Latest news with #Stephanos
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Betty White forever stamp is now available: What to know
The U.S. Postal Service hosted a ceremony to celebrate the release of the new Betty White Forever stamp at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens Thursday. First announced in February, the new Betty White stamps are now available at USPS locations and online in panes of 20 for $14.60, as the current price of a Forever stamp is $0.73. If the price of Forever stamps go up in the future, the stamps won't expire and will be equal in value to the current price of a 1-ounce piece of first-class mail. Fans of the late "Golden Girls" star and Dale Stephanos, the artist behind the stamp, gathered along with zoo and community members in an event emceed by Danny Romero, a meteorologist at ABC News' Los Angeles station KABC. "I wanted Betty's huge personality to take center stage," Stephanos said at the ceremony. USPS to honor Betty White in new Forever stamp Stephanos recounted how he came to depict White, who sports blonde curls, paw-print earrings and a purple polka-dotted blouse against a violet-colored background in the new stamp. "I was absentmindedly drawing instead of eating my eggs and looking back down at the mess I had been making in my sketchbook. I saw that at some point, I had drawn a paw print," Stephanos recalled. "I had a bit of a eureka moment and thought, 'What if I just give Betty an earring that's in the shape of a paw print?'" What is the 'Betty White Challenge'? How fans are honoring the actress' love of animals Known as the "First Lady of Television," White was a passionate animal lover and advocate in addition to being a celebrated actress and entertainer. She served on the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's board of trustees as co-chair and was a donor to the zoo as well. White died of natural causes on Dec. 31, 2021, at the age of 99, just 17 days before her 100th birthday. Betty White forever stamp is now available: What to know originally appeared on
NBC News
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Betty White's new stamp has hidden details — and a story full of heart
The chance to draw Betty White for a U.S. postage stamp was an easy 'yes' for Boston-based illustrator Dale Stephanos. "I said 'yes' before they finished the sentence," he recalls in an interview with White died in 2021 at the age of 99. Now, the late actor, known for her roles in "The Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," is being honored with a Forever Stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service starting March 27. The stamp celebrates White's decades-long entertainment career and her advocacy for animals, an element subtly woven into Stephanos's design. For Stephanos, who has spent decades creating portraits for outlets like Rolling Stone, Mad Magazine, and Sports Illustrated, the Betty White stamp was particularly meaningful. The illustrator learned his conception for the stamp had been approved just days before his mother died. "This is now a very, very personal piece for me," he says. "[My mother] got to see her son do something really cool." Stephanos recalls gathering around a television with his family to watch White on TV. His grandmother had also been named Betty, and in her final days, his mother, despite being in poor health, saw the design go viral. Stephanos recognized something familiar in White's trademark blend of wit and warmth — qualities that reminded him of home. "She reminded me of my mother. She had this real ability to say something, and then jaws would drop, and people would be like, 'Did she really just say that?'" he says. "She's one of those people who could get away with things that a lot of people couldn't because she was an older lady, and she had that sweet smile, and it's delivery — it was never mean. It was never mean. It was always good humor, even when she was roasting somebody." For the stamp, Stephanos drew inspiration from a portrait of White taken by Kwaku Alston in 2010. Alston's photograph shows White in the later part of her career, wearing red, eyes bright with her signature spark. "It's just a great photo — a sweet spot in her older years," he says. "I just kind of used that as reference and then kind of changed the colors and tried to make it more handmade than a photo would be." Stephanos' image is a stylized portrait of White dressed in purple instead of red to reflect a deeper part of White's legacy. "Purple is the color of protest. She had such a positive personality. She never seemed angry, even though protest is a form of anger,' he says. Even the earring he chose for White was selected with care. Stephanos sought a subtle way to reflect Betty White's animal advocacy in the stamp after her estate requested it be part of the design. One morning, Stephanos noticed his wife's animal-print dress and shiny earrings. He looked down and realized he had drawn a paw print, and an idea clicked. "I was like, 'Oh, wait a minute. We could just do a paw print earring,'" he says. The small but meaningful detail was ultimately approved and became part of the final stamp, which can be seen on White's right ear in the portrait. Stephanos thinks of stamps as "little pieces of art" that "dress up our correspondence." "I know when I get something with an interesting stamp, I take a second, I look at it and appreciate it. I think it's one of the great things that humans have figured out: a way to communicate in this way," he says. It's part of why White's stamp means so much to him. "This is the only stamp I'm going to use for the rest of my life," he says with a laugh. "I'm going to be so obnoxious with this." When asked what kind of message he'd send with it, his answer is certain. "She was such a positive, funny, witty, bright light," he says. "I think anything that you want to send with a kind of a positive, happy tone (her stamp) would totally be appropriate."
