Beloved actress Betty White, who has died just weeks before what would have been her 100th birthday, spent some happy moments in Atlanta.
She and Jennifer Love Hewitt filmed the 2011 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie here that aired on CBS. For some scenes in “The Lost Valentine,” White was joined by sailors from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. That portion of the movie was filmed at the Georgia Capitol building, done up to look like a train station.
The movie featured Hewitt as a TV newsmagazine host who is assigned a story about Caroline, played by White. Caroline visited a train station every Valentine’s Day because it was the place where she last saw her husband during World War II.
White had been reluctant to shoot out of town. But “I read the script,” she said at the time, “and I was hooked.”
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
The production also filmed at a home in Druid Hills. While White was filming there, neighbors would bring by their dogs and stand across the street. White, a big animal lover, would take breaks to go greet her two and four-legged fans.
“She was terrific,” locations manager Mark Cottrell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time. “Very gracious.”
“I don’t diet,” she said then. “I’m lucky. I have a two-story house and a very bad memory so I spend all day walking up and down the stairs. That’s my exercise!”
During her time here White dined at Rathbun’s and took in “Dreamgirls” at the Fox Theatre.
She also spent time with Beethoven, a beluga at the Georgia Aquarium.
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
She was one of the last living legends who was active when television launched as a medium in 1949 and has been a regular presence in American pop culture ever since. During the time she was shooting the Lifetime film in Atlanta in 2010, White ― then 88 ― was experiencing a late career renaissance that allowed a whole new generation to embrace her.
She had a buzz-worthy Super Bowl Snickers ad. Fans held a Facebook campaign that led her to an Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” hosting turn. She starred in TV Land’s first scripted series, “Hot in Cleveland.” She had played a wacky grandma in the film “You Again.” She choked Joel McHale’s character as an anthropology professor on “Community.”
Entertainment Weekly in 2010 wrote in its “The Bullseye” column: “Betty White: Okay, we love her too, but this is getting a little out of hand.”
White chuckled when she heard that. “Everybody says it’s gone crazy, but I’ve never been away,” she said.
