Estelle Getty has passed away

[Tinuvielsdreams]

From CNN
Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

I loved her on the Golden Girls and she was so fun and witty.
Goodbye Estelle

[Raph's Girl]

I had a feeling she would be going soon. She had severe case of Dementia and had been sick for many years.

I always thought it was funny that she played the mother even tho Bea Arthur and Betty White are older than her.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080722/...v/obit_getty_9

Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.

"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."

"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.

Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rue McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.

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

When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early 60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed 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."

She 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.

"The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," White said in an e-mail to The Associated Press after Getty's death was announced.

"The Golden Girls" culminated a long struggle for success during which Getty worked low-paying office jobs to help support her family while she tried to make it as a stage actress.

"I knew I could be seduced by success in another field, so I'd say, 'Don't promote me, please,'" she recalled.

She also appeared in small parts in a handful of films and TV movies during that time, including "Tootsie," "Deadly Force" and "Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story."

After her success in "The Golden Girls," other roles came her way. She played Cher's mother in "Mask," Sylvester Stallone's in "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot" and Barry Manilow's in the TV film "Copacabana." Other credits included "Mannequin" and "Stuart Little" (as the voice of Grandma Estelle).

"The Golden Girls," which ran from 1985 to 1992, was an immediate hit, and Sophia, who began as a minor character, soon evolved into a major one.

Audiences particularly loved the verbal zingers Getty would hurl at the other three. When McClanahan's libidinous character Blanche once complained that her life was an open book, Sophia shot back, "Your life's an open blouse."

Getty had gained a knack for one-liners in her late teens when she did standup comedy at a Catskills hotel. Female comedians were rare in those days, however, and she bombed.

Undeterred, she continued to pursue a career in entertainment, and while her parents were encouraging, her father also insisted that she learn office skills so she would have something to fall back on.

Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4.

She married New York businessman Arthur Gettleman (the source of her stage name) in 1947, and they had two sons, Carl and Barry. The marriage prevailed despite her long absences on the road and in "The Golden Girls."

Getty was evasive about her height, acknowledging only that she was "under 5 feet and under 100 pounds."

In addition to her son Carl, Getty is survived by son Barry Gettleman, of Miami; a brother, David Scher of London; and a sister, Rosilyn Howard of Las Vegas.

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

RIP Estelle, Golden Girls wouldn't have been the same without you.

[Voltron]

My buddies and I used to get together every week and watch Golden Girls. We'd eat cheese cake and talk about our favorite episodes, afterwards. The world just won't be the same without her.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

I would like to reminisce with a great Sophia Petrillo line
"I'd like to inject some candor here. I'd also like to inject a tranquilizer dart into your backside, but my dart gun was confiscated after the incident with the trick or treaters. In my defense, it was dark and I was unaware of this Ninja Turtle craze."

I always loved that one

[triplexxx]

Originally Posted by Tinuvielsdreams

I would like to reminisce with a great Sophia Petrillo line
"I'd like to inject some candor here. I'd also like to inject a tranquilizer dart into your backside, but my dart gun was confiscated after the incident with the trick or treaters. In my defense, it was dark and I was unaware of this Ninja Turtle craze."

I always loved that one

I never got to hearing that one, I wonder episode that was in. I'll admit I didn't really get much into older sitcoms 'til a few years back, but that was enough for me to realize just how great Golden Girls was, and Getty's fiestiness and unending sarcasm just cracked the **** up out of me, wonder what she says up there in heaven right now, and if it's anything like what she said the last time she went, j/k, she'll be missed.

[VaughnMichael]

Another great one gone, I was wondering what was up with her when she wasn't at the tv land awards with the other golden girls.
May one of the funniest women I've ever seen RIP.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by VaughnMichael

Another great one gone, I was wondering what was up with her when she wasn't at the tv land awards with the other golden girls.
May one of the funniest women I've ever seen RIP.

Yeah... she'd been sick with Lewy Body Dementia (basically a combo of Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease) for the last 8 years and wasn't able to do public appearances.

Got this from Wikipedia:

Former "Golden Girls" co-star Rue McClanahan told The Associated Press. "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia."

Bea Arthur said in a statement, "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her,"

while Betty White remarked, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us."

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Originally Posted by triplexxx

I never got to hearing that one, I wonder episode that was in. I'll admit I didn't really get much into older sitcoms 'til a few years back, but that was enough for me to realize just how great Golden Girls was, and Getty's fiestiness and unending sarcasm just cracked the **** up out of me, wonder what she says up there in heaven right now, and if it's anything like what she said the last time she went, j/k, she'll be missed.

I think it was the eppy where Rose is having problems with a co-worker and recruits Sophia to help. That is what Sophia says to Rose's coworker.
Sorry I don't know the season? Anybody? I have been meaning to get the DVDs for awhile now

[Jo Dawn]

RIP Estelle. I knew she'd not been doing well for years now, but it's still sad. I really liked Golden Girls. Rest in peace.