Betty White is not only everyone’s favorite Golden Girl, she also starred in the Hallmark movie The Lost Valentine. The film, which premiered in 2011, also featured Jennifer Love Hewitt. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie became an instant classic and garnered Betty White a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.
Betty White
In The Lost Valentine, Betty White played Caroline Thomas, a woman whose husband was declared missing in action during World War II. Every year, she returns to the train station where she bid her husband farewell on Valentine’s Day in 1943. Jennifer Love Hewitt portrayed Susan Allison, a young journalist assigned to profile Caroline for the local news station.
Before she can even begin reporting the piece, Susan clashes with Caroline’s grandson Lucas (played by Sean Faris). When Lucas overhears Susan describing the story as a “fluff” piece, he becomes incensed. His grandmother’s devotion to her husband after all these years is an important story to tell, he insists to Susan.
Though she doesn’t tell Lucas, Susan doesn’t believe in true love, which is why she thinks the profile is unimportant.
The Lost Valentine
Susan soon becomes intrigued by Caroline and her story. Caroline describes how difficult life was during the war, and how everyone in the neighborhood dreaded a visit from Western Union as the telegrams were usually messages letting them know that a beloved son, father, or husband had been killed.
But when Caroline received a telegram, it was to tell her that her husband was missing in action. She decided that she would not give up hope that he was still alive.
Susan pulls some strings to have a friend in the military locate the man who last saw Caroline’s husband alive. He tells her that her husband died a hero, taking a bullet from the enemy while protecting a little boy.
Caroline finally lays her husband to rest. Though she is sad, she is cheered by the fact that Susan and her grandson seem to have found love with each other.
Hallmark movie
The movie was based on the novel by James Michael Pratt, which became a New York Times bestseller when it was released in 1988.
The Screen Actors Guild nominated White for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
