There is a clear difference between being famous and infamous.
Betty White is the nation's most trusted public figure, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Americans asked about public figures gave Betty White an 86 percent favorable rating, with 44 percent saying they'd be more likely to buy a product or do business with a company she endorsed.
Those are amazing numbers. Most public relations pros would be happy if 86 percent of the American population simply recognized the name of their client, much less had an opinion about them.
White is riding an unlikely wave of popularity. She's starring in movies, hosting Saturday Night Live and showing up at late night talk shows at the age of 89, long after her TV show Golden Girls ended.
She's funny and edgy without being caustic, and charming enough that she's become something of a sex symbol, with U.S. Marine Sgt. Ray Lewis -- a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan -- making national news by recording this video on Youtube to ask White to the Marine Corps Ball.
The bottom two public figures on the list, the least trusted and popular, are Paris Hilton with a 60 percent unfavorable rating and Charlie Sheen at 52 percent unfavorable.
Nobody else in the bottom 10 cracked 50 percent unfavorable.
The best analogy is in politics, where people running for office often weigh their favorables versus unfavorables as a number.
"Plus 25" would mean their favorable are 25 percent higher than unfavorables -- say, 50 percent of the population liked a politician, 25 percent disliked them and the other 25 percent of the nation didn't know enough to have an opinion or were neutral about the person.
While the Reuter/Ipsos poll included public figures of all types -- actors, singers, political leaders, business leaders, athletes, TV stars -- it's interesting to see who's on the Top 10 list and who's on the Bottom Ten list and why.
Here's the Top Ten list:
1. Betty White (86 percent favorable)
2. Denzel Washington (85 percent)
3. Sandra Bullock (84 percent)
4. Clint Eastwood (83 percent)
5. Tom Hanks (81 percent)
6. Harrison Ford (80 percent tie)
7. Morgan Freeman (79 percent)
7. Kate Middleton (79 percent)
9. Will Smith (77 percent)
10. Johnny Depp (76 percent)
What can we see from this Top Ten list?
Nine out of ten are actors. All nine have had long TV and movie careers, spanning decades.
The only non-actor in the Top Ten list is the newest member of the British royal family, Kate Middleton, who leaped to global fame this year with her wedding to Prince William.