Betty White, TV's Golden Girl, celebrated at stamp ceremony in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Betty White is making her mark on the nation's snail mail.

The beloved actor of “The Golden Girls” fame was celebrated with a new U.S. Postal Service stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday.

Fans that were crowded behind barricades cheered as a blue curtain dropped to reveal the stamp featuring a portrait of White against a violet-colored background with lighter shades of bubbly spots in a nod to her sparkling personality. She wears a blue polka-dot blouse and peeking out of her blond curls is an earring shaped like a pawprint.

“When I was working on the stamp surrounding myself with Betty White videos and pictures, I felt like I was working on a portrait of a family member,” Boston-based artist Dale Stephanos said. “I wanted Betty’s huge personality to take center stage.”

The illustration is based on a photo taken by Kwaku Alston in 2010.

At the celebration, singer-songwriter Ellis Hall performed a snippet of “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the theme song to “The Golden Girls.”

A laughing kookaburra and other squawking birds occasionally interrupted the speakers, which surely would have delighted the animal-loving White.

“Animals were her kids and she loved them all — any shape, size and kind,” said Richard Lichtenstein, a board member of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.

White had worked with the zoo since its opening in 1966 until her death in December 2021, a couple weeks shy of her 100th birthday.

“Who didn’t love Betty White?” Lichtenstein said. “Her smile, her sense of humor, her basic decency. Our country, our city and yes, even our Los Angeles Zoo, would be much better if more people followed her example. Betty White put her stamp on everyone and anyone she came in contact with.”

He said White's financial support and advocacy helped make possible exhibits featuring chimps, gorillas and elephants, among others.

Lichtenstein said White set up a private foundation before her death that funds various zoo programs.

“This zoo, its inhabitants and this community meant so much to Betty White just as she meant so much to all of us,” said Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS board of governors. “Betty White was an American treasure.”

People lined up to purchase panes of 20 forever stamps, pins and notecards before getting first-day cancellations near a churro snack stand while schoolchildren walked by.

“This stamp is special because let’s face it, everybody loves Betty White,” Stephanos said.