Tess Curtis White is the mother of Betty White. Tess Curtis White’s daughter, Betty was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television, with a career spanning seven decades, Tess Curtis White’s daughter was noted for her vast work in the entertainment industry and being one of the first women to work both in front of and behind the camera.
Tess Curtis White: Profile Summary
| Full Name | Tess Curtis White |
| Other names | Tess Curtis, Tess Christine White |
| Famous as | Mother of Betty White |
| Age at Time of Death | 86 years old |
| Date of Birth | July 25, 1899 |
| Place of Birth | Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States |
| Date of Death | November 11, 1985 |
| Zodiac sign | Leo |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Children | Betty White |
| Husband | Horace Logan White |
Tess Curtis White was born on July 25, 1899, in Chicago, Illinois United States. Her maiden name is Cachikis and she married into the White family.
According to her family tree, Tess Curtis White was the mother of 1 child. Tess’ husband was Horace Logan White, and they had a child, Betty White. Tess died on November 11, 1985, in Los Angeles, California United States at 86 years old.
Betty White’s parents, Tess Christine White was a homemaker, and her husband Horace Logan White (1899–1963), was an electric industry executive. Tess’ father, Nicholas Cachikis was Greek, and her mother’s, Margaret Curtis Hobbs Cachikis, roots were English and Welsh. Tess was born in Chicago IL and her brother Thomas was born in 1907, also in IL
Tess’ famous daughter (their only child), actress Betty White, was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. In the 1910 federal census, Tess (Christina) was age 10 and living with her parents and brother Thomas, as well as her mother’s mother Margaret Hobbs, in Chicago IL. Her father was a “wagon driver” in the ice cream industry.
According to Cook County IL marriage records, Tess Curtis White and her husband, Horace were married on February 17, 1921. In 1922, Tess and Horace were listed as living in Oak Park, IL, where their daughter Betty was born. In 1925, they were listed as living in Pasadena CA.
In 1938, they were listed as living in Beverly Hills, CA. In the 1940 federal census, Tess was age 40 and married. The family – Horace, Tess, and daughter Betty – were living in Los Angeles.
All of them had graduated high school and husband Horace was a “sales representative” in the “electric industry” and was earning more than $5000 a year. Daughter Betty wasn’t married and wasn’t listed as going to school or working.
Tess Curtis White’s daughter, Betty grew up to become one of the most iconic females in the entertainment industry. Her first radio jobs included reading commercials and playing bit parts and sometimes even doing crowd noises. She made about five dollars a show. She would do just about anything, like singing on a show for no pay. She appeared on shows such as Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI. She was then offered her own radio show, called The Betty White Show.
In 1949, Tess Curtis White’s daughter Betty White began appearing as co-host with Al Jarvis on his daily live television variety show Hollywood on Television, originally called Make Believe Ballroom, on KFWB and on then KLAC-TV (now KCOP-TV) in Los Angeles.
By the 1960s, White was a staple of network game shows and talk shows: including both Jack Paar and later Johnny Carson’s era of The Tonight Show. She made many appearances on the hit Password show as a celebrity guest from 1961 through 1975.
Following the success of the Snickers advertisement, a grassroots campaign on Facebook called “Betty White to Host SNL (Please)” began in January 2010. The group was approaching 500,000 members when NBC confirmed on March 11, 2010, that White would in fact host Saturday Night Live on May 8.
The appearance made Tess Curtis White’s daughter Betty, at age 88, the oldest person to host the show, beating Miskel Spillman, the winner of SNL‘s “Anybody Can Host” contest, who was 80 when she hosted in 1977.
In December 2021, before White’s death, it was announced that a new documentary-style film about her, Betty White: A Celebration would be released in U.S. theatres on her 100th birthday, January 17, 2022.
On the morning of December 31, 2021, White died in her sleep at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles from a stroke she had on Christmas Day. She was 99. Her remains were cremated and given to Glenn Kaplan, who was entrusted with carrying out her advanced health care directive. White’s death was met with statements of sympathy and tribute from many people and organizations.
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