The UNTOLD Story About The Golden Girls | Bea Arthur & Betty White Feud? Who Was Really The Oldest?

[Music] who would have thought a television show about four mature women living in a house together in Miami Florida sharing bills the ups and downs of life and a ton of Cheesecake would become a global pop culture phenomenon but that's exactly what happened when American sitcom The Golden Girls came on the scene in the mid 80s the show created by Susan Harris debuted on NBC on September 14th 1985 it ran for Seven Seasons ending on May 9th 1992 it was produced by wit Thomas Harris Productions in association with Touchstone Television Paul Junger wit Tony Thomas and Susan Harris also all served as original executive producers the idea for the show emerged during the filming of a television special at NBC Studios in Burbank California in the fall of 1984 actresses Doris Roberts and Selma Diamond who starred on the hit NBC shows Remington steel and Night Court respectively made an appearance promoting the Network's slate of programming for potential advertisers the pair ad lived a bit about the upcoming cop show Miami Vice changing the concept of the idea of retirees playing cards together in a Florida retirement community in a show called Miami nice when the spoof impressed the audience the wheels began to turn in the minds of the network exec after meeting with producers Whitten Thomas NBC senior vice president Warren Middlefield asked if they would be interested in delivering a pilot script for Miami knce they were but their writer wasn't wit had the perfect replacement though his wife TV writer producer and creator of ABC sitcom's soap and Benson Susan Harris Littlefield was so impressed when he received her script that he immediately green lit the production the owner of the house was a widow named blanch Deo played by RAC clanahan she was a Southern bell who who worked at an art museum and portrayed as Lusty self-absorbed and obsessed with her looks but also vulnerable and insecure blanch was born into a wealthy family and grew up on a plantation outside of Atlanta Georgia prior to her relocation to Miami where she lived with her husband George until his death their marriage produced five children fellow Widow Rose Nyland played by Betty White and dvor Dorothy's borac played by bar Arthur move in after they both responded to an ad blanch placed looking for roommates on the bullettin board of a local grocery store a year before the start of the series sweet naive Rose was from the small farming town in St Olaf Minnesota she often drove the other ladies crazy with her outlandish stories of life growing up in her hometown she was also happily married to Charlie with whom she had five children Rose moved to Miami upon his death she eventually finds work at a grief counseling center but later switches careers and becomes assistant to a consumer reporter at a local TV station Rue and Betty were ideal choices since they already had an ongoing Rapport after working together on Mama's Family initially producers wanted to cast Rue as Rose and Betty as blanch based on roles they had previously played Betty as man hungry suan nians on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rue as the sweet but scatterbrain Vivien Harmon and Ma eager not to be typ cast they took the suggestion of pilot director Jay sandrich and switched roles 80-year-old Widow Sophia Petrillo played by Estelle Getty was born in Sicily Italy and moved to New York City after fleeing an arranged marriage she ultimately married Salvador Sal Petrillo with whom she had three children she was a straight talker very wise and a great cook initially a resident of the Shady Pines Retirement Home after having had a stroke prior to the start of the series she ends up moving in with blanch Rose and her daughter Dorothy in the pilot episode following a fire at the institution Estelle audition for and won the role due in part to the Rave review she garnered in her off Bradway role repr risal for the 1984 Los Angeles run of torch song Trilogy Dorothy was a substitute teacher from Brooklyn New York born to Sicilian immigrants she became pregnant while still in high school resulting in a shotgun wedding to ex-husband Stanley sporck played by her bedlan their Union produced two children Dorothy was acid tonged short-tempered and practical though Harris had created the character of Dorothy with a B Arthur type in mind Broadway Legend Elaine strich ended up being the strongest Contender for the part that option quickly went out the window though after she alienated The Producers by improvising her dialogue and dropping an F bomb during her audition even though she was under the impression that bee didn't want to participate Harris asked Rue if she could persuade her with whom she worked previously on mod to take the role it turned out that the reason be wasn't interested was because she didn't want to be a part of a mod and Vivien meet Su and Nan's situation after Ru explained that she was going to play blanch and Betty was going to play Rose Bee's interest was finally peaked she read the script loved it and signed on becoming the last main character cast at the time of the Airing of the pilot Rue was 51 be was 63 Betty was also 63 and Estelle was 62 also in that first episode a gay housekeeper named Coco played by Charles Levan was featured but the role was dropped before the second episode there was no need for the character after producers realized that some of the strongest scenes were when the four women were interacting with one another around the kitchen table and introducing someone else into the mix would disrupt that the Golden Girls shot in front of a live studio audience was a ratings hit right from the start becoming a staple for the network on Saturday nights during its original run the show received 11 Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe awards all the lead actresses won individual emms for their performances on the show after the completion of season 5 some uncertainty arose over whether be would commit to Future Seasons or leave the show Once her contract expired to pursue other projects she felt the characters had been in every possible scenario and wanted to end the series while it was still successful we did we did extraordinary work on Golden Girls and so after seven years I had signed for the for the last two years I thought it really is time to leave it it we've done it we've done it we can't we can't top this and um I know I did the right thing in the hourong series finale watched by 27.2 million viewers Dorothy Mary's blanches Uncle Lucas played by lesie neelen and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta now here are some fun facts about The Golden Girls the theme song Thank you for being a friend was originally written and recorded by Andrew gold appearing on his 1978 album all this in Heaven Too the version used for the show however is sung by Cynthia fee thank you for being a friend travel down the road and back again your heart is true you're a p and a confident Estelle didn't become an actress until she was in her 50s even though she played an 80-year-old on the show she was actually one year younger than be when the show was originally pitched the character of Sophia was meant to be merely an occasional guest star the producers underestimated the appeal of Estelle though Sophia ended up being so popular or as they say in Hollywood she tested strongly with preview audiences that the producers quickly made her a regular character getting into character to play Sophia was no small feat Estelle spent hours transforming into her including putting on heavy makeup thick glasses and a white wig she continuously battled stage fry during her tenure on the show at times she even froze on camera while filming the problem which affected her from the very beginning grew worse as the show went on according to Rue by the end of season 3 Estelle's anxiety had become a serious problem and she had increasing trouble memorizing her lines eventually Q cards were introduced to help her a British Golden Girl by the name of Queen Elizabeth was a huge fan of the show so much so that in 1988 the cast was invited across the pond to perform at the London Palladium in a variety show attended by the Royals while all the ladies worked well together and shared a mutual respect both Betty and Rue have both talked about not having the warmest relationship with bee in 2011 Betty stated that she believed it was her positive attitude and perky demeanor that got on Bee's nerves despite this the two who live near each other in La would sometimes commute together and Rue even said that bee wouldn't go to lunch with her unless Betty was there rumor has it that their different acting philosophies as well as bee possibly resenting Betty for being first of the group to win the Emmy for Outstanding lead actress were the main contributing fact factors for why she related to Betty the way she did Rue has been quoted as saying that she and Bee didn't have a lot of relationship going on and that bee was a very Ecentric Woman Betty and Rue on the other hand did develop a very close Bond blanche's accent was originally meant to be very different while filming the pilot the director told her not to use a strong southern accent but to use her natural Oklahoma accent instead but once the show was picked up and a new director came on board he insisted that she did use a Southern accent but believing it would be much more appropriate for the character blanche's Miami home was actually in another city in another state even though the girl's official address was 6151 Richmond Street in Miami Florida the original exterior shots of the house were of a home located at 245 North salair Avenue in Los Angeles California the show was responsible for introducing a new word to non- Floridian viewers laai architecturally speaking a Lai is a porch or Veranda with a cement floor and an in and is sometimes also enclosed by screens since the word originates from Hawaii it's also a very common element in Hawaiian homes and buildings the Walt Disney Company NBC and the creators of The Golden Girls were named in a $5 million copyright infringement suit in 1986 filed by Nancy brasfield claiming the show was based on a script she wrote that was rejected by the network in 1980 the suit was later settled after a couple of Seasons had passed be expressed her growing dissatisfaction with the disparaging jokes made about her physical appearance which were often in the scripts okay girls which goes better the silver chain or the pearls the chain an amateur's mistake can't you see that the chain accentuates the many folds of that turkey like [Applause] neck well that may be but the pearls draw attention to the non-existent bosom Debbie Reynolds was brought on as a guest star in the sixth season to test her chemistry with the other actresses as a possible replacement for bee but producers decided that nobody could replicate the chemistry of the four original actresses much of Bee's wardrobe was customade because at the time finding off the rat clothing that was flattering for a taller woman was difficult Rue had a special written Clause into her contract allowing her to keep all of blanche's custommade clothing while there were four Golden Girls their kitchen table only had three chairs why well according to director Terry Hughes there was a technical reason for that if all four were there somebody would ultimately end up with their back to the camera when the moment arose for all of the women to be at the table Sophia would often pull up a stool he also revealed that there was even a strategy with which chair they sat in Dorothy always in the middle and Rose and blanch would switch sides depending on who had to leave the room the quickest while the lady's obsession with cheesecake was on full display play on screen in real life be actually hated the dessert one particular scene in the season 3 episode titled mixed blessings in which Dorothy's son Michael played by Scott jacobe announced he was going to marry a black woman Lorraine played by Rosalyn cash stirred up some major controversy blanch and Rose walk out of the kitchen wearing mud masks and Rose says this is mud on our faces we're not really black as a result Hulu pulled the episode in 2020 due to blackface concerns but as an article in vulture later pointed out this was not an example of the practice of non-black performers using dark makeup to portray a caricature of black people they were just using a skincare product as of 2023 the episode is back on the streaming service Susan Harris was also behind two Golden Girl spin-offs empty nest and the Golden Palace the initial pilot for empty nest was aired in a 1987 Golden Girls episode and starred Paul douly and Rita Moreno as George and Renee corus a married couple living next to the Golden Girls characters who face Mt Ness syndrome after their teenage daughter goes to college when that idea wasn't well received Harris retooled the series as a vehicle for Richard Mulligan and the following year emptiness debuted starring him as pediatrician Harry Weston a widower whose two adult daughters moved back home it became a hit airing for seven seasons for the Golden Palace Betty Rue and Estelle reprise their Golden Girls character blanch sells her house and her Rose and Sophia decide to buy and run a hotel in downtown Miami while bee wasn't a part of the main cast she did guest star in a double episode reprising her role as Dorothy probably due to not featuring all four main characters from The Golden Girls The Golden Palace never approached the popularity or Acclaim of the original airing for just one season from September 1992 to May 1993 after the Golden Girls went off the air Estelle continued working in television and film film before officially retiring from acting in the late '90s she passed away on July 22nd 2008 from Louis body dementia she was 84 years old be guest starred in a number of TV series like Malcolm in the Middle then in 2002 she returned to her first love the theater she developed a onew woman show called be Arthur on Broadway Just Between Friends her performance garnered her critical Acclaim and a Tony Award nomination she passed away after a battle with lung cancer on April 25th 2009 at her home in Brentwood Los Angeles she was 86 years old ruse starred in various TV movies and plays in 1997 she was diagnosed with breast cancer for which she was treated successfully she passed away June 3rd 2010 at New York Presbyterian Hospital after she suffered a brain hemorrhage she was 76 years old Betty continued working mainly in TV on numerous shows of which the biggest standout was the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland for six seasons she also authored several books on December 25th 2021 she suffered a stroke 6 days later Betty died in her sleep at her home in brenwood she was the last Golden Girl to pass away at the age of 99 every episode of The Golden Girls was made available to stream on Hulu in 2017 buen a Vista Home Entertainment has released all seven seasons with edits of the series on DVD in North America and several other countries around the world [Music]

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Id: EYFRyOsvGOE

Length: 15min 41sec (941 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2023