12. The women's ages were usually not explicitly stated, although some deductive work gives a pretty safe estimate of how old each Golden Girl was at the start of the series. Maddy Hiltz is someone who loves all things history. Its probable it examined a lot of the same scenarios as previous episodes. Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper and Betty White as Ellen Harper-Jackson in the 1983 sitcom Mamas Family (Credit: NBC). The series finale of The Golden Girls was watched by 27.2 million viewers. [124] The eatery closed in November 2017 after less than a year of operation.[125]. She remarked that it was revolutionary because it was the first time older women were shown in an atmosphere where they were well-groomed, well dressed, had active sex lives. Disney's Michael Eisner explains, "Estelle Getty made our three women into girls. The sitcom was conceptualized by writer Susan Harris. At times, she even froze on camera while filming. It has recently come to light that the leading ladies of AndJust Like That, Sex and the Citys reboot, are basically the exact same age as the leading ladies in The Golden Girls a fact that has completely blown our minds! In the original Sex and the City, Samatha Jones (Kim Cattrall) was in her late 40s/ early 50s, but Cattrall decided not to be a part of the reboot. This program, on the other hand, was centered on a group of older ladies. The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run, and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. Finally, Sophia is stated to be in her late 70s, suggesting that she was between 77 and 79. In "The Golden . The women's ages were usually not explicitly stated, although some deductive work gives a pretty safe estimate of how old each Golden Girl was at the start of the series. These ages seem to contradict what is stated in the show, suggesting that the characters may actually be younger than their stated ages. [32], Getty, who went through a three-hour transformation to become Sophia, wore heavy make-up, thick glasses, and a white wig to look the part. In Italy, the series aired on Rai Uno (or Rai 1) as Cuori senza et (Ageless Hearts) from 1987 until 1994. An instant ratings hit, The Golden Girls became an NBC staple on Saturday nights. [64] Rue McClanahan had a special clause written into her contract allowing her to keep her costumes, which were mostly custom-made for her, utilising expensive fabrics. "[47] Getty died in 2008, the result of dementia with Lewy bodies. [71], On Metacritic, the series has an overall score of 82 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Golden_Girls&oldid=1139544706, "Thank You for Being a Friend" (instrumental), "I was running all over the house grabbing anybody who would listen. Shoes Accessories, Copyright Your Next Shoes 2010 - 2023 |, The 9 Best Classic and Designer High Top Sneaker Brands, How to Spot Fake Converse Shoes: 10 Ways to Tell Real All Star Sneakers, Sabrina Carpenter Presents K-Pop Twice With Breakthrough Award in Racy Mini Dress Amidst Shawn Mendes Dating Rumors, The Cast of Creed III: What 7 Actors Look Like in Real Life, Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega Steal the Show at SAG Awards With Hilarious Deadpan Presentation, Next in Fashion Season 2 Cast: Gigi Hadid Promotes Netflix Show in 5 Stunning Outfits, Jessica Simpson Shares Adorable Photo With Mini-Me Daughter Birdie Mae on Instagram. One such source is the actors who played the characters. Sophia was supposed to accompany her, but she ends up staying in Miami with the other females, which leads to the spin-off series, The Golden Palace. The show is seen in more than a hundred countries. Among all of the great roles she played over the course of her legendary career, the late, great Betty Whitewho passed away on Dec. 31, 2021, at the age of. On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released The Golden Girls: A Lifetime Intimate Portrait Series on DVD which contains a separate biography of Arthur, White, McClanahan and Getty, revealing each woman's background, rise to stardom and private life, which originally aired on Lifetime network between June 2000 and January 2003. [84], After the original series ended, White, McClanahan, and Getty reprised their characters in the CBS series The Golden Palace, which featured Rose, Blanche, and Sophia selling their house to buy and run a hotel in Miami. On November 9, 2010, the studio released a complete-series box set titled The Golden Girls: 25th Anniversary Complete Collection. Featuring an all-male cast in drag, The Golden Girls: Live! [2] Each of the four stars received an Emmy Award, making it one of only four sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this. Join 1000s of subscribers and receive the best Vintage News in your mailbox for FREE, Heres How the Royal Family Gets Its Money, These 12 Cities Have Changed A Lot Over Time, Police arrest a 72-year-old suburban grandfather suspected of being the Golden State Killer, Im not dead yet: some Buddhist monks followed self-mummification, Project Azorian: Howard Hughes secret mission, 1960s U.S. satellite that started transmitting again in 2013, The Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones historical inspiration, The only unsolved skyjacking case in U.S. history might have a break, Kurt Gdel became too paranoid to eat and died of starvation, Little Ease: One of the most feared torture devices in the Tower of London, The humble English girl who became Cora Pearl, Walt Disney softened the original Snow White story. It was, however, more than a fringe, Its a tiny marvel, looking back, that the Golden Girls magnificent casting came together as well as it did. How Old Were the Golden Girls Supposed to Be? The company expected the show to appeal to older female viewers. Rose even went to the trouble of looking up the information in official documents, only to discover that it had been removed by authorization of the governor.. Estelle Getty reprised her role as Sophia in The Golden Palace, which only lasted for one season. Reportedly, White doubted that she could effectively play the role of Rose. [58], The kitchen set seen on The Golden Girls was originally used on an earlier Witt/Thomas/Harris series, It Takes Two, which aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983. Initially, the producers of the show had planned for Getty only to be a recurring guest. It won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series and two. When the show hit TV screens in the 1980s, society believed that women in their 50s were more grandmotherly, and ready for retirement. consisted of two back-to-back episodes of the sitcom: "Break-In" (season one, episode eight) and "Isn't It Romantic?" She joined the cast as Rose Nylund, a Norwegian-American hailing from St. Olaf, Minnesota. But one of the questions that has always been asked is: how old were the Golden Girls characters supposed to be? This means that she was 63 years old by the time the show premiered in 1985. Ellen Albertini Dow played Sophia's friend Lillian and an unnamed hospital patient with a flower cart. Both Rue McClanahan and Betty White came into consideration, as the series Mama's Family, in which the two co-starred, had been cancelled by NBC. Ironically, despite being the oldest actress in the show, Betty White was the last of the main stars to survive. "It was so exciting to be with four people with that chemistry. Many episodes were edited to allow more commercials and for content. According to the show, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is 55 . Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai. How Does PTO Work for Salaried Employees? For example, one or more of the women would become involved in some sort of problem, often involving other family members, men, or an ethical dilemma. The clever use of makeup and a wig aged Getty to match her character's age. In order to try and determine the real ages of the Golden Girls, we need to look at other sources of evidence. At the request of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who was reputedly a big fan, the cast of The Golden Girls performed several skits as their characters in front of her and other members of the British royal family at the 1988 Royal Variety Performance in London.[77]. Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, and Sophia Petrillo managed the single life as seniors in Miami for seven seasons. In Canada, Corus Entertainment's digital specialty channel, DejaView, aired reruns of The Golden Girls until 2017. Arthur felt the characters had been in every possible scenario, and wanted to end the series while it was still successful. Designing Women began competing against The Golden Girls. White, Betty (2010). She expressed that she would not continue if changes were not made, but changes were made and jokes regarding Dorothy's physique appeared less often. However, she wasn't much older than Bea Arthur. [65][66] Eventually, McClanahan went on to create a clothing line for QVC called "A Touch of Rue", inspired by Blanche, but made with affordable fabrics and practical designs. For example, Betty White, who played Rose, was 76 when the show first aired and 80 when it ended. Sophia then recounts to Dorothy the account of the night Dorothy was conceived in Season 3, Episode 5, Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself. Sophia claims it happened in 1931, so Dorothy was most likely born in 1932, based on her sign. The show never approached the popularity or acclaim of the original, and ranked 57th[citation needed] in the annual ratings. [69] One of the other girls then told a story from her own life, which somehow related to the problem (though Rose occasionally regaled the others with a nonsense story that had nothing to do with the situation, and Sophia told outrageous, made-up stories). DO YOU LOVE SHOES? Although the writing was mostly comical, dramatic moments and sentimental endings were included in several episodes. [33] The character of Sophia was thought by the creators to enhance the idea that three retirement-aged women could be young. The basic facts to work with are that The Golden Girls began in 1985 and ended in 1992, both in real life and in-world. The Golden Girls will always be remembered as a show that put a spotlight on senior women in a way no other show had done before. Prior to that, when old people were shown on television, you could almost smell them., Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, and Betty White as Rose Nylund in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). How old were the ladies on golden girls in real life? She was also 63 years old by the time The Golden Girls premiered in 1985. Afterwards, Getty had returned to New York, but gained permission from her manager to return to California in early 1985. "[72], During the NBC upfronts, the preview screening of the show got a standing ovation. Often deemed as the den mother of the main characters in the show, Bea Arthur played the role of Dorothy Zbornak, a substitute teacher hailing from New York City. [62] Evans generally dressed the actresses in expensive pieces and high-quality fabrics, despite the recurring theme that the four characters were struggling with money, because, "The main idea was to make them look good. Season 2, Episode 25, "A Piece of Cake," reveals Sophia celebrated her 50th birthday in 1956, putting her at 79 at The Golden Girls' beginning. [40] However, Arthur preferred that her three castmates and she all break for lunch together on workdays. [3] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time. By tape day, she was unreachable. McClanahan continued to portray the role of Blanche in the spin-off series The Golden Palace, which only lasted for one season from 1992 to 1993. Assuming her child would graduate at 17, that would make Blanche 48 in 1986 and 47 at the start of the series. Although Getty was impressive, the show's producers went with another actress. Although the womens ages were rarely disclosed, some deductive work may be used to approximate how old each Golden Girl was at the commencement of the series. She wanted to be a Southern heroine, like Vivien Leigh. "[38] Both actresses had dramatically different training and acting backgrounds; Saks commented on White's habit of breaking the fourth wall to engage and joke with the studio audience during breaks between filming, which Arthur found unprofessional. [24] The Cosby Show director Jay Sandrich, who had previously worked with Harris, Witt, and Thomas on Soap, agreed to direct the pilot episode. On the other hand, the women in And Just Like That dress in a trendy, modern style. We didn't want the show to be about four dowdy ladies. Born on January 17, 1922, Betty White was the oldest of the four main stars. [83] The 21-disc collection features all 180 episodes of the series as well as all special features contained on the previously released season sets; it is encased in special collectible packaging, a replica of Sophia's purse. 41 Behind-the-Scenes 'The Golden Girls' Facts - 'Golden Girls' Trivia. Initially, the producers wanted Betty White to play Blanche because she had been famous for playing promiscuous characters in the past. Betty White was famous in Hollywood for being a pioneer of television dating back to the 1950s. She passed away after suffering complications from a stroke at 99 years old on December 31, 2021, just 17 days before her 100th birthday. This "created a great deal of stress and competitiveness amongst those of us who weren't in that inner sanctum. While RTL initially chose to cut some scenes for time, some of the gags remain incomprehensible for their broadcast and all subsequent reruns, only to be restored partially for the release of DVD in 2005. Every episode of The Golden Girls was made available to stream on Hulu on February 13, 2017. Space was limited on the soundstage, so when the kitchen was off camera, it was usually detached from the rest of the set and the space used for something else.