maroney asking for advice regarding showbiz vitality and Betty deadpanning back, "The password is strip aerobics, bitch." After the jump, a tribute to the Movieline patron saint and her more unusual TV appearances.
Life with Elizabeth
Recognition: Emmy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy
Year: 1952
Betty White won one of the first lead actress Emmys for her role on this strangely forgotten series, which ran for 65 episodes (almost as twice as many as The Honeymooners's 39). As the tart young housewife Elizabeth, White acted as foil to her jocular husband Alvin (Del Moore). Even stranger, the show's writers broke each episode into three 10-minute vignettes that played more like extended skits. Sue Ann Nivens would've idolized this level of domestic effervescence.
The Odd Couple
Recognition: One of TV Guide's "100 Greatest TV Episodes"
Year: 1972
This marks one of the few notable "guest-appearances-within-a-guest-appearance" that I can remember. In the indisputably finest, most fondly remembered episode of The Odd Couple, Felix Unger (Tony Randall) acts as a clue-giving partner to sportswriter Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) on an episode of Password. When Oscar tries describing the password "gravy," Felix responds with the non sequitur "Lincoln." Betty White, then already a real-life regular on Password as her husband Allen Ludden hosted, played the rational celebrity who dispensed sensible clues.
Just Men!
Recognition: Emmy, Outstanding Host/Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show
Year: 1983
White, of course, is a legendary game show panelist, having served time on What's My Line, Liars Club, and every iteration of Password since the '60s. Few know she was also the first woman to claim the Emmy for game show hosting -- though it's no shock her bawdy man-interrogating show Just Men! lasted one season. Featuring an awkward raked set that White traversed like a mall escalator, the show was no match for the smarmy, pitch-perfect Love Connection, which debuted the same year, featured a similar cross-examination of the sexes, and lasted on TV for a decade.
Nurses
Recognition: N/A
Year: 1991
Nurses was a spin-off of Empty Nest, which itself was a spin-off of The Golden Girls. For one dubious episode, White guest-starred as Rose Nylund, who seemed lost (and not in that rightful Rose Nylund way) among the comically mistimed cast. View with caution.
The Practice
Recognition: Emmy, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Year: 2004
We can't find a suitable clip, but White even won an Emmy for her dramatic work during The Practice's final season. As the gossipy plaintiff Catherine Piper in a case involving a dog excrement-filled handshake, White injected the waning series with brass, defying the usual order of sharpened pinstripes and humorless stares. She would reprise the role for 17 episodes during the last season of (see a theme here?) Boston Legal.