Did you notice that Dorothy never wore any kind of heeled shoes? Aside from the fact that Dorothy was already much taller than the rest of the cast at a towering almost 5' 10'', there's a secondary reason that she never wore heels: actress Bea Arthur couldn't walk in them!
Actress Bea Arthur (Dorothy Zbornak) was always given the middle chair because of her height, and it was also the perfect spot for the camera to catch her unique face expressions.
It was her [Getty's] idea that Sophia would always carry a purse because, she said, older women are forced to shed so many possessions in their later years that everything they own ends up in their purses. “Nobody puts down their life very easily,” she explained in a 1992 interview with Newsday.
To hear her tell it, Maude's style was born the day she showed up for “All in the Family” (the show from which “Maude” was spun off), wearing “pants and a long jacket and a scarf. And they said, 'That's an interesting look! ' and kept it.” Since then, Arthur's relied on the kindness of designers.
Bea Arthur wasn't the only difficult cast member of "Golden Girls" -- Estelle Getty was often anxious before tapings because she had stage fright. McClanahan said in the below interview that Getty had such severe stage fright that she constantly forgot her lines.
Why did Dorothy always wear boots on Golden Girls?
Aside from the fact that Dorothy was already much taller than the rest of the cast at a towering almost 5' 10'', there's a secondary reason that she never wore heels: actress Bea Arthur couldn't walk in them! Reportedly, she refrained from wearing heels when she was younger to avoid being taller than all of her dates.
"Our set was a happy one." Yet the story of a feud between Arthur and White—who as Rose was the object of some of Dorothy's most caustic barbs and hilarious glares into the distance—persists. "I love both Bea and Betty and got a huge kick out of each of them," McClanahan wrote in her book.
Though the series premiered 43 years ago, “Maude” is surprisingly fresh and relevant. The comedy tackled such taboo sitcom subjects as mental illness — Maude was diagnosed as bipolar — alcoholism and racism.
Sophia, Dorothy's straight-talking mother, was the oldest character in the Golden Girls' house. In a flashback scene in the Season 2 episode “A Piece of Cake,” it's revealed that Sophia celebrated her 50th birthday in April 1956, meaning her character was 79 years old when the series began in 1985.
While Blanche Devereaux, portrayed by Rue McClanahan, never explicitly states her age throughout the series, she is the youngest Golden Girl. According to the season three episode "Mother's Day," it is revealed Blanche was 17 years old in 1949. So, in 1985 when the series began, Blanche was around 53 years old.
In 1985, the role heavily influenced Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions to cast Getty for the role of Sophia Petrillo on NBC's new sitcom, The Golden Girls. Getty relied on wigs, clothing, and heavy makeup to age herself to look the part of a mother in her 80s.
The fact that people think Betty White improvised The Great Herring War while Bea and Rue corpsed (they were acting) is a testament to the strength of the writing and performances on The Golden Girls. Everything in that scene was written, blocked, and rehearsed.
Cheesecake is one of the items most associated with The Golden Girls. A rich, baked dessert, the girls often turn to it in times of strong emotion, eating the cheesecake and supporting each other through hard times.
Whispers of the off-camera rift between Arthur, McClanahan and White have long been floating around, with McClanahan, who died in 2010 at 76 from a cerebral hemorrhage, also admitting that Arthur was known to call White the C-word.
I watched "The Golden Girls: Ageless" for the first time a couple days ago and I learned about Bea Arthur really disliking Betty White. Bea would even refer to Betty as the c word.
It's been reported over the years that there was tension between the two when they worked together, and a just-released book makes a new claim about why. Apparently, Arthur didn't approve how White treated one of their co-stars in front of the Golden Girls studio audience and called her a vulgar name because of it.
Cheesecake was practically the fifth roommate on The Golden Girls, but not all of the actors were fans of the creamy treat. Turns out, Bea Arthur detested the dessert, according to IMDB.
Dorothy was regarded to be in her mid-50s in the first season of The Golden Girls (Bea Arthur was 63 when the show began). In the show's final season in 1992, Dorothy's age is stated as 62 (Bea Arthur was 70 at the time). Dorothy was called "Pussycat" by her mother and "Spumoni Face" by her father.
While White's lovable character, Rose, is revealed to be 55 in Season 1, Episode 22, when Dorothy reveals her age. In real life, the actresses were older than the characters they played, one reason why fans suspect they may appear older than Parker, Nixon and Davis.
What happened to Golden Girls after Dorothy got married?
After Dorothy remarries and moves away, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia open a hotel called The Golden Palace. The Golden Palace begins where The Golden Girls ended, in the quartet's now-sold Miami house.
