Betty Furness

Betty Furness (born Elizabeth Mary Furness on January 3, 1916 in Manhattan, New York City) was a multifaceted American public figure whose career spanned Hollywood studios, live television, and consumer‑protection politics. Raised by wealthy businessman George Choate Furness and his wife Florence, she attended the elite Brearley School and Bennett Junior College before entering the entertainment world as a model, a role that led a talent scout to sign her to RKO Pictures in 1932. Although her first screen appearance in Thirteen Women was cut, she quickly became a recognizable face in the studio system, appearing in more than forty films by the end of the 1930s, including the classic Magnificent Obsession (1935) and the Fred Astaire‑Ginger Rogers musical Swing Time (1936). As the 1940s progressed, Furness found fewer acting roles and turned to television, where a live performance on Studio One earned her a contract with Westinghouse Electric; her upbeat, trustworthy presence made her one of the era’s most beloved product spokeswomen, famously delivering the line ‘You can be sure… if it’s Westinghouse.’ Her weekly live spots, her personal wardrobe choices, and her refusal to adopt an “apron” persona helped forge a new model of the modern television commercial, and she eventually commanded a $100 000 annual salary. In the early 1950s she hosted Penthouse Party, served as a panelist on What’s My Line?, and anchored her own syndicated series Meet Betty Furness before a corporate shift ended her Westinghouse contract in 1960. Recognized by two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for motion pictures and one for television—she leveraged her public profile into a career in consumer advocacy, becoming President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs from 1967 to 1969 and later a board member of Consumers Union for more than two decades. Her later work on The Today Show and the Peabody‑winning program Buyline: Betty Furness cemented her legacy as a pioneering voice for consumer rights, until her battle with stomach cancer ended her life on April 2, 1994.