Betty White Movie Coming To Redondo Beach On Her 100th Birthday

REDONDO BEACH, CA — National screenings of a film celebrating the life of the inimitable Betty White will go on as planned on Jan. 17, which would have been the actor, comedian and activist’s 100th birthday, with special showings in 900 theaters, including screenings in Redondo Beach.

White, widely regarded both on and off-screen as an American treasure and whose popularity transcended generations, died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 99.

Originally titled “Betty White: 100 Years Young — A Birthday Celebration,” the film directed by Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein is now known as “Betty White: A Celebration.”

Tickets are on sale now for screenings scheduled for 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time on Jan. 17:

• AMC Southbay Galleria 16, 1815 Hawthorne Boulevard, Redondo Beach
• AMC Del Amo 18, 3525 W. Carson Street, Torrance
• AMC Rolling Hills 20, 2591 Airport Drive, Torrance

The documentary examining White’s eight-decade career includes what is now White’s final on-screen interview, as well as tributes from Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

• READ THE OBITUARY: Betty White, An American Treasure, Dies At 99

Boettcher and Trinklein said that over the course of filming the documentary, they developed “a great love and admiration for Betty as a person, and as an accomplished entertainer.”

“We will go forward with our plans to show the film ... in hopes our film will provide a way for all who loved her to celebrate her life — and experience what made her such a national treasure,” they said in a statement shortly after White’s death was announced.

White was best known for her roles as the often-vampy Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the naive and often-childlike Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls.” But she had been a trailblazer for women in television since the 1950s as the first woman to produce a national TV show, the first woman to star in a sitcom, and the first woman to receive an Emmy nomination, according to the PBS documentary "Betty White: First Lady of Television." In fact, she was the first woman to ever appear on television, with her performance on an experimental broadcast in the 1930s.

She also stood firm against racial pressure, despite the consequences it might have had on her career at the time.

Her daytime variety show featured Arthur Duncan, a young singer and dancer who credits White with giving him his start in show business. Duncan was the first Black series regular on an American variety show. Television stations in the South threatened to boycott the program if White didn’t remove Duncan from the lineup, but she was steadfast.

“I said,” White recalled in a PBS documentary, “ ‘I’m sorry. Live with it.’ ”

White’s career experienced a resurgence in 2010 when she starred in a Super Bowl commercial for Snickers in which she impersonated an energy-sapped dude getting tackled during a backlot football game.

She also drew laughs with her one-liners in the 2009 comedy "The Proposal" and the horror spoof "Lake Placid." At 88, she hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 2011, becoming the oldest person to host the show.

Over the span of her career, White was honored with eight Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

White also was a fierce advocate for animals, raising money for causes such as the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. In 1970-71, she wrote, produced and hosted a syndicated TV show, "The Pet Set," to which celebrities brought their dogs and cats. She also wrote a 1983 book titled "Betty White's Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us"; and, in 2011, she published "Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo."

She was married three times, the last to Allen Ludden in 1963. “I had the love of my life,” she told People in a 2010 interview. He died in 1981, and White never remarried.

White’s assistant reportedly told Carol Burnett that White called out Ludden’s name moments before she died.

Watch a trailer of the film here: