Estelle Getty of 'Golden Girls' dies at 84
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 was suffering from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday 22nd July 2008, three days before her 85th birthday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman.
She was a famous actress and loved throughout the world. Her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
Getty was born on July25th, 1923 in New York City the daughter of Sarah and Charles Scher.Her birth name was Estelle Scher better known as Estelle Getty. She married New York businessman Arthur Gettleman (the source of her stage name) in 1947, and they had two sons, Carl and Barry.
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Getty got her start in the Yiddish theater, and her most important early role was playing Harvey Fierstein's mother on Broadway in the play Torch Song Trilogy. However, she is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom, The Golden Girls. In it, she played the wise-cracking old Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, who was the shows main protagonist, played by Beatrice Arthur. Getty was actually one year younger than Arthur. She wrote her autobiography, with Steve Delsohn, titled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now. . . So What? |
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Getty won the award of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - The Golden Girls in 1988 and nominated many times. Now that show was very fun, l can just watc them over and over again, they all worked well together.She also won Golden Globe award in 1986 for Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series - The Golden Girls. 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). In those days female comedians are very rare however Getty bombed.
We will always remember her as the queen of comic movies. May her soul rest in peace.
(source: accesshollywood.com, miamiherald.com)
