credit: The Golden Girls
Bea Arthur is most famous for her stellar role on the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls. She spent seven years of her life starring as the fabulously glib, impatient, and serious Dorothy. She and her costars became a phenomenon, and that included Betty White, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan. They are the funniest, most amusing group of women on television, and nothing has changed even since the last time their show aired in 1992. It’s been 31 years since the show ended, and we still watch these four women living in South Florida as roommates with such joy. However, Bea Arthur harbored some dark secrets during her time on the show. Here’s what you did not know about her.
Bea Arthur Passed Away in 2009
Sadly, the lovely Bea Arthur passed away in 2009 at the age of 86. She died in her California home from complications of lung cancer. She was so famous for her role in The Golden Girls that many people forget she’s a Tony Award-winning actress who spent years of her life making a name for herself on Broadway. The Broadway community paid their respects to Arthur’s amazing career and legendary life three days after her death by dimming the lights on all of the Broadway theater districts for one minute on the night of April 28, 2009. She is missed by many, but her legacy continues even years after her death.
Bea Arthur Was On Judge Judy
If there is one woman we love even more than Bea Arthur, it is absolutely Judge Judy Scheindlin. She is the most amazing woman to watch. Arthur has no patience. She says what is on her mind and is unapologetic about any of it. Who doesn’t love her? What you might not know, however, is that Bea Arthur once stood before Judge Judy to fight for her own case. She was a witness for PETA, the plaintiff, in a case against big cats and captivity many years ago. She argued on behalf of PETA that this should be outlawed. The defendant was Tiger’s Eye Productions. They’d been investigated thoroughly by many different entities and found not guilty of any wrongdoing as far as animal cruelty is concerned. Judge Judy failed to see the issue with the previous findings and ruled against Arthur and PETA. She ordered them to stand down.
Credit: The Golden Girls
Bea Arthur Did Not Get Along with Betty White
This is, perhaps, the most shocking thing that the world has learned over the past few years. Betty White died on New Year’s Eve 2021, and the world mourned. She was just days shy of reaching her 100th birthday, and she’s widely revered as a national treasure. To find out that many of her previous costars didn’t like her much was a shock. In fact, Bea Arthur disliked her so much that drama was always on the set of The Golden Girls.
According to Joel Thurm, who cast Bea Arthur in a later project following the time they worked together on The Golden Girls, he was shocked to hear what Bea Arthur had to say about Betty White. “Yeah, she called her the c-word. I mean, I heard that with my own ears. And, by the way, so did Rue McClanahan. Rue McClanahan said it to me in Joe Allen’s restaurant, Bea when she was on the set of Beggars and Choosers,” said Thurm of the incident.
Bea Arthur’s son, however, says his late mother and the late Betty White were good friends. Matthew Saks confirmed in early 2022, following White’s death, that his mother and White were really good friends who often rode to work together when they filmed the Golden Girls. He went on to say, “There was no fighting at all. They were friends. At one point, they lived close enough that they would drive each other to work,” said Arthur’s son.
Credit: The Golden Girls
Will We Ever Know The Truth?
We don’t know who to believe at this point, but it is difficult for us to imagine that they didn’t get along. We can absolutely see them calling one another names, ribbing one another, and giving one another a difficult time out of love and respect, but sometimes people are just more professional in public than they let on. Perhaps she didn’t like Betty White. Perhaps America’s national treasure, White, wasn’t who we thought she was. Of course, we don’t want to believe that of a woman who was almost 100 when she died. We like to think she was a strong woman who didn’t always make friends with her strength and her life – and the same goes for Bea Arthur. They were two dynamos, and sometimes those types butt heads.
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