"I always wanted to be a zookeeper when I was growing up, and I've wound up a zookeeper! I've been working with the Los Angeles Zoo for 45 years! I'm the luckiest old broad on two feet because my life is divided absolutely in half - half animals and half show business. You can't ask for better than two things you love the most."-- Beloved actress and animal lover Betty White (1/17/1922 - 12/31/2021). Starting with her "Life With Elizabeth" in the 1950s, and continuing with iconic roles in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Golden Girls," and "Hot in Cleveland," White managed to devote much of her private life and philanthropy to the care and health of animals with the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. Her #BettyWhiteChallenge was established on the first anniversary of her death to encourage people to give to their local animal shelters in Betty's name. She once remarked that she was in show business in order to stay in the animal business.
(photo: Jim Spellman / Getty Images)
