The opportunity to draw Betty White for a US postage stamp was a simple “yes” for Boston-based illustrator Dale Stefanos.
“I said yes before they finished the sentence,” he recalls in an interview with Today.com.
White passed away in 2021 at the age of 99. The late actor, currently known for his roles in “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has been recognized for his eternal stamp issued by the US Postal Service since March 27th.
The stamp celebrates White’s decades of entertainment career and her advocacy for animals. This is subtly woven into Stefanos’ design.
Betty White Stamps made particularly meaningful for Stefanos, who has been creating portraits of stores such as Rolling Stone, Mad Magazine, and Sports Illustrations for decades. The illustrator learned that his concept of stamps had been approved a few days before his mother passed away.
The US Post Office issued a new stamp on Thursday commemorating iconic actress and comedian Betty White.
“This is now a very personal work for me,” he says. “I was able to see my son (my mother) do something really cool.”
Stefanos recalls gathering around the TV with his family to watch white on TV. His grandmother was also named Betty, but on her last day he saw the design go viral despite his poor health.
Stefanos recognized the familiar white trademark blend of wit and warmth.
“She reminded me of my mother. She had this real ability to say something. And her jaw fell and people say, ‘Did she really say that?’ “She is one of those people who can escape what many people couldn’t do because she was an older woman and she had that sweet smile.
For the stamp, Stefanos drew inspiration from a white portrait taken by Kwak Alston in 2010. Alston’s photo shows white later in her career.
“It’s just a great photo. It’s a sweet spot for her age,” he says. “I used it as a reference and then tried to change the colour and make it more handmade than in the photo.”
“It’s very difficult to absorb that you’re not here anymore,” actor Henry Winkler said Friday after news of actor Betty White’s death. There are other reactions from Hollywood.
The image of Stefanos is a stylized portrait of white dressed in purple instead of red to reflect a deeper part of the white heritage.
“Purple is the colour of protest. She had such a positive personality. Despite the protest being a form of anger, she never seemed angry,” he says.
Even the earrings he chose for the white were chosen with caution.
Stefanos looked for a subtle way to reflect Betty White’s animal advocacy with stamps after her real estate demanded it was part of the design. One morning, Stefanos noticed his wife’s animal print dress and shiny earrings. He looked down and realized he had drawn a print of his feet and the idea was clicked.
“I say, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I could do print earrings on my feet,” he says.
The small but meaningful details were eventually approved and became part of the final stamp. This can be seen in the white right ear of the portrait.
Stefanos considers the stamps to be “small works of art” that “dress up our communications.”
“When I get something with an interesting stamp, I take a moment, I see it and I appreciate it. I think it’s one of the great things humans understand: how to communicate like this,” he says.
That’s part of why White’s stamps mean so much to him.
“This is the only stamp I will use for the rest of my life,” he says with a laugh. “This makes me feel very uncomfortable.”
When asked what message he would send, his answer is certainly true.
“She was very positive, funny, witty, bright light,” he says. “I think anything you want to send with a kind of positive and happy tone (her stamp) is perfectly appropriate.”
This story first appeared on Today.com. More from today:
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