The Golden Girls Loses Estelle Getty

I am saddened today by the passing of the wonderful Estelle Getty. If you ever watched an episode of The Golden Girls, you know Estelle played Sophia( or "Ma") the 80 something Italian mother of Dorothy (Bea Arthur).

I loved The Golden Girls and used to watch it with my mom every week. Now I find myself watching the reruns on Lifetime several times throughout the day.

Estelle Getty suffered from Dementia for about the last eight years.

Although Getty played an eighty three-ish woman on the Golden Girls, the actress was only about the same age as Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy, Sophia's daughter on the show. But Estelle played the part of the older Italian mom with the wise crack after wise crack perfectly. It took Estelle Getty three auditions to win the role of Sophis she didn't look old enough to play 80.

"I could understand that," she told an interviewer a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast, I move fast, I talk fast."

But Getty came prepared for the third audition, however, wearing dowdy clothes and telling an NBC makeup artist, "To you this is just a job. To me it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." The artist did, Getty got the job and won two Emmys.

Getty's co-star from The Golden Girls, Betty White, said in a statement, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us."

The Golden Girls," aired from 1985 to 1992, and was enjoyed by many. Sophia, who began as a minor character, soon evolved into a major one.

From Bea Arthur, Estelle's co-star and "daughter" on the Golden Girls, :

"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her."

From noon to 5 p.m. on July 25, Lifetime will air 10 episodes showcasing “Sophia” in all her blustering, sarcastic splendor, starting with the show’s pilot. The last installment at 4:30 p.m. will be the favorite “Sophia episode” as decided through a fan vote at www.Lifetime.com.

Bye Sophia. Thank-you for the all the laughter and smiles.

Picture of Ms. Getty courtesy of Los Angeles Times.