By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
Golden Girl Estelle Getty died at her Los Angeles home Tuesday morning. She was 84.
The New York-born actress was revered for her wisecracking, perennially caustic stint as Sophia Petrillo on the beloved 1985-1992 series about four female retirees enjoying their golden years.
Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m., said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica, Calif.
"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," Gettleman said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
Getty was nominated for seven Emmys, but never won, nabbing instead a Golden Globe in 1986. And she was the recipient of the Golden Razzie award for her equally caustic turn opposite Sylvester Stallone in 1992's Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
In interviews, the prickly actress was as sharp-tongued as her character. 'I don't reveal my height or my age," she snapped to a reporter from London's Mail on Sunday in 1992.
Getty was married to the late businessman Arthur Gettleman. Besides Carl, she is survived by another son, Barry.
Ironically, while she made a career of playing mothers, including Cher's in Mask, Getty didn't relish her own time raising her kids.
"No, I wouldn't claim I enjoyed it," she told People in 1986. "It was the days of Dr. Spock and everything was so regimented. You stayed home and never left. Fear kept me from enjoying my children. It was such a chore being a mother in those days."
Before Golden Girls made her the most famous grandma on television, Getty was a steadily employed, if largely unknown, theater actress who had two memorable turns — in 1982's Tootsie and 1985's Mask. But at an age when most actors pen their autobiographies and fade into obscurity, Getty became a star.
"I paid my dues," she told the Chicago Tribune in 1989.
Getty, the daughter of Polish immigrants, grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side. She dreamed of being an actress and tried her hand at stand-up comedy in her late teens. Had it not been for a chance meeting with actor Harvey Fierstein, Getty might have worked behind a desk and raised children. Instead, he cast her in Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway.
When she auditioned for Golden Girls, producers thought her too young to play Bea Arthur's mother. (Arthur was born the year before Getty.) Getty proved them wrong. And she tried to enjoy every second of her late-found fame and fortune.
"People who make it to the top when they're young have to worry about staying there," she told People. "The nice thing about making it at this stage is that I don't have to worry about staying up here that long."
4 comments:
Ouch! Estelle Getty (as Sophia) has made me laugh out loud hundreds of times in my life. It's very sad to see her go..
I heard she developed an extreme case of alzheimers/dementia so her death is likely a relief to her loved ones.
I love the episodes where Sophia is off having her own adventures separate from the main storyline.
Anyone remember the episode where Blanche has 3 tickets to see Burt Reynolds and decides to take Dorothy and Rose? Then the 3 of them end up in prison when they got mixed up in a prostitution sting and Sophia nabs the tickets. I remember it vividly (probably because I watched it like 3 days ago.)
I also laughed every time she called Dorothy "Pussycat".
I'm so sad over this.
I remember that episode but I havn't seen it in years.
My sister, my cousins, and I were obsessed with the Golden Girls and we hated missing an episode. Sometimes our mother’s would drag us off places and get us home too late to watch it. We would warn them that they had to get us home on time or we would be “Agneses,” I can’t remember why we chose that, but it meant we would be jinxed and something bad would happen. Call it coincidence if you want, but something unfortunate always occurred as a result of our Agnes status. One time a shelf full of glass and other breakables went crashing to the floor at my aunt’s house because we were being forced to be in a family photo rather than watch the Golden Girls. We cited that example to our mothers for years after.
That is sad, although I agree with your comment JSP. We watched our step-mother's mom, Isabelle deal with alzheimers/dementia. It's rough.
I haven't watched GG in years, but I did always think she and Bea Arthur were the best.
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