Maine was the setting of Betty White’s legendary love story

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Betty White fell in love with game show host Allen Ludden while performing at the Lakewood Theater in Madison in 1962.

MADISON, Maine — Betty White had a career in Hollywood that spanned decades, but she considered her marriage to Allen Ludden among her greatest accomplishments.

In a 2011 interview with Anderson Cooper, when asked why she never remarried after Ludden died of cancer in 1981, White responded, “I had the love of my life. If you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”

White, who would have turned 100 years old on Monday, was married to the game show host and actor for 18 years. But it would take the widower a year to convince her to marry him — a year White would later describe as the biggest regret of her life. In 2015 she said, “I spent a whole year—wasted a whole year—that Allen and I could have had together, saying, ‘No, I wouldn’t marry him.’”

The pair met in 1961 on Ludden’s game show “Password,” shortly after his first wife died of cancer. According to Jenny Oby, the author of “Lakewood Theatre,” Ludden was looking to make plans the following summer that would be fun for his three children. That’s when he decided to do summer theatre that would take him to Cape Cod, Mass., and then to the Lakewood Theater in Madison, which is right outside of Skowhegan.

“It is the oldest continuously running summer theater in the country,” Oby said of the theater, which opened its doors in 1901 and only shut down for two years during World War II.

White and Ludden played opposite each other as a married couple in “Critic’s Choice.” The actors lived for three weeks in cabins close to one another at the picturesque theater on the Wesserunsett Lake.

“Betty described it as being so quiet and peaceful, and they were the only ones around enjoying boating and swimming and hiking. And then at night, all these people would come out of nowhere to fill the theater seats,” Oby said.

In Madison, White got to know Ludden and his children better, but she was also dating a man named Phillip Cochran, who was an officer in the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Army Air Forces. One night, Cochran came to see his girlfriend perform. According to Oby, Ludden knew Cochran was in the audience and drew out a romantic scene with White at the end of the play. Cochran could be heard clearing his throat in the crowd.

When the summer was over, Ludden flew to Los Angeles often to pursue White. White had been married twice before, both short-lived marriages, and she was not eager to dive back into the institution. White declined Ludden’s many marriage proposals.

“At one point (Ludden) even bought her a wedding ring and pushed it across the table at dinner and said, ‘You might as well take this now because one day you are going to put it on,’” Oby said.

White declined, and Ludden put the ring on a necklace he wore until she finally consented.

The couple were wed in Las Vegas on June 14, 1963, and considered their summer trip back to the Lakewood Theater their honeymoon. The couple would perform one more time at Lakewood Theater in 1968.

White and Ludden were only married for 18 years when Ludden died of stomach cancer. Maine played a small part in what was by all measure a legendary love story.

#TBT: Betty White’s beloved husband, Allen Ludden, had Texas roots

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Corpus Christi has turned out its share of celebrities, but one personality who doesn’t get mentioned often is actor and game show royalty Allen Ludden. The younger audiences, however, will recognize the name as Betty White’s beloved husband.

Though born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, Ludden spent his adolescence in Corpus Christi. He moved to the city with his parents, Homer and Leila Ludden, and brother, Frank, in the early 1930s when he was 14 years old. He got his first tastes of theater when he performed in the senior play at Corpus Christi High School, where he also served as the business manager of the student newspaper, La Gaviota. He graduated from CCHS (now Miller High School) in 1934 and worked in sales briefly at the Jack Bonner Co. and both Lichtenstein’s and Perkins department stores before heading off to college.

More: #TBT: Learn some facts about Farrah Fawcett’s Corpus Christi roots

Ludden attended Sul Ross Teachers College before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin and earning a bachelor’s and then master’s degree in English. He worked as both a high school and college English instructor before briefly returning to Corpus Christi, working at radio station KEYS before enlisting in the Army in 1942. In October 1943, Ludden married Margaret McGloin, a native of Corpus Christi. (Her father, Gilbert McGloin, was the postmaster and killed by his assistant in a murder-suicide inside the federal building in 1939. Ameta McGloin, Gilbert’s wife and Margaret’s mother, was appointed the postmaster and served until her retirement in 1963.)

Ludden rose to the rank of captain, and during his service he worked with Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, producing entertainment for the troops. Ludden ended up producing and directing more than 40 shows during that time, eventually replacing Evans as the head of shows for the Pacific theater. After Ludden’s discharge, he worked as Evans’ manager ahead of a national tour of “Hamlet,” then took a job in broadcasting in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Allen and Margaret, with their three children, eventually moved to New York in 1953 where Ludden served as the moderator for the radio show “College Bowl.” Six years later, it became a television show and moved to CBS, keeping Ludden as the moderator. National audiences enjoyed Ludden’s easy manner, and in 1961, he landed the job that cemented the spotlight: host of the new game show “Password.”

UPPER LEFT: Betty White (far left) and Allen Ludden (far right) stand with Ludden’s parents, Homer and Leila Ludden (center), during a visit in California in June 1971. UPPER RIGHT: Allen Ludden and Betty White sit down for an interview with the Caller-Times in April 1975. BOTTOM: Allen Ludden (center) rehearses the second act of “Critic’s Choice” with Clarice Wallock (left) and Joan Spradley (right) at the Harbor Playhouse in Corpus Christi in early September 1980. Ludden had to drop out of the play at the last minute due to health problems.

Sadly, the early October premiere of the show coincided with Margaret’s death from cancer on Oct. 30.

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Ludden became a household name with the popularity of the daytime game show, but kept performing in summer stock theater, a passion left over from his earlier days (he served as the director of the Austin Little Theatre after college). In 1962, Ludden performed opposite actress Betty White in a performance of “Critic’s Choice.”

The two had previously known each other through White’s appearances on “Password,” but in interviews, both credited the appearance in “Critic’s Choice” as the moment they fell in love. The couple married in June 1963.

Ludden continued to come back to Corpus Christi to visit, and several times performed at charity functions. One such time was in June 1964, when Ludden moderated a Corpus Christi version of “Password” at Del Mar College as a benefit for the Corpus Christi Museum, and appeared in a local telethon benefiting cerebral palsy research.

On another visit in April 1975, White accompanied Ludden and both sat for an interview with the Caller-Times. White talked of her work on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as Sue Ann Nivens, for which she had just received an Emmy nomination for best supporting character (she won).

“I’m having such a good time working with dear friends in that role,” White told reporter Norma Sosa. White mentioned she based the performance on women she’d known who are “just like that,” perky and sweet on the surface and back-biting man-chasers behind the scenes.

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“The only difference between Betty and Sue Ann is Sue Ann can cook,” joked Ludden.

“Oh stop, Allen, I’m a perfectly nice person,” White retorted in a perfect imitation of her Happy Homemaker character.

Then in 1980, local theatergoers got a thrill when Harbor Playhouse announced Ludden would star in a local production of “Critic’s Choice” as a fundraiser for the Gulf Coast Humane Society. He would play the lead, Parker Ballantine, which he described as “his favorite role” in a Caller-Times interview because he and White had connected during that 1962 production.

“It was a direct result of (the performance) that summer,” Ludden recalled, “that I married Betty White.” Though the two stopped appearing in the same productions after a few years, Ludden continued performing the role in different summer stock productions for years.

But the performance wasn’t meant to be. Ludden underwent surgery unexpectedly in late April, and the performance was delayed until September. When September arrived, Ludden again had to back out at the last minute due to illness. Though he cited an ongoing back problem, what most of the world didn’t know was Ludden had been diagnosed with stomach cancer the previous year.

In October, news came out Ludden had suffered a massive stroke while on vacation and slipped into a coma (according to recent biographies, he didn’t have a stroke but instead had experienced severe complications from chemotherapy). He eventually emerged from the coma and seemed to be on the mend. But in May 1981 he was back in the hospital, his cancer diagnosis public now. Ludden died June 9, 1981, and was buried in his family’s plot in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

But Ludden didn’t forget his roots. In his will, he left $5,000 to Harbor Playhouse.

“Allen believed Harbor Playhouse was doing some wonderful things,” White told Caller-Times reporter Eleanor Mortenson following the reading of the will. “He was so sorry he had to back out.”

Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history. Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe

More: Betty White donated for years to this Texas animal sanctuary. Meet her namesake baby donkey.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Betty White’s beloved husband, Allen Ludden, had Corpus Christi roots

An Unrivaled TV Queen: See Betty White’s Most Iconic Television Roles Through the Years

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White joined host Steve Harvey on a special episode of this talent show for seniors that reunited her with tap dancer Arthur Duncan, whom she’d featured on The Betty White Show nearly 60 years prior.

“I was on the show, and they had some letters out of Mississippi and elsewhere that some of the stations would not carry the show if I was permitted to stay on there,” Duncan explained of his stint on White’s show. “Well, Betty wrote back and said, ‘Needless to say, we used Arthur Duncan every opportunity we could.’ "

That letter helped Duncan keep his television tenure and would launch his career, allowing him to become the first Black regular on a variety show when he was hired on The Lawrence Welk Show.

For years, bar patrons bought beers for Betty White hoping she’d come claim them. The funds are now going to animal charity.

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While Zupke still wishes White could have stopped by for a hug and a cold beer, he believes the way in which the people of Mineral Point and beyond have come together to honor her is perhaps even more meaningful. He likes to call the town “Betty White’s adoptive home,” whether it’s an exaggeration or not.

Betty White’s death caused by stroke suffered 6 days earlier

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Betty White died from a stroke she had six days before her Dec. 31 death at age 99, according to her death certificate

LOS ANGELES – Betty White died from a stroke she had six days before her Dec. 31 death at age 99, according to her death certificate.

The beloved “Golden Girls” and “Mary Tyler Moore Show” actor died at her home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles as the result of a Dec. 25 cerebrovascular accident, the medical term for a stroke, according to the LA County death certificate obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The cause was provided by White’s doctor, as is typical in such cases.

She was cremated and her remains were given Friday to Glenn Kaplan, the man in charge of White’s advanced health care directive.

Jeff Witjas, White’s longtime agent and friend, who first confirmed her death to the AP, said she had been staying close to her Los Angeles home during the pandemic.

The document lists White’s legal name of Betty Marion Ludden. She took the last name of her husband Allen Ludden, to whom she was married from 1963 until his death in 1981.

The information from the death certificate was first reported by TMZ.

White, whose comic chops and up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years who was celebrated by several generations of fans, died less than three weeks before her 100th birthday.

President Joe Biden, Mel Brooks, and many other celebrities and prominent leaders paid tribute to her after her death.