Beyond her lengthy on-screen career that saw her become an enduring icon of film and television, Betty White was known for her advocacy and activism. The latter had been a crucial part of her career since its earliest days.
As far back as 1954, the actor came under fire for having Black tap dancer Arthur Duncan as a guest on The Betty White Show, with various producers and network figures threatening to remove the series from the airwaves if they didn’t cancel his planned performance. Never a shrinking violet, White simply told them that “he stays, live with it”.
The animal kingdom was another major concern for the star, who worked with countless organisations across decades to try and safeguard the futures of various species. From the 1970s to her death in December 2021 at the age of 99 years old, she’d been a trustee of the Morris Animal Foundation and a member of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Board of Directors, where she spent eight of those years as its commissioner.
As a result, there wasn’t a chance she’d agree to appear in a project on screens, either big or small, that featured even the slightest hint of animal cruelty. This caused her to decline a role in James L. Brooks’ acclaimed dramatic comedy As Good As It Gets.
An awards season heavy hitter that landed seven nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, won Jack Nicholson his record-setting third Oscar for acting, and saw Helen Hunt named ‘Best Actress’, White was in contention for a part in the ensemble. That was until she read one scene from the screenplay, which instantly soured her on the proposition.
“As Good As It Gets, I turned that down, but it was for a very good reason,” she explained. “They had this adorable dog in it, but in one scene, the guy goes down the hall and puts the dog down the rubbish chute.” Given her history of shining a light on the trials and tribulations of animals at all costs, it’s understandable she wouldn’t agree to a canine companion being tossed into the trash.
Even though the scene didn’t do any harm to the dog, White still wasn’t willing to cross that line. “Of course, it lands on some cushions, and it’s fine, but I didn’t want to set that example because you never know what nuts or kids will see it and think ‘I can do that,’” she continued. “The director said, ‘The dog’s fine, the dog’s fine!’. But I said, ‘I just can’t do that.’ Of course, the film was a tremendous hit, but I didn’t regret turning it down.”
White wouldn’t compromise her beliefs for the sake of a movie, no matter how popular it proved to be, a commendable effort from one of Hollywood’s most wholesome figures.
