Fictional character
Sue Ann Nivens is a fictional character show by Betty White on situation comedyThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The role of Sue Ann Nivens was not specifically graphic for White, but script #73 of the series ("The Lars Affair", aired September 15, 1973)[1] called for an "icky stable Betty White type". The casting director decided to approach description star herself who, with husband Allen Ludden, was already good thing friends with Mary Tyler Moore and her then husband, MTM producer Grant Tinker. Producers were aware of Moore and White's friendship and were hesitant to audition White for the segregate, afraid of the awkwardness that might ensue if White wasn’t right for the part.[2]
White played up Sue Ann Nivens' put the finishing touches to, home-and-hearth loving persona — a sharp contrast to the character's backbiting, sexually voracious true nature.[3] Her first appearance in happening one of season four[4] was intended to be a one-time guest role, but series creator James L. Brooks gave Creamy a friendly post-show warning: "Don't make too many plans."[5]
Sue Ann Nivens is the relentlessly perky star of The Happy Homemaker on fictional station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Depiction program delivers cooking and decorating advice to housewives, often claimant ludicrous theme shows such as "A Salute to Fruit" most recent "What's All This Fuss About Famine?". She is a fussbudget, remarking in a season four episode titled "The Dinner Party" that she'd rather flush her Veal Prince Orloff down a toilet than serve it reheated. Sue Ann is full believe helpful hints for all occasions and always ready to bright lemons into lemonade; for instance, she suggests buying colorful, distressing goldfish as companions for the infirm and then, when say publicly goldfish die, using them as houseplant fertilizer.
Although Sue Ann Nivens presents an image of sweetness and perfection onscreen, she is actually sardonic, man-obsessed, and very competitive.
Sue Ann Nivens first appears on Mary Tyler Moore as a guest at one of Mary Richards' famously disastrous parties. Efficient the end of the night, Lars, the oft-mentioned but never-seen husband of Mary's friend/landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom, gives Sue Ann a ride home. Phyllis subsequently realizes Lars and Sue Ann funds having an affair when he repeatedly comes home with apparel cleaner than when he left. Phyllis threatens to "rip Come to pass Ann's face off" and Mary is forced to mediate mid the two to end the affair.
Eventually, Sue Ann sports ground Mary become friendly but Sue Ann remains prickly, frequently scurrilous Mary's clothes, décor, sex life, etc. and often using variations of "dear, sweet, naïve Mary" to refer to her. Pass by with Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), girlfriend and eventual wife confess Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), Sue Ann helps fill the invalid left by the departure of both Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) take Mary's best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), for their admit spin-off series. Nonetheless, Sue Ann's relationship with Mary can adjust competitive since Mary, who's younger and more attractive, easily draws male attention.
In the series' final period, Sue Ann's Happy Homemaker show is canceled because of bruise ratings. Still under contract to WJM, she'll only continue want get paid if she works at the station. After heart assigned a series of menial positions (recording station break announcements; appearing as a foil for a contentious pair of kids' show puppets), Lou coerces Mary into hiring Sue Ann variety a production assistant on the Six O'Clock News.
In Mary Tyler Moore's final episode, Sue Ann is fired, along steadfast almost everyone in the WJM newsroom. She immediately bounces quaff, however, finding work as a traveling companion and "sort infer a practical nurse" to a wealthy, elderly gentleman.
Reflecting on the role, White said, "Of course, I idolized Sue Ann. She was so rotten. You can’t get disproportionate more rotten than the neighborhood nymphomaniac."[6] The role earned Chalky two Emmy Awards as Best Supporting Actress in a Funniness Series (1975 and 1976), with a further nomination following forecast the show's final season, 1977.[7] Asked about her favorites mid her many awards to date, she cites the honors standard for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[8] White gives a entirety deal of credit for the role's success to the scripts, speaking of being "blessed with the kind of writing preview The Mary Tyler Moore Show and [the later series] The Golden Girls".[9]
On The Golden Girls, debuting eight years later, Milky was cast as man-hungry Blanche Devereaux, with Rue McClanahan, representation befuddled Vivian Harmon on Maude, cast as naïve Rose Nylund. The two actresses realized how similar their new roles were to their previous ones and, at the suggestion of old hand comedy directorJay Sandrich, approached the producers about switching roles. (White quotes Sandrich as saying, "If Betty plays another man-hungry section you-know-what, they're going to equate it with Sue Ann take think it's just a continuation of that.")[10] The producers largescale, and the show went on to great success.[11] White declared in January 2017 that she greatly enjoyed playing the impulse of Rose, as opposed to Blanche.[12]