ET spoke with producer Steve Boettcher about White's final days and the upcoming celebration special about her life.
Betty White was truly an actress who adored her fans. The celebrated star, who died on Dec. 31, just a few short weeks ahead of her 100th birthday, recently recorded a video message for her legion of admirers.
ET recently spoke with producer Steve Boettcher, who has been working on the upcoming special Betty White: A Celebration, and he opened up about White's appreciation for those who appreciated her.
"On Dec. 20, she did a short little video for us... it was kind of a tribute to her fans that were going to be with her at the event," Boettcher shared. "It's kind of a shout-out to her fans that she did 10 days before she passed away."
"She looked amazing, she loved getting 'glammed up,' as she calls it, in her hair, makeup, she was just striking and beautiful," Boettcher said of the video White recorded. "She was smiling and really she wanted to thank her fans sincerely, from the bottom of her heart, for all the support over the years."
According to Boettcher -- who had been working with White on the celebration of her life and career -- the beloved actress "was just living her best life, and that's what we want for Betty White."
"I think just that she was happy and the eternal optimist," he shared. "You'll see that in the movie coming out on the 17th of January, that she has this unbelievable look at life and view of life and that it just rains through her entire career and her personal life. [She was] just the eternal optimist."
While the documentary is obviously going to be changing focus a bit from it's original incarnation as a birthday celebration into a tribute to White's incomparable life and career, Boettcher said that it will show fans a side of White that was genuine and personal.
"I think what's fun about the film is that it shows Betty in kind of quiet moments. Betty at home, Betty with a few friends, Betty with animals, and it kind of shows maybe another side of Betty. Off the stage and out of the limelight, but still the Betty we all know and love," he said. "You know, what I think really defines Betty is how genuine she is and I think it's something you can't fake and in a business that's sometimes maybe challenging, she has risen above it all. I think she's genuine with her fans, genuine with cast members, and I think that's really has served her well."
"I think Betty had this feeling, the sense that sometimes movie stars on the big screen are unapproachable, but with Betty, and her career, it happened on the small screen, on the television screen, and she felt she was invited into people's homes every week. Whether it was the Mary Tyler Moore Show or Password or Hot in Cleveland or Golden Girls, she was invited in people's living rooms," Boettcher reflected. "She felt that as a special privilege kind of, like almost your favorite aunt coming over, your favorite grandmother coming over. So I think Betty really embraced that and cherished that relationship."
The five-time Emmy Award-winning actress -- the woman Oprah Winfrey called a "national treasure" and the Guinness World Record holder for “Longest TV Career for an Entertainer (Female) -- died Friday morning at her home in Los Angeles.
Betty White: A Celebration premieres Jan. 17, and features a star-studded cast of White's friends and famous fans, including Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Fans can access tickets to the celebration at fathomevents.com.
For more on White's life and legacy, see the video below.
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