# Betty White's later career and revered pop icon status

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-whites-later-career-and-revered-pop-icon-status/784939>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 21, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-whites-later-career-and-revered-pop-icon-status/784939 "2017-04-21T19:08:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-whites-later-career-and-revered-pop-icon-status/784939/21 "2017-04-22T18:00:16Z")

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I think George Burns was right up there in pop icon status, if you account for the lack of an internet in his day. When he made ‘Oh God!’, he was already a pop culture icon, which is why he was cast as God in the first place. He was a regular on The Tonight Show, which was as good as pop culture got back in the day. He was never really out of the spotlight even though he hadn’t had his own show in a long, long time.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-whites-later-career-and-revered-pop-icon-status/784939/22 "2017-04-22T18:05:09Z")

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> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> This [exact](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WRK9Gzju6w) moment.

Thanks for this. I hadn’t seen it since it first aired.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-whites-later-career-and-revered-pop-icon-status/784939/23 "2017-04-23T00:11:30Z")

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> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> I think George Burns was right up there in pop icon status, if you account for the lack of an internet in his day. When he made ‘Oh God!’, he was already a pop culture icon, which is why he was cast as God in the first place. He was a regular on The Tonight Show, which was as good as pop culture got back in the day. He was never really out of the spotlight even though he hadn’t had his own show in a long, long time.

I think _ **Sunshine Boys** _ is what brought George Burns back to stardom and then **Oh, God!** put him over the top. He had kind of faded before Sunshine Boys and stepped up and took his friend’s place when Jack Benny couldn’t do the role.

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