If you were anywhere near the internet over the New Year's holiday, you've seen the outpouring of love for legendary actress Betty White, who passed away on New Year's Eve just 17 days shy of her 100th birthday.
White has been such a fixture on our screens for so many decades her loss has been felt acutely by multiple generations of fans as well as her legion of costars over the years.
One of those costars, actor Ryan Reynolds, penned a heartfelt tribute on Twitter to the late Hollywood great that perfectly speaks to everything we're all feeling in just a few succinct sentences.
See Reynolds' tribute below.
Along with a photo of White sure to inspire smiles—or at least smiles through tears—Reynolds wrote:
"The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret."
Reynolds and White only once shared the silver screen together, although White did promos for the 2016 film Deadpool.
The duo appeared together in the 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal, in which she played his mischievous grandmother who fakes a heart attack to get Reynolds' and co-star Sandra Bullock's characters together.
But Reynolds and White were more than just co-workers, it seems.
In the days since her passing, a tongue-in-cheek "behind-the-scenes" clip from the making of The Proposal has gone viral all over again.
The clip, depicting a staged feud between White, Reynolds and Bullock shows White at her foul-mouthed-old-lady best and gives a glimpse into just how much fun the three stars had together while making the film.
The two stars had a playful relationship right up until her death, too.
In her recent People magazine profile celebrating her upcoming 100th birthday, White re-upped a long-running joke between the two about Reynolds being in unrequited love with White.
Reynolds jokingly addressed the feud on Twitter the day before White's passing.
By all accounts, White's relationship was characteristic of White, whom costars and colleagues have unanimously described as just as witty, irreverent, upbeat and kind as she always appeared onscreen.
Fans and friends of the late actress called for a special tribute on White's birthday, January 17, recognizing her lifelong love and advocacy for animals—donations in her name to local rescues and sanctuaries.
On Twitter, people were deeply touched by Reynolds' tribute to our departed legend.
White began her radio career in 1949 and then transitioned to television in the 1950s, where she became the first woman to produce a sitcom with Life With Elizabeth, which she also co-created and starred in.
Sitcoms would become her main milieu for decades thereafter, and she would go on to appear in The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s, The Golden Girls in the 1980s and 1990s, and Hot in Cleveland in the 2010s.
@thekalenallen/Threads
U.S. Mint
