A little known fact is that Betty White, the only remaining ‘Golden Girl’ from the hit American show of the late 1980s to early 1990s, is of Greek descent.
Although born in Oak Park, Illinois, on 17 January 1922, her mother – Tess Cachikis – was half Greek, as her father was originally born in Greece.
In a 2011 interview on the American television show Inside the Actor’s Studio, White even spoke some Greek, asking host James Lipton, ‘Τι κάνεις, καλά;’ (How are you, well?).
Following with her well-known brand of humour, she then asked ‘I was hoping that it was clean, because I didn’t really know what it meant’.
Showing her affinity with the Greek love of celebration and drink, she also said in an interview that she planned to spend her 90 birthday party (in January 2012) ‘with a little vodka on the rocks’.
Perhaps White’s lineage was the inspiration for the Greek channel ET1’s Top 10 remake of the classic hit entitled Xρυσά Kορίτσια (Golden Girls) which aired in 2008?
