This
made
me
sad.
I
just still
love
this
show.
I
play
it
when
I
need to
laugh.
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.
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.
It
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.
