Star of the stage and screens big and small, actress Estelle Getty passed away today in Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 84 after battling Lewy body dementia for almost nine years.
Even if you’ve never seen an episode of The Golden Girls, you’re aware of them and most people know character Sophia Petrillo, the funny, wise-cracking, and brilliant character that Getty created. Even though she played the eldest character, she was actually younger than two of the other three ladies, including Bea Arthur, who played her daughter.
Aside from being an Emmy-winning actress for The Golden Girls, Getty was also in some very well-known movies like Tootsie, Mannequin (total nostalgia movie for me), and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot with Sylvester Stallone. But for the most part, she was born to play the mother character and she did it perfectly.
She once said:
“I’ve played mothers to heroes and mothers to zeroes, I’ve played Irish mothers, Jewish mothers, Italian mothers, Southern mothers, New England mothers, mothers in plays by Neil Simon and Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. I’ve played mother to everyone but Attila the Hun.”
Two of her Golden Girls co-stars made small statements as well.
Bea Arthur:
Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her.
Betty White:
The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us.
Estelle Getty 1923-2008
[Source: LA Times]
From 12-5PM (ET/PT), Lifetime will air 10 episodes showcasing “Sophia” in all her blustering, sarcastic splendor, beginning with the show’s pilot. The last episode at 4:30PM (ET/PT) will be the #1 favorite “Sophia episode” as decided through a vote of her legion of devoted fans at myLifetime.com. “The Golden Girls” premiered on Lifetime in 1997. The series airs weekdays from 9-10AM, 4-5PM and 1-2AM, all ET/PT.
