Smallscreen News

A look back in time with Betty White, SNL hostess with the mostest

By April MacIntyre Mar 11, 2010, 19:10 GMT

01/23/2010 - Betty White - 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Press Room - The Shrine Auditorium - Los Angeles, CA. USA © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

American treasure, smallscreen living legend Betty White finally is set to host NBC's "Saturday Night Live" on May 8.

Thanks to a groundswell of love and fandom support, a huge Facebook campaign and numerous bloggers who sing her praises and recall the glory days of television sitcoms that always were monster hits if they included the sly good girl with a bite, Betty White. The lady will school a new generation on how to deliver a zinger.

The special Mother's Day episode will also reunite six former female "SNL" cast members, many who are mothers themselves: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch.

The show's creator-producer, Lorne Michaels, tells USA Today that White's popularity "took on a groundswell. [White as the host] isn't something we would have said no to, [but the campaign] validated that, 'Oh, that'd be fun' ... It was the outpouring of affection from fans, and we feel the same way."

Fans off White who are over the 40 year old mark remember her best as Sue Ann Nevins, the happy Homewrecker on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" that featured the great Ted Knight as well. Her later performance as the naive Rose Nylund on "The Golden Girls" with Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan and Bea Arthur was also treasured.

Monsters and Critics gathered some great clips and roasts, reels and peeks back for Betty White, one of our all time favorite TV actresses:

On Merv Griffin in 1966 with her husband Allen Ludden: