Betty White rejected a Jack Nicholson song because of an annoying scene

If you would like to work with The great Betty White At any point during her extraordinary 70-plus year career, your best bet would have been to offer her a TV gig. Starting with the talk show “Hollywood on Television” in 1949, White made the small screen, American living rooms and her home with sitcoms, game shows and appearances on late-night shows such as “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” White was a delightful presence with killer comedic timing, and her secret weapon was that enigmatic persona that was often filled with a surprisingly acerbic wit. She never knew what was going to come out of White’s mouth, and that’s what made her one of the unlikely stars of the medium (despite having It was once a toxic poison to the “bones.”).

That’s not to say White didn’t make films. Her first film appearance did not come until 1962, when she played a U.S. senator from Kansas in Otto Preminger’s brilliant film Advice and Consent. She did not return to films on screen until the 1998 action film Hard Rain, at which point she began working frequently in films, usually in small supporting roles.

Interestingly, there was an offer on the table for her to make an early return to films in a high-profile Jack Nicholson comedy, but she turned it down for one rather hairy reason.

During one of her many appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, White revealed that she had been offered a role in the Oscar-winning film. James L. Brooks’ film “The Best It Gets.” This would have brought her back to the movies two years before “Hard Rain,” but it wasn’t because White objected to the script’s racy gag. As White told Leno, “They had this wonderful dog, but in one scene, the guy came down the hall and put the dog in the garbage chute.”

What is White’s specific problem with this joke? “Of course you land on some pillows and that’s okay,” she said. “But I didn’t want to set that example, because you never know what kind of crazy person or kid is going to see it and think I can do it. The director said: ‘The dog’s fine, the dog’s fine!’. But I said: ” ‘I just can’t do it.’ that.”

White admitted that she may have made a career mistake by turning down a hit song, but she had no regrets. This should come as no surprise since White has been a well-known advocate for the Los Angeles Zoo and the American Humane Society. Even a seemingly innocuous bit like the garbage chute scene in “As Good as It Gets” was a no-no for White.