The Golden Girls first aired on September 14, 1985, and it continues to appeal to both young and older audiences. Estelle Getty reprised her role as Sophia in The Golden Palace, which only lasted for one season. Jan 31, 2023 Movie Features Harry Potter: Wait, How Are Bellatrix and Leta Lestrange Related? 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. [80] In 2020, CMT purchased the rights to the series. Plus, Sophia was a great cook. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years, totalling 204 episodes.. Rose was supposed to be played by Rue McClanahan, while Blanche Devereaux, one of Rose's roommates, was to be played by White.However, Jay Sandrich, the director of the show, suggested that Betty and Rue switch . How Old Were the Golden Girls? She would return home to New York if she were unsuccessful. [24], Shortly afterward, he met with producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, who were pitching a show about a female lawyer. How to Start a Fire in Dayz A Comprehensive Guide, How to Be More Ladylike: Speak Softly, Dress Modestly, Carry Yourself with Grace, How to Eat Babka: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners, How to Wire a Weed Eater: A Step-by-Step Guide. In "The Golden Girls", Rose is 55, Dorothy is 53, Blanche is 47 and Sophia is 79. [55] Producers used this residence for exterior shots during the first two seasons. 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. After some careful math, viewers also figured out that Dorothy (played by Bea Arthur) was supposed to be 53. The Golden Palace, a spinoff of the successful sitcom The Golden Girls, will make its streaming debut on Hulu early next year.. On Jan. 10, just one week before Betty White's 100th birthday on Jan. 17, the single season of the sitcom featuring three of the four main characters from the original series -- Rose Nyland (White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty . Rose Nylund was 55 years old when the show premiered, as Dorothy stated in the Season 1 episode Job Hunting.. It was popular for addressing a demographic that rarely saw the spotlight on television or in Hollywood: senior women. The show was aired as a bilingual broadcast using a two-channel sound system (Zweikanalton). The classic NBC comedy The Golden Girls broke boundaries with its cast of four older women, a representation that was previously lacking on television. 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 A Piece of Cake.. Although Getty was impressive, the show's producers went with another actress. Lets see how each actress was cast in their respective roles and how their careers continued after the show concluded. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be on the show? [43] Mitchell Hurwitz also served as writer for the show in its last two seasons. Dorothy states she is a Leo in Season 4, Episode 10, "Stan Takes a Wife," placing her birthday either in late July or early-to-late August. Eager not to be typecast, they took the suggestion of Sandrich and switched roles at the last minute. The show never approached the popularity or acclaim of the original, and ranked 57th[citation needed] in the annual ratings. New York: Harper Collins. 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. According to the math, Blanche was 53 at the start of the series. McClanahan deliberately exaggerated her accent, stating, "I played Blanche the way I felt Blanche. However, she wasn't much older than Bea Arthur. [111], Golden Girls 3033 is an animated pilot created by Mike Hollingsworth. [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. [52], The house's address was mentioned as being 6151 Richmond Street, Miami. This could be because the writers wanted to create an atmosphere of timelessness, allowing the show to appeal to viewers of all ages. Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Bea Arthur as the beloved main cast of the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). At times, she even froze on camera while filming. Crypto Wallet Development: Types, Features, and Popularity, 5 Ways AI is Detecting and Preventing Identity Fraud. On November 9, 2010, the studio released a complete-series box set titled The Golden Girls: 25th Anniversary Complete Collection. Mulligan and Manoff were alumni from one of Susan Harris' earlier shows, Soap. She was just as uptight as a human being could get. 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. 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. Blanche (played by Rue McClanahan) was thought to be around 47 years old in the first season of Golden Girls. 8 Silk Pillowcases for Your Best Beauty Sleep. Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). "[61] Many of the characters' outfits were designed by Evans and made especially, but seven to ten costume changes per episode were made between the four actresses, which entailed a great deal of off-the-rack shopping. [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. Sophia, Dorothy's straight-talking mother, was the oldest character in the Golden Girls' house. Sarah Jessica Parker and Betty White, both of whom play a 55-year-old woman. Dorothy meets and marries Blanches Uncle Lucas in the hour-long series finale, which aired in May 1992, and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta, Georgia. 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). How Old Was Rose Nylund On Golden Girls? For, That was the case. The pilot takes audio from the sitcom and sets it against a futuristic background inspired by The Jetsons. Sophia was never ashamed to confess her age, and she often took advantage of it to get an advantage over the other ladies in the home. 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. Life. Disney's Michael Eisner explains, "Estelle Getty made our three women into girls. [48][49] Her co-stars, in an interview, said that her disease had progressed to the point that she was not able to hold conversations with them or recognize them. Win free shoes, organize your shoe closet, see the latest styles + more, About She passed away after suffering complications from a stroke at 99 years old on December 31, 2021, just 17 days before her 100th birthday. Reportedly, White doubted that she could effectively play the role of Rose. Your email address will not be published. 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. 2. The majority of sitcoms in the period centered on either families or teenagers. 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. 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. Beginning in 1990, Marc Cherry served as writer and producer, years before creating Desperate Housewives, which ran on ABC from 2004 to 2012. The faade was based on a real house at 245 North Saltair Avenue in the Westgate Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. [24] Produced to introduce the network's 198485 season schedule, two actresses appearing on NBC shows, Selma Diamond of Night Court and Doris Roberts of Remington Steele, appeared in a skit promoting the upcoming show Miami Vice as Miami Nice, a parody about old people living in Miami. Rue McClanahan is the youngest Golden Girl! Despite fan theories that the actresses were playing characters much younger than their actual age, Rue McClanahan's age in 1985 was 52, one year younger than her character on the show. Each of the four main stars received an Emmy Award, making The Golden Girls one of only four sitcoms in the Primetime Emmy Awards history to achieve this. The film featured five episodes from the show: "The Pilot", "The Flu", "The Way We Met", "Ladies of the Evening" and "Grab That Dough". [3] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time. Premiering in 1985, The Golden Girls was an instant smash, attracting a diverse audience for a then-novel concept depicting the lives of four older women sharing friendship, a home and a lot . Did Rue McClanahan have a Southern accent? Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, and Harris served as the original executive producers. 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. This led into the spin-off series, The Golden Palace. 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). Blanche Elizabeth Marie Devereaux (ne Hollingsworth) is one of the four, fictional, main characters on the highly-acclaimed, revered, and well-received 1985-1992 NBC situation-comedy/sit-com TV series, The Golden Girls, and its spin-off, The Golden Palace. [107] When that idea was not well received, Harris retooled the series as a vehicle for Richard Mulligan, and the following year Empty Nest debuted, starring Mulligan as pediatrician Harry Weston, a widower whose two adult daughters moved back home. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be on the show? It won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series and two. So why do the ladies in Golden Girls seem so much older than the characters in And Just Like That, even though theyre all supposed to be around the same age? 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. 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." However, it did so from a very different perspective. This could be because the writers wanted to create an atmosphere of timelessness or to emphasize the idea that age is just a number. was an off-Broadway show that opened in the summer of 2003 in New York City at Rose's Turn theater in the West Village, and ran until November of that year. When "The Golden Girls" premiered over 30 years ago, on Sept. 14, 1985, audiences were introduced to Southern belle Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) and her roommates Rose Nylund (Betty. By tape day, she was unreachable. Ironically, the actress who played Sophia, Estelle Getty, was a year younger than Bea Arthur, who played her daughter, Dorothy. Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak and Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. How old was Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls? She loves spending quality time with her friends, family, and puppy Luna! Shopping Guide In "And Just Like That", Miranda and Charlotte are 54, while Carrie is 55. Who was the youngest Golden Girl cast member? The Golden Girls Almost Had a Fifth Main Character - Here's Why He Was Dropped The Golden Girls broke boundaries with its main cast of older women, but it originally broke even more with the lost fifth member of the hit sitcom. 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. White's birthday is January 17th and Arthur's was May 13th. Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:40, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy, Lights, Motors, Action! 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. The show is seen in more than a hundred countries. For example, Betty White, who played Rose, was 76 when the show first aired and 80 when it ended. In the United Kingdom, the series aired on Channel 4, Living and Disney Channel. From left to right- Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, and Betty White in The Golden Girls. ", This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:40. As a result, new viewers are becoming aware of the show. Afterwards, Getty had returned to New York, but gained permission from her manager to return to California in early 1985. An instant ratings hit, The Golden Girls became an NBC staple on Saturday nights. 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. [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. As of December 1, 2021, every episode was made available to stream on Disney+. Discover all about The Golden Girls cast from their names, ages and how old they were supposed to be in the showwho was oldest & youngest, and more. 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. Celebrities But what made the show golden were its stellar cast and the beloved characters they portrayed. The Golden Girls began in 1985 and concluded in 1992, both in real life and in the fictional realm. "[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. In this article, we will explore the evidence and try to uncover the true ages of the Golden Girls. In addition, the character of Sophia had originally been planned as an occasional guest star, but Getty had tested positively with preview audiences, so the producers decided to make her a regular character. Their hair also hasnt greyed (or is colored), and they style their hair in a more contemporary way. (Photo Credit: MovieStills DB). [24] The Cosby Show director Jay Sandrich, who had previously worked with Harris, Witt, and Thomas on Soap, agreed to direct the pilot episode. 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. Rose's age is the easiest to track down, thanks to Dorothy openly saying it in Season 1, Episode 22, "Job Hunting." During a conversation where Rose discusses her difficulty finding a new job after losing her previous one at the grief counseling center, Dorothy reveals that Rose is 55. There was a lot of competition to get your words into the script. For simplicity, because the program lasted seven seasons, each season is treated as a different year for the purpose of simplicity. Arguably the main protagonist of the show, Blanche Devereaux is portrayed by Rue McClanahan. Going off the idea that Season 1 takes place within the same year, Rose would have been 55 at the start of The Golden Girls as well, making her the oldest Golden Girl -- after Sophia, of course. In March 1997, the Lifetime cable network acquired the exclusive rights to repeat the episodes of The Golden Girls in the US until March 1, 2009. 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. In Season 2, Episode 1, "End of the Curse," Blanche believes she is pregnant, and states she'll be 65 by the time the child graduates high school. [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. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.). Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White reprised their roles in the 1992 spin-off series The Golden Palace (Credit: CBS). 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]. The Golden Girls was part of a series of Brandon Tartikoff shows that put an end to NBC's ratings slump, along with The Cosby Show, 227, Night Court, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law. Sophia was never afraid to admit how old she was, often using it to her advantage over the other women in the house. [citation needed]. One, while the characters ages on the show appeared to be quite consistentBlanche, Rose, and Dorothy were all in their mid-50s, and Sophia was Dorothys widowed, elderly motherthe actors who played them were all somewhat varied in age. It could also be because the show was trying to emphasize the idea that age is just a number and that life does not end at a certain age. 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. It happens again, by a handsome male model, the kind she might have once. [81], Forever Golden: A Celebration of The Golden Girls released in select movie theaters across North America via Fathom Events on September 14, 2021, marking the show's 36th anniversary. It ran from September 1992 to May 1993 and also starred Cheech Marin and Don Cheadle. 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, 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 series starred Stephanie Hodge and a set of other young nurses. In order to try and determine the real ages of the Golden Girls, we need to look at other sources of evidence. Whatever the reason, it is clear that the Golden Girls are truly ageless. For instance, in the series finale, it is revealed that Blanche was born in 1931, which would make her 54 at the beginning of the show. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Proudly powered by WordPress In the hour-long series finale, which aired in May 1992, Dorothy meets and marries Blanche's uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen) and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta. Dorothy was likely in her late 40s, rather than her early 50s. Despite her enjoyment in playing Dorothy, the show eventually concluded when Bea Arthur decided to depart the show in 1992. [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. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be? The series also ranked among the Nielsen ratings' top ten for six of its seven seasons. "We had games going all the time off camera." 13. 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 Golden Girls is one of four live-action shows, along with All in the Family, Will & Grace, and Schitt's Creek, where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy. 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. Getty was the first actress to be cast, and her role was intended to make the rest of the characters appear younger. Reportedly, a second season was approved before being cancelled the day before the network announced its 199394 schedule. Similarly, Estelle Getty, who played Sophia, was 79 when the show began and 83 when it ended. Its probable it examined a lot of the same scenarios as previous episodes. [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. Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, and Sophia Petrillo managed the single life as seniors in Miami for seven seasons. [68] Many episodes of the series followed a similar format or theme. Colucci, Jim (2016). But one of the questions that has always been asked is: how old were the Golden Girls characters supposed to be? 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. The program is about four elderly ladies who live . (season two, episode five). [5] Terry Tang of the Associated Press reported that the series continues to attract new fans in the 21st century and characterized it as an example of a sitcom that has aged well.[6].
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