Actress/Media Personality/Consumer Reporter. 1953 Meet Betty Furness 1954-55 The Best of Broadway (host, spokesperson) 1974-90 Today Show. Elizabeth Mary 'Betty' Furness was born in New York City. In 1953 she appeared in her own daytime television series Meet Betty Furness.
Betty Furness. Elizabeth Mary . Furness made her stage debut in the school holidays in the title role of Alice in Wonderland. She also posed for commercial advertising. She began her professional career as a model before being noticed by a talent scout and being signed to a film contract in 1. RKO Studios. Her first film role was as the . Among her film successes were Magnificent Obsession (1. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Swing Time (1. By the end of the decade she had appeared in over forty films, but during the 1. In 1. 94. 8 Furness was performing in the television series Studio One, which was broadcast live. She filled in for an actor to promote Westinghouse products during the advertisement break, and impressed the company with her easy and professional manner. They offered her a contract to promote their products and she subsequently became closely associated with them. One of television's most recognizable series of commercials had Furness opening wide a refrigerator door, intoning, . This actually did not happen to Furness, as has often been claimed, but to another actress (June Graham), who was substituting for her. Furness was a regular panelist on What's My Line? She appeared in a series of live mysteries on ABC Television, under the weighty title Your Kaiser Dealer Presents Kaiser- Frazer . The series was produced by the Du. Mont Television Network and ran on Du. Mont under the title News Gal. In 1. 95. 3 she appeared in her own daytime television series Meet Betty Furness, which was sponsored by Westinghouse; she remained a spokesperson for the company until 1. She then attempted to move into a less commercialized role in television but found herself too closely associated with advertising to be taken seriously. During this time she worked on radio, and also on behalf of the Democratic Party. Furness has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution Motion Pictures, and to Television. In 1. 96. 7 President Lyndon B. Johnson, aware of her work for the Democrats, contacted Furness and offered her the position of Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs. She accepted the assignment and continued in this role until the end of the Johnson administration in 1. During her tenure she silenced her critics by applying herself studiously to her role and learning the issues relating to consumer rights. She headed the Consumer Affairs Departments of New York City from the late 1. From 1. 96. 9 until 1. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. She was appointed by then- Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller in August 1. New York State Consumer Protection Board, and served in the position until July 1. Signed by WNBC in New York, Furness reported on consumer issues, and specifically targeted examples of consumer fraud. In 1. 97. 6 she began an association with The Today. Show filling in as anchor following the departure of Barbara Walters and providing regular reports. In 1. 97. 7 her program Buyline: Betty Furness won the Peabody Award. Furness married four times. Her first marriage was to composer- conductor Johnny Green in 1. After her divorce from Green in 1. Hugh . Her second marriage to him lasted until his death in 1. She married again in 1. Leslie Midgley, who survived her. Her granddaughter is Liza Snyder, from the CBS Television series Yes, Dear. In 1. 99. 0 Furness was diagnosed with cancer. She continued working for The Today Show until she was released from her contract in 1. Her dismissal was widely publicized and controversial and was viewed by many of Furness' supporters as ageism. Furness expressed her philosophy of never declining a job, and she believed it be the reason that she progressed through such an unconventional series of professions. During her illness she stated that she wanted nothing more than to be able to work, and, (consumer reporter to the end), once mentioned in an interview that, as far as her cancer went.
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