This faade, along with the Empty Nest house, sustained hurricane damage leading to Disney's 2003 decision to bulldoze the houses of "Residential Street" and construct its Lights, Motors, Action! The doorway from the living room, with the alcove and baker's shelf just inside, was designed to give the illusion that the actors were walking into and out of the kitchen. Betty Whites heartbreaking final post on her Instagram with the caption: My 100th birthday I cannot believe it is coming up, and People Magazine is celebrating with me! (Credit: Betty Whites Instagram). At this time, syndicated reruns began airing, distributed by Buena Vista Television (now DisneyABC Domestic Television), the syndication arm of Disney, whose Touchstone Television division produced the series. On the other hand, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is 55 in Just Like That, while Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristen Davis) are both supposed to be 54 years old. Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman were the first head writers of the series, and wrote for the show's first four seasons. Rose was probably closer to 51 than her stated age of 55, and Sophia was likely closer to 79 than her stated age of 77. The women in The Golden Girlsall have white, short hair styled in a way we often associate with older individuals. As of February 2013, WE tv's rights expired and Viacom networks' TV Land, home to Betty White's last series Hot in Cleveland, purchased them,[79] as did Logo TV. Blanche Devereaux | Golden Girls Wiki | Fandom Sophia, Dorothy's straight-talking mother, was the oldest character in the Golden Girls' house. Although the four main stars appeared to have good chemistry onscreen, there was some tension on the set between Betty White and Bea Arthur, whose personalities clashed during filming. How Old Were the Golden Girls Supposed to Be?,The Golden Girls' ages were never quite revealed on screen. Writer and producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason created a sitcom with this kind of image as a "four women" show, which became Designing Women on CBS. You have a lot of table reads where the actors will mess it up because they don't understand what the characters are doing, or they misinterpret. ", This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:40. White's birthday is January 17th and Arthur's was May 13th. [108] After the end of The Golden Palace, Getty joined the cast of Empty Nest, making frequent appearances as Sophia in the show's final two seasons. [41], The show was the second television series to be produced by the Walt Disney Company under the Touchstone Television label, and was subsequently distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc. (which holds as the ownership stake in Disney Channel Southeast Asia, now DisneyABC Television Group). This could be because the writers wanted to create an atmosphere of timelessness, allowing the show to appeal to viewers of all ages. 'The Golden Girls': Who Was the Oldest Golden Girl - Outsider : Extreme Stunt Show attraction, later replaced by Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Blanche lied to her housemates about her age so easily (and Sophia promptly called her out and said shed be 70 when the kid graduated), its reasonable to assume she was 53 when The Golden Girls premiered. It won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series and two. Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). 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. Although Getty was impressive, the show's producers went with another actress. Carrie's age range in "And Just Like That." puts her in the same age range as the characters in "The Golden Girls" season one, according to TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. When the show initially aired, NBC took a chance. Blanche Devereauxs age had been a mystery and a recurrent joke for most of the Golden Girls, and it had been saved until last. The faade was based on a real house at 245 North Saltair Avenue in the Westgate Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. She is also the only living core cast member from the series. Carl Gettleman, one of her two sons, says the co-star of the TV show "The Golden Girls" died early Tuesday, July 22, 2008, at home in Los Angeles. Estelle Getty, however, was 62 in 1985, making her 17 years younger than the character she portrayed. In fact, that's who I think she thought she was."[37]. In her spare time, Maddy loves playing volleyball, running, walking, and biking, although when she wants to be lazy she loves to read a good thriller. 1. It was my positive attitude, and that made Bea angry sometimes.. Arguably the main protagonist of the show, Blanche Devereaux is portrayed by Rue McClanahan. By Zachary Guida Jan 31, 2023 10 Ways Audience Popularity Gave TV Characters Greater Roles While the characters' ages on the series seemed fairly clear-cutBlanche, Rose and Dorothy were in their mid-50s, while Sophia was Dorothy's widowed, elderly motherit may surprise fans to know that the actual ages of the actresses playing them were completely different. FIRST TIME meeting her service dog!!! | dog | This is Ana's FIRST TIME She joined the cast as Rose Nylund, a Norwegian-American hailing from St. Olaf, Minnesota. However, with some detective work, audiences can figure them out. One such source is the actors who played the characters. Blanche was probably around 50 when the show began, rather than 54. Before The Golden Girls, she was most renowned for creating the series Soap, which parodied daytime soap operas such as The Young and the Restless. It was popular for addressing a demographic that rarely saw the spotlight on television or in Hollywood: senior women. Levin had been suggested by then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff based on Levin's groundbreaking portrayal of a recurring gay character, Eddie Gregg, on NBC's Emmy-winning drama Hill Street Blues. Its time to look back at the golden years with our favorite Golden Girls. [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. Harold Gould played two of Rose's boyfriends, Arnie and Miles. The Golden Girls came to an end when Bea Arthur chose to leave the series. We will always remember Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Bea Arthur, and Estelle Getty for bringing joy into our lives and for being our friends. The Golden Girls began in 1985 and concluded in 1992, both in real life and in the fictional realm. 16 Things You Didn't Know About The Golden Girls - Southern Living Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Featuring an all-male cast in drag, The Golden Girls: Live! Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White reprised their roles in the 1992 spin-off series The Golden Palace (Credit: CBS). New Movie News, Movie Trailers & upcoming Movie Reviews. Iconic Golden-era Hollywood actress Scarlett OHara was also reportedly an inspiration for the role. Starring actress Hodge left after two seasons, David Rasche joined the cast at the start of the second season, and Loni Anderson was added as the new hospital administrator in the third. These ages seem to contradict what is stated in the show, suggesting that the characters may actually be younger than their stated ages. She was said to have worn aged cosmetics in character to make her appear to be an eighty-something woman. October 8, 2022 According to evidence presented by the ladies themselves during the first year of the show, Sophia is 80 years old, Rose is 55 years old, and Blanche is 50 years old. Betty White, who died on December 31, 2021, at the age of 99, was best known for her role as the wonderfully naive Rose Nylund in the NBC comedy The Golden Girls. Rose's age is the easiest to track down, thanks to Dorothy openly saying it in Season 1, Episode 22, "Job Hunting." Saving the most difficult to track down for last, Rue McClanahan's character Blanche Devereaux kept her age a mystery (and a recurring joke) throughout most of The Golden Girls. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. [74] The show was the anchor of NBC's Saturday line-up, and almost always won its time slot, as ABC and CBS struggled to find shows to compete against it, the most notable being ABC's Lucille Ball sitcom Life With Lucy in the beginning of the 198687 season although it aired at 8:00, an hour earlier. She joined the show after Estelle Getty, who was the first actress to be cast in The Golden Girls. Another brief run of the show began on 27 April 2020 till summer 2020 on Channel 5, but only showed episodes up to the season-four finale and is returning to Channel 4 starting from early 2022. [7][8], The first episode features a cook/butler named Coco (played by Charles Levin), but the role was dropped before the second episode. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, the show is about four older women who share a home in Miami, Florida. She would return home to New York if she were unsuccessful. 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.. Their hair also hasnt greyed (or is colored), and they style their hair in a more contemporary way. Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). New York: Scribner. Hulu estimated that over 11 million hours were spent viewing this sitcom in 2020 alone, making it one of the top ten most binge-watched series on the streaming service. This would mean that Dorothy, who was born in 1938, would have been around 47 when the show started. 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. 'The Golden Girls' Turn 35 - forbes.com Colucci, Jim (2016). Going by the math, that makes Blanche 53 at the start of the series. Actress Elaine Stritch was also considered for the role, but she blew her audition by using curse words, which was something that the writers felt was out of character for Dorothy. In Germany, airing of the show started in January 1990, only months before the German reunification, by German public broadcaster ARD in the late evening programme on their main channel Das Erste. The writers observed that in many of the proposed scripts, the main interaction between the women occurred in the kitchen while preparing and eating food. As one of the few times in television history where three shows from the same producer, set in the same city, aired back-to-back-to-back on the same network, the three shows occasionally took advantage of their unique circumstance to create storylines carrying through all three series, such as "Hurricane Saturday". 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! "[45], After season three, Arthur had expressed her growing dissatisfaction with the disparaging jokes made about her physical appearance, which were often in the scripts. [citation needed]. Designing Women began competing against The Golden Girls. How Old Were the Golden Girls Characters Supposed to Be? How Old Was Rose Nylund On Golden Girls? With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, the show is about four older women who share a home in Miami, Florida.It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions . 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. [40] However, Arthur preferred that her three castmates and she all break for lunch together on workdays. Many episodes were edited to allow more commercials and for content. Gettleman says she suffered from advanced. In order to try and determine the real ages of the Golden Girls, we need to look at other sources of evidence. Golden Girls Cast, Ages, Names & More - Parade: Entertainment, Recipes "[72], During the NBC upfronts, the preview screening of the show got a standing ovation. She was also impressed by Getty's audition for the role of the mother of Steven Keaton (played by actor Michael Gross) for a guest episode of Family Ties. However, Season 3, Episode 25, "Mother's Day," confirms Blanche was 17 in 1949, when she and her mother reminisce about one of Blanche's dates. "[47] Getty died in 2008, the result of dementia with Lewy bodies. The classic NBC comedy The Golden Girls broke boundaries with its cast of four older women, a representation that was previously lacking on television. Details on Betty White and Bea Arthur's Off-Screen Feud", "CNN Official Interview: Betty White: Bea Arthur was not fond of me", "Marc Cherry Shares His Memories of Writing for Golden Girls", "Golden Girls weren't so chummy off the screen, star's son reveals", "Estelle Getty, 'Golden Girls' Matriarch, Dies at 84", "Estelle Getty of 'Golden Girls' Dies at 84", "Bea Arthur's son says she 'wasn't really close to anybody' despite 'Golden Girls' fame", "The Changing Face of Modern Television: When Costume Design Costars", "Bea-ing Stylish: Former "Golden Girl" Bea Arthur Talks About Comfort Clothes, Going Barefoot and Her Famous "Maude" Wardrobe", "7 Must-Have Items from Rue McClanahan's Estate Sale", "30 Things You Never Knew About 'The Golden Girls', "The Golden Girls Creators On Finding a New Generation of Fans", "The Queen Mother Loved The Golden Girls So Much That She Requested a Live Performance from the Cast", "Preview 2: The Golden Girls Arrive on Logo April 13th", "Fathom Events to Celebrate Nearly 40 Years of "The Golden Girls" This September", "The Golden Girls 25th Anniversary Complete Collection", "The Golden Girls - The Complete First Season [DVD] [1985]", "The Golden Girls - The complete Season 2 [DVD] [1986]", "The Golden Girls - Season 3 - Complete [DVD]", "TV Weekend; 3 of the Golden Girls in a New Home", "Thank You For Being a Friend brings the Golden Girls to the stage as puppets", "TVE comienza a rodar 'Juntas, pero no revueltas', su versin de 'Las chicas de oro', "TVE presenta el remake: 'Volvemos a la sitcom pero con valor seguro', "Altin Kizlar'in Setine Gizli Kamera Koymak Gerek", "Heard the one about the US sense of humour? We didn't want the show to be about four dowdy ladies. Airing from 1985 to 1992 with seven seasons in total, The Golden Girls was a smash hit during the entirety of its run. The Golden Girls - Wikipedia But the women were so uniformly brilliant at nailing it the first time we basically knew that if the women didn't get it right the first time, the joke needed to be replaced." [36] Once the show was picked up for a first season, new director Paul Bogart felt exactly the opposite, insisting that McClanahan use a Southern accent. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy. 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? When Arthur first received the script for The Golden Girls, she loved the concept of having senior women as the stars of the show. This led into the spin-off series, The Golden Palace. Richard Vaczy and Tracy Gamble, previously writers on 227 and My Two Dads, also assumed the roles of producers and head writers. The main cast of The Golden Girls included Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, Betty White as Rose Nylund, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, and Estelle Getty as Dorothys mother, Sophia Petrillo. [4] In 2014, the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 69 in their list of the "101 Best Written TV Series of All Time". Luckily, Susan Harris didnt lose her spark after Soap concluded, as she included much of the humor and sharp wit that made Soap popular in The Golden Girls as well. Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kristen Davis in And Just Like That. (Photo Credit: MovieStills DB). "[34] Getty continuously battled stage fright during her tenure on the show. As a tribute to the success of The Golden Girls, all four actresses were later named Disney Legends as part of the class of 2009.[78]. The film Golden Girls was a critical and commercial triumph. This suggests that her character was likely around the same age. In the end, the math adds up to Dorothy being 53 at the start of the series and 60 at the series' end. [25] NBC senior vice president Warren Littlefield was among the executive producers in the audience who were amused by their performance, and he envisioned a series based on the geriatric humor the two were portraying. Rue McClanahan. It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions, in association with Touchstone Television. For one thing, it did pave the way for a new terrain. [3] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time. We assume that middle-aged women continue to live their lives working, partying, being mothers, or hanging with their friends. Why is Good UI/UX Design Imperative for Business Success? Afterwards, Getty had returned to New York, but gained permission from her manager to return to California in early 1985. Rose, who was born in 1934, would have been around 51, while Sophia, who was born in 1906, would have been 79. RELATED: How Old Were the Golden Girls Supposed to Be? For example, in the pilot episode, Blanche states that she is 54 going on 55, which would mean that her age at the start of the show was 54. The ages of the Golden Girls were never revealed on TV. Sophia was never afraid to admit how old she was, often using it to her advantage over the other women in the house. Bill Dana played Sophia's brother Angelo and her father. [31] The suit was later settled. The company expected the show to appeal to older female viewers. [50] She had reportedly started to show signs of the dementia during the filming of the television series, when, despite more than three decades of theater work, she began to struggle to remember her lines, and in later seasons of the show, had to rely on cue cards. Between 1973 and 1977 White made several appearances on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens, the snobby, man-obsessed supporting character. 5. Then, in Season 3, Episode 5, "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself," Sophia tells Dorothy the story of the night Dorothy was conceived. The sitcom was conceptualized by writer Susan Harris. Beginning July 3, 1989, NBC added daytime reruns of the show, replacing long-running Wheel of Fortune (which had moved to CBS) on the NBC schedule at 11:00am(EST); it ran until September 1990. [42], Creator Susan Harris went on to contribute another four episodes to the first season, but became less involved with the sitcom throughout its run; she continued reading all scripts, however, and remained familiar with most of the storylines. 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. [52][53] Debbie Reynolds was brought on as a guest star in the season six episode "There Goes the Bride: Part 2" to test her chemistry with the other actresses as a possible replacement for Arthur, but producers decided that nobody could replicate the chemistry of the four original actresses. The show was a hit with viewers of all ages. Roses age is the easiest to determine, owing to Dorothy revealing it in Season 1, Episode 22, Job Hunting. Dorothy exposes Roses age is exposed during a chat in which Rose describes her problems finding a new career after leaving her prior one at the grief counseling center. The 'And Just Like That' Women and 'The Golden Girls' Are the Same Age For instance, Blanche mentions in one episode that she was married in 1952, which would have made her 21 at the time. Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Bea Arthur as the beloved main cast of the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be on the show? Although Sophia appears to be much older than the other girls in the show, Getty was actually younger than both Bea Arthur and Betty White. In reality, all but one of the principal cast members of the Golden Girls had enormous age gaps between their true ages and the ages of their roles. As of 2016, it was the 17th-most watched television finale. 'The Golden Girls' and 'SATC' reboot characters are the same age - ajc Assuming her child would graduate at 17, that would make Blanche 48 in 1986 and 47 at the start of the series. There was a lot of competition to get your words into the script. The show never approached the popularity or acclaim of the original, and ranked 57th[citation needed] in the annual ratings. But one of the questions that has always been asked is: how old were the Golden Girls characters supposed to be? Sophia is to join her, but in the end, she stays behind with the other women in Miami. Sophia, Dorothys straight-talking mother, was the Golden Girls houses oldest figure. The Golden Girls was a highly-acclaimed and rated, well-received, popular American situation-comedy/sit-com television series that aired on NBC originally from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. The producers of The Golden Girls decided to cast Bea Arthur, Betty White, and Rue McClanahan after seeing them act alongside each other in shows like Maude (1972-1978) and Mamas Family (1983-1984). The show ran for seven seasons from 1985 to 1992 and featured four women in their golden years living together in Miami. Sophia had her 50th birthday in April 1956, making her character 79 years old when the series premiered in 1985, according to a flashback scene in Season 2s , Roses age is the easiest to determine, owing to Dorothy revealing it in Season 1, Episode 22, Job Hunting. Dorothy exposes Roses age is exposed during a chat in which Rose describes her problems finding a new career after leaving her prior one at the, 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 basic facts to work with are that The Golden Girls began in 1985 and ended in 1992, both in real life and in-world. Although the women's ages were rarely disclosed, some deductive work may be used to approximate how old each Golden Girl was at the commencement of the series. (season two, episode five). She was also 63 years old by the time The Golden Girls premiered in 1985. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way. It was popular for addressing a demographic that rarely saw the spotlight on television or in Hollywood: senior women. Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. In the pilot episode, the three are joined by Dorothy's 80-year-old widowed mother, Sophia Petrillo (Getty), after the retirement home where she has been living has burned down. She passed away from Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) on July 22, 2008, at 84 years old. It's a classic. However, the exterior backdrop seen through the kitchen window changed from the view of Chicago high-rises to palm trees and bushes for the Miami setting. 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. Until April 2006, Lifetime played the series as a virtual season eight, airing the series in between the conclusion of the final season and the syndicated roll-over to season one. None of the other Golden Girls outright state their ages, so Dorothy is where the deductive work begins. [35], Hired to shoot the pilot, director Jay Sandrich also became instrumental in helping to cast the roles of Blanche Devereaux and Rose Nylund. Considering how easily Blanche lied to her housemates about her age (and that Sophia immediately called her out and said she'd be 70 when the kid graduates), it's safe to assume that 53 is her actual age going into The Golden Girls. [43] Mitchell Hurwitz also served as writer for the show in its last two seasons. Soap lasted for four seasons and was marred by controversy due to Harriss insistence on including content that dealt with themes of sexuality, religion, and race. Arthur felt the characters had been in every possible scenario, and wanted to end the series while it was still successful. Rose Nylund - Wikipedia The show was aired as a bilingual broadcast using a two-channel sound system (Zweikanalton). Cherry commented on read-throughs of the scripts that "generally, if the joke was a good one, the women found a way to make it work the very first time they read it. Unlike anything we had ever seen on television before, The Golden Girls featured an ensemble cast of four older single women (Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty) sharing. I think we pushed that [the jokes about Arthur's appearance] a little bit far and I think she let it be known she didn't love that. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Proudly powered by WordPress [45][46] The cast often had to stay behind after the audience had departed to redo scenes where Getty had flubbed her lines, and although this was at first met with resistance from the producers, cue cards were eventually introduced to help her.

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