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Geriatric Glory: Historic Figures Who Did Amazing Things In Their Old Age

Khalid Elhassan December 19, 2023 28 min

Benjamin Franklin was a babe magnet, well into his old age. New York Post

Betty White Hit Peak Popularity When She Was Almost 100-Years-Old

Betty White was an entertainment dynamo who performed for over eighty years. A television pioneer, she was the first woman to produce a sitcom. She is perhaps best known for her Emmy-winning roles as Sue Ann Nivens in the popular and groundbreaking sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and as Rose Nylund in the even more popular sitcom, The Golden Girls. By the time she died in 2021, her career had spanned across nine decades. In that time, she won a Grammy, eight Emmy Awards in various categories, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three American Comedy Awards.

White has her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is in the Television Hall of Fame. In her old age, she held the record for longest television career of any female entertainer, and few if any celebrities were more beloved in America than the last surviving Golden Girl. Her upbeat and cheerful grandmotherly presence put smiles on faces, and that made her into America’s sweetheart – one whom polls frequently ranked as the country’s most popular and trusted celebrity.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.