The Day Betty White And Bea Arthur Got Into A Fight

Betty seemed like kind of a pain in the ass.

How so, r1?

Shy introverts like things to be a certain way. They like structure and routine or else they start freaking out. They panic. They need to be able to control their world. Betty's extroverted personality was occasionally too much for Bea to handle. If Bea had been more laid back and comfortable with herself like Rue and Estelle were, she wouldn't have reacted that way. Bea once said in an interview that she's like an exposed nerve.

Or maybe Betty should have just not made the comment? Especially since as was stated, everyone could tell Bea was getting upset.

I loved Betty and Bea. I hate that these two feuded. But honestly, I think whatever feud was between them was exacerbated on both their ends.

I never bought that Betty simply didn't understand why Bea didn't care for her. Maybe in the beginning, yes. But I think there were things that she knew upset Bea, and when she felt pissed off with Bea over something (like in that clip) she knew how to get under Bea's skin, and then play it off like she didn't have a clue. Very passive aggressive behavior.

I've no doubt Betty could be a monumental sweetheart, but even those closest to her have also said that she was more like Sue Ann Nivens than people thought.

There are some MTM outtakes / bloopers on YouTube. In one of them, Betty teases someone (Mary?) for blowing a line and causing a re-take. But Betty and Mary were social friends as well as acting together on MTM.

Bea was an alcoholic and probably wanted to do her lines and go home. If you watch Seinfeld bloopers, Michael Richards (Kramer) looks like the one who was best at doing his lines. Julia L-D (Elaine) was constantly laughing, causing retakes.

Anyway, Bea probably did find Betty irritating. Betty should just admit what happened instead of acting like she had no clue.

Is he referring to that time in the bloopers where Betty said “Bea screwed up,” or whatever?

I didn’t catch that this was necessarily the 4th season, he just said “the biggest fight he witnessed in his four years there.”

R6, no he's referring to a fight that happened backstage. At the end of the interview he said it happened after 4 years of GG.

And yet, they kept going to lunch together every day even after this incident. In Rue's book, she wrote that Bea and Betty didn't have the relationship she wanted them to have but that they went to lunch together every day for 7 years. I guess it was a love/hate relationship.

Or Rue and Betty chatted when Bea read the paper.

Betty was chewing gum that day and Bea lost her shit.

Betty was a passive aggressive cunt. Never was a fan of her good girl shtick.

R11 She was very desperate to be the star.

R11, you are wrong

R11 you are correct

R11 she could take it though just as much as she could give it so I’ll give her a pass. Just watch the clips with her and Joan R - she enjoyed throwing zingers back and forth that was her thing.

And she probably figured someone who wasn’t tough enough to handle that shouldn’t be in the business - and she kind of has a point.

She was a tough old broad though - you don’t have that kind of longevity if you aren’t. That doesn’t mean she was a bitch, though.

R13 You are correct

R14 you are correct

She was cute, but also a bit annoying. "Everyone look at me, look at me, please!"

R17 Wrong!

R11 So true

R17 So accurate

R20, you are wrong

R20 You are dead-on accurate

I've seen Betty on reruns of game shows. She always seemed on, constantly trying to get a laugh and saying raunchy innuendos. I can see how that irritate the fuck out of shy, introverted Bea.

R6, that is from the second season episode when Blanche and Stan start hanging out.

I read somewhere, I think it's Closer magazine, that they kissed and made up after that fight.

There is or was, something phoney about Betty White. I like her, she's great on G.G, MTM, etc. But, I don't know exactly, the insincere automatic smile, she aiways appears to be "on". Maybe she's just a consummate professional.

#TeamEveryone!

I'm sure Betty was used to live TV and probably thought she needed to diffuse the situation and was worried they might be losing the audience, but she pandered to the audience by throwing Bea under the bus. You can also take her comment about "well, this is going well, isn't it?" as a jab toward Bea, which was uncalled for. If someone is boffing their lines, you don't make them more nervous and self-conscious about it.

I heard they fought over which book was better. Betty liked "So Dark the Waves on Biscayne Bay", while Bea preferred "Scarlet Dawn at Boca Raton".

After four years of working this close together, you should get a sense of your colleagues' boundaries, body language, mood cycles, tells, etc.

It seems Bea wasn't a happy woman. I have only mad love and respect for her, but I wouldn't have dared to meet her and tell her something stupid like "thank you for being a friend!", she would've probably chewed me out saying something like "we have never met before, we're not friends, fuck off!".

I had the opportunity to observe Betty up close and personal during a charity event for the LA Zoo about 20 years ago, and R27 comes pretty close to how she is in public. Whenever there were cameras or a TV crew in front of her she was “Betty White” with that big smile and wide eyes, but when they left it’s like everything shut off and she was an old woman with resting bitchface. In her defense it probably took a lot of energy to maintain that facade, so I don’t blame her for wanting to save it for the cameras.

My understanding is that Bea (despite her lasting fame as a TV actress) very much considered herself a theatre actress. She also prided herself on being a professional: being on time, lines letter-perfect and blocking down cold. The LEAST professional thing in the world for a stage actor to do is what Betty regularly did - break the fourth wall.

So Betty hit two triggers for Bea at once. Bea was already pissed at herself for going up (twice!) on her line when Betty addressed the audience to make fun of her.

Bea overreacted, but really, after four years Betty must have known Bea would not find that cute or funny. Why would she deliberately piss her off during taping? Annoying.

R11- The real problem was that they were both Lesbians and they clashed.

Betty was rude. Did Bea overreact? Maybe.

Read Jim Colucci's book, "Golden Girls Forever."

All four of them were professional, and quite brassy old broads, but their personalities clashed quite a bit. Bea was sensitive and quiet, but she was also arguably the best trained as a real actress. Betty had the two personas, as others have mentioned here, and swung wildly between Betty White the national treasure and Betty White the phony old pro. Estelle had a life before acting, and in addition to her stage fright and memory problems, she was also occupied with family issues during the series run. Rue was well-liked, but conflict averse, and generally preferred to stay out of it.

R33 “turning it on and off” is a method of preserving energy for public figures who need to be charming at all times. I’ve seen John Travolta, Sandra Bullock, Bill Clinton and Andre Agassi click into “meet and greet mode” like a switch is hit. When they turn it off they were quiet and self-contained and looked almost physically smaller.

Sorry, *r32

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS!!! Can’t we all agree that they ALL were (and we all are) pains in the collective ass, passive-aggressive cunts, and desperate to be the star? Everyone must look in the mirror, darlings

Was this the altercation that led to Bea leaving the 'grass comber' on Betty's dressing room floor?

R40 You're trying so hard, but give it up

Cunts all around

The Day The Laughter Died

Coworkers sometimes disagree.

R36 What family issues did she have?

R45 Her husband was an asshole

[quote}Betty should just admit what happened instead of acting like she had no clue.

That is so not something she can do.

"so not something"

R45

Estelle was living in LA to film the show (and its sequels), but her husband stayed in New York to run his business. They lived apart for several years. She also had a nephew who was dying of AIDS in the early 90s, and she took care of him.

But that cheeky and cunty gossip Betty White would go around telling people Estelle needed to leave the set early because she had a drinking problem (not true), or because she had a botched facelift and needed to rest her jaw (also not true).

[quote]And she probably figured someone who wasn’t tough enough to handle that shouldn’t be in the business - and she kind of has a point.

Meanwhile, Bea was the only one out of the four who had her own hit TV series. It was Bea's participation who Susan Harris sought out against Brandon Tartikoff's opinions. And it was Bea's departure that caused the show to tank.

You watch the first half season of episodes (in production order) and you'll see just how much they initially anchored the show on Bea. She is a constant presence, even in episodes that deal with the other characters like Job Hunting. Once the shows started airing and it was a hit, you can see it shaping into more of an ensemble. But they relied heavily on Bea more than the others to sell it to audiences.

It's a shame she was jealous of Betty. Bea brought a lot to the table in terms of that shows success, but it seems like she saw Betty winning the Emmy first win as it signifying something else.

Betty's character was warm and funny, for being stupid. Bea's character was a bitch.

R50 Bea rightfully had no rational reason to be envious of Betty White, but we don't get to control our feelings that tightly. Sometimes, we just don't like a person.

Maybe part of it was because Bea was an Actor with a capital "A." She won a Tony and an Emmy before she even showed up for this series. Betty White had her own success too, but she wasn't cut from the same cloth. Bea probably saw her as a joke - a classic sidekick and a game-show hostess who was good for a cheap laugh but certainly not a true actress. And yet, despite her phony exterior and total lack of training, Betty White still stole the show and always seemed to have more fans than Bea did, and that had to have stung.

It must be how Hillary Clinton felt when she had to share a stage with glitzy newcomers like Barack Obama and Donald Trump. "What the hell are YOU doing here?"

This was the day that Bea shit on Betty’s dressing room floor.

R53 No, that was Georgia Engel's dump. Bea never had to drop one.

R34 they made up and scissored afterwards, with real scissors.

[quote] Bea’s character was a bitch.

No, R51. You sound one-dimensional.

R36/R49, is that recount of White’s gossiping from the Colucci book?

Bea said in interviews that when she was young, she wanted to be a little blonde starlet. She also said that when she was older she wanted to be blonde and 5'2 but she was the opposite of that. And here comes Betty who was shorter and even though she wasn't a real blonde, she looked like Goldilocks and had a personality that people loved. Betty didn't have a deep voice either. Betty was extroverted, high energy and needed very little sleep. She was like the Energizer Bunny while Bea was often tired and just wanted to go home and be left alone. Betty was everything Bea wanted to be.

And you're overinvested in dead actresses from an ancient shitcom, R56. I know which I'd rather be accused of.

I give Norman Lear credit for seeing something in Bea (episode of "All in the Family" - cousin Maude). Nowadays, no one would create a show around a gray-haired, 6-foot, low-voiced woman.

I liked the Dorothy character a lot. The Betty character I always found unfunny and tedious (St. Olaf stories way too long). Loved the Rue character.

At some point, Estelle Getty did get a face lift. She was already in make-up to make her look older, so they had to adjust to the face lift.

R57- Bea was tired and just wanted to go home and be left alone- I can relate. It sounds JUST like me.

R58- Half of datalounge is invested in these long dead actresses and the generally average sitcom Golden Girl.

[quote]I read somewhere, I think it's Closer magazine, that they kissed and made [bold]out[/bold] after that fight.

FIFY

They were two totally different personalities and they clashed. It happens a lot.

All of these women seemed insufferable except for Rue.

Why would Bea hold a grudge and not get over it? Unless she had some kind of hang-up and couldn't let it go, it seems like whatever their differences were should have been put aside both personally and professionally. Unless there is more to the story we don't know about.

[quote]Nowadays, no one would create a show around a gray-haired, 6-foot, low-voiced woman.

Yeah. Streaming is so conventional.

R62, maybe they did make out. I was had a love/hate relationship with another girl in high school. We were both competitive skiers. It was like Personal Best. I hated her on the slopes and wanted to beat her time but in private, we would make out. Maybe that's what Bea and Betty did. Hating someone can really be a turn on and lead to wild passionate sex.

[Quote]There is or was, something phoney about Betty White

She was a lesbian in a lavender marriage with that queen Allen Ludden.

Bea had Betty's number.

And Betty had Bea’s snatch.

Did Bea have to clean up the doo doo that she made in Betty’s dressing room?

[quote] Nowadays, no one would create a show around a gray-haired, 6-foot, low-voiced woman.

Don;t jinx it. I'm waiting to hear if Netflix bought the option to my new sitcom, "Foxy Roxy."

That is NOT how I want to remember them.

THIS is how I want to remember them, goddammit!

Yeah, right, R58. Your sane and elegant response sure put me in my place! Thanks for the laugh.

If you watch Maude, Bea kept looking at women's butts and boobs. Almost every episode in which there was an attractive woman. She even stared at Rue's boobs. There was a guest star on GG in season four who said Bea hit on her and stared at her boobs. Maybe Bea and Betty's feud was lesbian drama. They were all over each other when GG started. Holding hands, touching each other's hair. They were friends before GG. Bea knew how Betty was so why was she friends with her if she didn't like Betty's personality? If Bea thought Betty was a fake, why are there pictures of them from the 70s sitting together at a table, having fun? Why did they go to lunch every day? I wouldn't go to lunch with someone I can't stand. Do you how to tell when the media is lying about a story? When they repeat the same thing over and over again.

Bea could have looked quite elegant IMO if she had slimmed down considerably, colored her hair and worn a flattering hair style. Think Diana Vreeland. .

OMG, this is DL Holy Grail...I never thought we'd hear this story from someone who was actually there.

If only Lucy had been there to throw hot coffee on both of 'em

Is that Robert Mandan from SOAP playing the piano at R72? He was always a hot silver fox.

Actually, now that I think of it, wasn't there a scene in MTM where Sue Ann opens up to Mary about her frustrations regarding the limits of her tv career, the constantly smiling happy homemaker persona. Her face was locked into a permanent smile, very funny, expertly delivered by White.

This should have been the subject of Feud Season 2 instead of the boring nonsense they have planned involving the women of Truman Capote!

TMZ needs to release footage of this epic fight!

[quote] If you watch Maude, Bea kept looking at women's butts and boobs.

Tell me about it.

My money is on Betty.

I think Betty was more like Sue Ann Nivens than Rose. Betty was strong.

Betty does sound exhausting, but Bea seems like she could be a real bitch. I would prefer to work with Rue. I adored Estelle and Sophia was my favorite character, but with her anxiety and memory loss, that's also too exhausting to deal with.

A bitch that can fool almost everyone to believe that they are sweet and nice are the shiftiest kind of bitches that you need to look out for.

I always thought GG was Estelle Getty's first acting job outside of theater. I never knew until recently that she was in Mask with Cher and Eric Stoltz.

Here's a better pic

How so R88??

🙄🙄🙄

Yes R75, but slimming outfits wouldn’t hide the colostomy bag.

It is on my brower anyway r89

Bea seemed to have the same Emmy issue with Betty that Susan St. James had with Jane Curtin on Kate and Allie. Susan was an established prime time TV star who was well known to Middle American audiences while Jane was a part of ensemble on the late-night SNL. Susan thought she would win the first year because of that name recognition, only to have Jane win it two years in a row. That caused some bad blood on Kate and Allie.

Cybill probably felt the same way with Christine as well. And we all know what a war zone that became because of that Emmy win.

That's why I'm so glad Tyne Daly won that first season over Sharon Gless! And Tyne thanked all the Cagney's as well!

The Golden Girls episode where Rose walks into the kitchen while they're getting weighed has Rose spouting out a crack that was total Sue Ann and not Rose at all, down to the smirk.

I'd rather spend one on one time with Bea. Something tells me that the conversation would be far more intellectual and cover more subjects than Betty could discuss comfortably.

What was Susan St. James known for before Kate and Allie?

MacMillan and Wife was a big hit in the 1970's. Plus she starred in a lot of TV movies.

R74 get help

There is an interview with Tony Thomas, where he shares some interesting insight. He says something along the lines of Bea just took this as an important job - learn your lines, act your best, see you tomorrow. This is business, I'm here because I was asked, and I'm making good money. Betty took it as an opportunity to play, interact with audience, and be a show woman. Rue was somewhere in between, and was just very grateful for the job. Bea and Betty were so different, that they got on each other's nerves after a few years, but nothing severe - just like any other coworkers who would disagree, or who had very different work styles.

It's interesting to me that there is still - after all these years - such a fascination with this show - and I include myself in that!

I remember reading that Betty said the other three girls didn't congratulate after she won her Emmy, which I thought was sad. But if she made up shit like Estelle being an alcoholic, maybe she made that up as well.

Bea was the alcoholic, not Estelle.

This is now a thread on another website.

R100 Cool story

Bea was brilliant as Dorothy, but in Maude it was just her bellowing and shouting. Bea was also an alcoholic and drunks are never fun to be around during the day when they are craving a drink. Bea got lazy in Golden Girls, you could clearly see that she wasn’t interested and was reading cue cards. During season 5 it looked as if her drinking had really gotten out of hand given how rough she suddenly looked.

In the Golden Girls Forever book you had struggle to find any guest star who had anything nice to say about working with Bea. I’m sure she was nice to her friends, but just imagine having to work with her on a show for 7 years.

I don’t know why Bea being a classically trained artiste who looked down on TV personalities is supposed to be a point in her favour. In fact, it makes her seem like an unprofessional dick.

I didn’t see her elite ass working with Olivier and Bergman and Fellini and Kubrick.

The fact Betty only commented after Bea was dead and couldn't defend herself, shows Betty is a cuntess.

[quote]What was Susan St. James known for before Kate and Allie?

She was a bitch. Frederick Koehler who played Jayne Curtain's son, said that she went around on the first day and made sure everyone knew SHE Was the star of the show.

[quote]I think Betty was more like Sue Ann Nivens than Rose. Betty was strong.

You have to be that way, when you marry a gay man. Her step children hated her.

[quote]Bea kept looking at women's butts and boobs.

Which is why Adrienne Barbeau replaced the original Coral.

I got to interview Bea Arthur during her one woman show. She was reserved, but fairly warm. She seemed to enjoy the conversation. Her most vulnerable moments were about Mame. She was so bruised when talking about her ex husband manipulating her into doing it. I suspect her trust was hard won & when someone in her life compromised that trust and faith it devastated her. She couldn’t move on from it. And given her success, she didn’t need to. To hell with Gene Saks. Fuck you Betty White.

BTW I once did a show with Betty White. In 1997, so post GG. She couldn’t have been more lovely. But I suspect a little jaded. I mean what could be said to her that hadn’t been said before? Still she was gracious and engaged seeing that she was so relevant to younger performers. Total pro despite the fawning.

God bless them both. They left a lot of joy & laughter in their wake.

I was the Betty to Kate Jackson’s Bea! Kate couldn’t handle my warm and effervescent personality.

R100, which website stole our thread?

Betty wasn’t a cunt because she had a different personality than reserved Bea, why does one of them have to be a villain? Of course they didn’t get along, they had completely clashing personalities.

It is also honestly a point against Bea if she thought being a a well regarded stage actress gave her the right to be unprofessional on a show in which she was meant to be on equal footing with everyone else. It’s pretentious.

[quote] Anyway, Bea probably did find Betty irritating. Betty should just admit what happened instead of acting like she had no clue.

Yes, I’ll get right on that.

Very truly yours,

Bea had a chicken phobia:

"In one particular Golden Girls season two episode, Rose (played by White) brought home Count Bessie, a live chicken who can play the piano to show off to her housemates. The problem with this scene was that Arthur found it very difficult to stay in character when they acted out the scene in front of the audience. According to White, this was due to her acute chicken phobia and desire to be as far away from Count Bessie as possible. Arthur was fine during rehearsals of the episode because they used a toy chicken. However, Arthur couldn’t handle it when it was time to use the live chicken. White wrote, “When ‘Count Bessie’ arrived on the set, Bea turned pale as a ghost and split!” The producers eventually had to stage the scene such that Arthur was far away from White, who held the chicken. All the other actresses were also understanding and tried their best to make Arthur comfortable."

I’m sure this has probably been posted to DL a million times already, but I hadn’t seen it before.

[quote]. If one persistent rumor about Arthur still follows her into the afterlife, it’s that she and her Golden Girls co-star Betty White, who played the dippy Minnesotan Rose Nylund, had a contentious off-screen relationship. Saks says it isn’t entirely without merit. “My mom was the real deal,” he explains. “I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. Betty starred on a game show at one point.”

[quote] He continues: “When they shot the sitcom, sometimes they had to stop. My mom would stay concentrated, maybe stay backstage, stand in her place there. And sometimes Betty would go out and smile and chat with the audience and literally go and make friends with the audience. Which is a nice thing — a lot of them have come from all over the country and are fans. I think my mom didn’t dig that. It’s more about being focused or conserving your energy. It’s just not the right time to talk to fans between takes. Betty was able to do it and it didn’t seem to affect her. But it rubbed my mom the wrong way.” Still, Saks adds, “there was no fighting at all. They were friends. At one point they lived close enough that they would drive each other to work.”

Damn Kate was on to me!

[quote] Her most vulnerable moments were about Mame. She was so bruised when talking about her ex husband manipulating her into doing it.

You may already know, R108, but as I understand it, following 25 years of marriage, Saks went on to cheat on Bea, marry his mistress and have a child with her. Bea really endured her very own “Stan” experience. What a great guy Saks was.

R108 yes. She made her thoughts abundantly clear. His loss. She’s an icon and he’s mostly forgotten. Last laugh, Maude.

I think Saks will always be remembered for the 'imperfect' masterpiece that is the film Mame...

Why did Bea hate the movie Mame? Was it because her secret lover Angela wasn't in it? I watched it last week for the first time and thought it was great!

R105 Thanks for that info. That's hilarious Susan did that. The reason I watched the show was Jane. She was funny. Susan was fine but Jane was the star and carried the show.

R105, when was that interview with Koehler? Because that must have made this 2021 reunion very awkward.

Betty White was an actress. Of course she wasn't actually as sweet as Rose Nylund.

Bea had lots of phobias: chickens, gum chewing, backwards hats and probably more. I'm sure she had nightmares of Betty White chewing gum while holding a chicken. I still love Bea even if she was a big weirdo. Most celebrities are strange and very insecure. That's why they go into showbusiness.

I’m 62 years old, must have known or met thousands of people in that time including many celebrities, pop stars, actors,, and never met anyone with even one of those phobias. Bea was just fucking weird, end of story.

Bea studied acting with Erwin Piscator at the New School's Dramatic Workshop, alongside Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Ben Gazzara, Elaine Stritch, etc., and like them, she probably took her acting a little too seriously, internalizing everything and staying in character throughout the whole production. Betty, OTOH, was more Miss Showbiz than serious actress. She was always "on," entertaining her audience come rain or shine.

Because you can’t entertain fans in the audience and be a “serious actress”.

I don’t buy this at all.

It’s strange that in that clip Bea and Angela seem about the same height, of coursed Angela is probably wearing heals and Bea is wearing flats. Yet Bea just always looks so tall, even when she is only slightly talker than somebody next to her she seems so much taller.

Sorry I know this doesn’t make sense, but does anybody see what I’m getting at. I sometimes wonder if it’s the style of clothes that she always seems to wear, they seem to make her appear even taller than she is.

[quote]of coursed Angela is probably wearing heals

Ms. Lansbury may be seen by some as unattractive, but to imply she’s a dog is unnecessary.

r128, yes. Even when Bea Arthur is around tall people, she always looks tall. I guess part of is that she wears long clothing.

Wasn’t Bea really a man?

I think the bottom line is Bea wanted to act like a serious actress, at the same time she wanted to be beloved by all and it probably made her SUPER jealous to watch Betty flirt with the audience inbetween takes and see her be “the favorite” so she probably lashed out at Betty.

Betty winning the Emmy over her in the first year probably cemented this.

This… to me…makes the most sense and explains why they were able to be “respectful” and not “feud” and yet at the same time have these little blowups from time to time and once the show was over…there was no reason for Betty and Bea to pretend they were besties.

Colleagues that were sometimes marred in jealousy, but not hated rivals and not best friends.

Bea was earning a ton more money than the other three actresses. Given it was an ensemble show and all of actresses were vital to its success, Bea could have just banked the money and not been so difficult on set. She must have been a nightmare to work with for all concerned, they were probably walking on egg shells the whole time.

Who was the most flatulent?

In the GG opening credits, Bea is in every single shot with the exception of the title cards of the other actresses. It’s always Bea-Betty, Bea-Rue, or Bea-Estelle. I wonder if that was done to appease Bea during early negotiations.

All four GG's are sucking cocks in hell. They were all evil wenches.

Getting back to Betty's behavior, don't forget she was an only child and a graduate of Beverly Hills High School. The combination of those two really helped solidify her as the true center of the universe.

I've posted this before, but a good friend was on the GG production staff and never witnessed or heard of any tension or disagreements among that cast. My friend believes this story just took on a life of its own in the decades since the show ended.

Having said that, I attended several GG tapings and Betty was on only cast member to acknowledge the studio audience between takes (and the studio audience, of course, went wild every time). Bea and Rue never broke the fourth wall between scenes and would be visibly perturbed if taping ran late. Not Betty (or Estelle, for that matter).

Does anyone else remember seeing Bea’s one-woman show many many years ago? I saw it in Toronto and it was pretty underwhelming but I clearly remember her saying at one point “I worked with with three women for 7 years on a little show called The Golden Girls, two of them were an absolute dream, and one of them was a cunt!” That line got the biggest response of anything in the whole show!

Bea's one woman show was overshadowed by Elaine Stritch's one woman show, which was brilliant.

And yet Bea was an all-around better talent than that miserable lush.

I saw her show in San Francisco in 2001. I don’t think she used that line in the show. Then again I was sitting near Bruce Vilanch, and he was undressing me with his eyes.

I saw Bea's show and that line wasn't it. HOWEVER, Michael Musto famously quoted her saying it in his gossip column, and that's when the feud tale went public and took off.

Yeah, that cunt story sounds pretty apocryphal.

Bea sounds like she was a cunt also, so they were two peas in a pod.

Rue recounted a story where referred to Betty as a cunt at Bea’s memorial service. I was there. Sitting right behind Adrienne Barbeau. Angela was the hostess. Zoe Caldwell (who was Bea’s neighbor and friend up in Westchester) also spoke.

Sorry, where *Bea referred

R127, Angela is 5'8 1/2 and Bea was 5'9 1/2. They look like lovers in that video.

The whole Bea/Betty thing has been talked about at length, but I think it comes down to a case of opposites butting heads with a little bit of jealousy. Bea was an introvert who came from Broadway and believed in maintaining the fourth wall between actor and audience. Betty came from television where interacting with the audience was part of the process, particularly back in the day of taped sitcoms with a 24 minute show could take hours to film and you have to keep the audience energy up. It allegedly drove Bea nuts that Betty was always "on" and interacting with the audience. Also Bea's son has sad that she was the type of person who needed someone to be angry with and on Golden Girls it was Betty White.

Additionally, people involved with show have also suggested there was some underlying jealous on Bea's part towards Betty. Bea was very self-conscious and always said she wanted to be the "blonde starlet, American sweetheart) type which Betty was. When they were taping episodes, the audience always sided with Betty because she interacted to them and Bea shy and reserved just couldn't do it. Bea was furious when Betty won the Emmy that first year, and she wasn't too thrilled when Rue won it the next year. Bea also was never really happy on the Golden Girls, which is well-documented. She saw it as something of a demotion having gone to being the star on Maude to being one of four stars on GG.

That being said, Bea and Betty's "feud" didn't really affect the show much. It was not like on other shows where actors who don't get on refuse to speak or fight openly. Whatever tensions there were, it rarely interfered with their work. I also think after the show ended, Bea played up her hatred of Betty because it got laughs. That's not to say she loved Betty, but there was at least some underlying professional respect.

As for this story, while I do think it probably happened (there are plenty of bloopers with Betty White on various shows with saying stuff like this to the audience) I don't think Bea would've taken Betty aside during a taping and chewed her out. Perhaps between scenes or after the taping or something yes. But that would go against Bea's theater training.

[quote] Ms. Lansbury may be seen by some as unattractive, but to imply she’s a dog is unnecessary.

Dogs "heel," not "heal." (Unless they're recovering from an injury.)

[quote] Bea and Rue never broke the fourth wall between scenes and would be visibly perturbed if taping ran late.

Is it "breaking the fourth wall" if you're filming before a live audience and between scenes? Don't they actually want the audience to be cheerful, lively, and laughing? Don't they actually use hype people to get the audience in the mood? I don't understand what's wrong with Betty being friendly to the audience unless it's causing a lot of lateness.

[quote]Bea was an introvert who came from Broadway

I’ll never understand why an introvert would want to be an actor. On stage in front of all those people?

Jesus, r149, proofread!

[quote]Dogs "heel," not "heal." (Unless they're recovering from an injury.)

True enough, but I guarantee Angela wasn’t wearing “heals.”

Bea looked like Angela's husband Peter Shaw.

^ Oh heavens no, my husband's dick wasn't nearly that BIG!

[quote]In the GG opening credits, Bea is in every single shot with the exception of the title cards of the other actresses. It’s always Bea-Betty, Bea-Rue, or Bea-Estelle. I wonder if that was done to appease Bea during early negotiations.

As mentioned earlier, Bea was the biggest star out of all of them at the time Golden Girls started. Maude was a top ten hit for its first four seasons and finished in the top five for two of those seasons. It drew 23-25 million viewers per episode. Amanda's didn't fare well, but it was still her show. She had that clout going into Golden Girls. She was the biggest star.

Betty was famous, but it wasn't on the same level. Most of her fame came from daytime TV, which had a nice sized audience, but not on the level of prime time . Aside from her supporting role on Mary Tyler Moore, her prime-time TV work was guest appearances. Her own attempt at a show bombed. She was doing guest work on Mama's Family and a short-lived daytime game show at the time of Golden Girls.

Also, Bea (and Rue) had the caveat of working with Norman Lear, which carried a lot of prestige.

Muriel should offer a Phd in Golden Girls studies. This thread would be compulsory reading.

r157: "Aside from [Betty's] supporting role on Mary Tyler Moore"

This thread is one of the stupidest in history. But to clear things up, MTM was wildly popular back when that meant massive numbers of eyeballs were watching you. And Betty White won 2 Emmys on MTM. There's not much else "aside" from that.

I think Bea was a bit like Lucille Ball when it came to filming, let’s get it done in an hour so I can get to the restaurant for my dinner reservation. Betty liked playing to the audience. If you watch the blooper reels you can often see Bea trying to stay in character in the background while Betty is talking to the audience. The two probably clashed over this.

^wrong! we clashed over who was better at eating rue's pussy while estelle ate out our assholes

Betty was a well known cunt and it wasn't just her character on MTM. She couldn't stand not to have attention.

And was such a cunt she waited until Bea died to spread shit about her... while fishing for pity.

Channeling my inner Blanche to ask R142, what WOULD Bruce see with his x-ray eyes that night?

I’m going to share a bit of gossip.

Elaine Stritch had lunch with Bea Arthur. Now Elaine said that Bea Arthur could swear with the best of them, but even she was surprised when the subject of Betty White came up and Bea called her a cvnt.

I don’t believe for a minute that Bea was 5ft 9.5 inches tall. She looks like a strapping 6 footer to my eyes.

Agreed. IN my eyes, Bea is at least 6 foot.

Bea was a strapping tall man.

Rue should have won a second Emmy for the Rusty Anchor episode or the one where George "returns" from the dead.

It was ridiculous that Betty was nominated for every season yet it was Rue who knocked it out of the park when given a chance for the whole run.

I think that lizard of Bea also that she was dropped from the Emmys for seasons 5-7 while Betty remained.

I agree, Rue deserved the nomination from season 7, if it was only going to one.

R165 that's because she was standing next to 4'10 Estelle most of the time. Everyone looked like Godzilla standing next to her.

R168 I’d rank Betty last out of the “girls” every season. The other three were funnier.

It’s often that way with a star.

Look at Killing Eve. That was billed as a Sandra Oh vehicle. Comer stole the show and Oh’s character wasn’t nearly as interesting and her performance not nearly as noteworthy, but she garnered obligatory Emmy noms.

R172 So basically the Emmy’s are a bullshit popularity contest.

R172, Comer didn’t steal anything. Comer’s role is more interesting. The aggressor is always more interesting than the victim. Sandra Oh should have read the script before signing the contract.

That’s news? I mean, people were angry that Selena Fucking Gomez didn’t get nominated this year. Um, didn’t the fact that she’s a pretty bad actress clue anyone in?

R170 Nancy Walker looked tall next to her.

We've had this exact sotry/thread/debate, dozens of times already.

Isn't there some straight douchebro you should all be drooling over?

R157 It's amazing that despite never being the solo star of a popular TV show, Betty not only had an incredible career longevity, but also was considered an A-lister and a national treasure, bigger than many movie stars. She knew how to play the game.

Didn't Bea pretty much give up the stage after Maude except for her one woman show? I did see her in Woody Allen's The Floating Lightbulb(a rare play from him) at I believe the Vivian Beamont. She was excellent.

There is an interview with Bea on you tube. It really rankled that she was never the pretty or beautiful type. She said she wanted to be in a show where she got the final bow and was dressed in white. It never happened.

I think Estelle should've won for season 6 and 7. She was her funniest then. I thought Bea should've also won for for season 7.

Bea should’ve win an Emmy for shitting on Betty’s dressing room floor.

R87 - Wow, looks like Cher had great on-set make up. That red hair does nothing for her.

I was there. I lent Betty my shitbra, which she used to beat Vea with.

R177 Yet here you are taking part.

Also I think Bea was also the only one of the 4 who received a percentage of the profits

There is an episode of Maude where Bea does a monologue for the entire show. Boring episode but she really worked hard.

[quote] Oh heavens no, my husband's dick wasn't nearly that BIG!

This reminds me of the time comedian Jeffrey Ross said during a roast, at which both were present, that he wouldn't fuck Sandra Bernhard with Bea Arthur's dick. It brought the house down and Bea stared daggers.

Ooops. Looks like R162 beat me to it.

Bea got a percentage of the profits but there was an interview where she was tangled in legal with the company because she wasn’t receiving them how she should have.

Rue lost her money towards the end in the Bernie Madoff catastrophe according to Leslie Jordan.

[quote]This thread is one of the stupidest in history. But to clear things up, MTM was wildly popular back when that meant massive numbers of eyeballs were watching you. And Betty White won 2 Emmys on MTM. There's not much else "aside" from that.

Emmys are based on industry popularity, not public popularity. And Betty's two were in SUPPORTING. Bea won once and was nominated five times in LEAD.

Maude also ranked higher in the ratings than Mary Tyler Moore the whole time that both shows were on the air at the same time.

When I used to visit my mother. She was always watching All in the Family and Maude reruns. All I heard was a lot of shouting and laugh tracks.

In Journey To The Center Of Attention, Rue almost hit Betty with her microphone. It starts at 19:38. You can tell Betty is scared to be hit and then Bea sees how close the microphone is to Betty's head and she gets scared too. I wonder if there were any accidents on GG. There's also Bea being very impressed by Rue's butt at 17:32. I wonder why they didn't release more bloopers from the later seasons. Most of the bloopers are from the first seasons.

Oops, forgot the link.

I love Bea's work, but she was an old drunk and a cunt.

[quote] There is an episode of Maude where Bea does a monologue for the entire show. Boring episode but she really worked hard.

It's SO boring it's usually cited as a viewer favorite and...oh yeah, Bea won the Emmy for it.

Tres boring!

[quote] So basically the Emmys are a bullshit popularity contest.

You're just now figuring that out?

Journey to the Center of Attention is probably my #1 favorite episode of GG. (Blanche persuades homebody Dorothy to join her at the Rusty Anchor; Dorothy takes over the bar with her good singing voice.) I'll have to look and see if that mic almost hit Betty.

"Journey" had a shitty B-plot, though, involving, of course, Rose. Rose had a wake service for a very alive Sophia and forgot to tell invited guests that Sophia didn't die.

[quote]r52 Bea rightfully had no rational reason to be envious of Betty White

Bea might have resented that Betty had a conventionally girlish, flirtatious persona while she herself had always been sidelined as a towering, blunt faced character actress. It hurt her feelings that she was not considered attractive enough for the title role in MAME and was instead given a supporting part, for instance.

There was some bitterness there.

R198, dude! Spoiler alert!

[quote]r74 Why did they go to lunch every day?

Was it always the two of them, or any of the 4 who wanted to go?

[quote]R94 What was Susan St. James known for before Kate and Allie?

[quote]r95 MacMillan and Wife was a big hit in the 1970's. Plus she starred in a lot of TV movies.

She was also in the surprise hit LOVE AT FIRST BITE (1979)

R201, Rue said that Bea didn't want to go to lunch with her if Betty wasn't going. Bea would wait for Betty and then take her hand and they would go to lunch.

It was also a fucking disgrace none of them won a Golden Globe apart from old gheko face. They were legends of comedy

Cybill Shepherd being very gracious about being nominated alongside the Golden Girls cast (02:20 mark)

Either Bea really insisted on having lunch every day with Betty and even held her hand while doing so, or she repeatedly called Betty a cunt. I don't believe that both are true.

Sure, people can be complicated, etc, but we're talking Multiple Personality Disorder with those shenanigans.

I think Bea was also bitter back in the 1960s because she was cast as Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof and then they cut per role way down to glorified chorus.

Bea was a goddamn drunk. Those people are always up and down.

[quote] Either Bea really insisted on having lunch every day with Betty and even held her hand while doing so, or she repeatedly called Betty a cunt. I don't believe that both are true.

Yes, which was it? I’m annoyed at the radio host in OP’s video for not asking the old guy this question. There probably aren’t many people still alive who were there and can tell us!

[quote] "Journey" had a shitty B-plot, though

At least there was an arc to that subplot.

I think Rue answered that question at Bea's Memorial.

I think Rue was making a joke.

R201 Any of the 4

The NBC production of the tension behind the scenes of 'The Golden Girls' did include the feces incident. Jane Krakowski, in a puffy blond wig, played Betty White. Betty actually stepped in it, in a series of close ups, looked horrified, then ran to throw up in her dressing room toilet as the segment faded to commercial. It was frank, unsettling and unforgettable.

R33 NAILS it. I had the sincere honor of having lunch with Bea, circa 1999. She very much preferred the theater. She told me with TV, you get one chance at it, and it's gone. With theater, you could continue to find moments, and really perfect your performance over time.

Bea was not like her TV characters. She was shy, yet somewhat imperious. She didn't crack wise like Dorothy or Maude. I guess she was somewhat neurotic, but in different ways than her characters.

So, yes, Betty was there to have fun, and didn't take acting seriously. I'm sure this began to annoy Bea. And by year seven She really needed it to end.

R215 The words you are looking for are drunken miserable cunt.

Bea was very troubled. Having a penis and vagina before it was fashionable placed a huge burden on his/her mental health.

Today Bea would be a huger internet sensation and instagram influencer.

R217 Meh, you tried too hard

Can we get back to why Bea, Rue and Betty never won a Golden Globe and why Rue wasn't even Emmy nominated for Journey To The Centre Of Attention?!

R219 and Rue said that was her favorite episode

R220. Yeah, cunt. You have probably repeated that ten million times already in these god awful threads.

Can anyone name an episode where Betty or Bea truly shone in the later seasons, they way Rue did in the Rusty Anchor or George returns episodes? She was even outstanding in the "Makes me feel like a lady" and "Grammy" episode

How different might the show have been if Dorothy had been played by foul-mouthed drunk Elaine Stritch or patrician-faced mope Lee Grant, both of whom were serious contenders if Arthur wouldn't sign?

I thought that Rue was the best actress throughout the whole of the seven year run of the show. Some actors just grab a part and run with it, Larry Hagman did the same with Dallas. But for me the Rusty Anchor episode was not one of my favourites. Maybe it’s because there was too much of Bea singing, or bellowing would be more accurate a description.

But they were all great and the show has really aged well, it’s always fun to watch. I read the other day that Betty was earning $3 million a year for repeats of the show, could that be true?

In a perfect world...

Season 4: Estelle should've won for Yes, We Have No Havanas and Bea should've won for Foreign Exchange and Yes, We Have No Havanas should've won for Best Writing.

Season 5: Rue should've won an Emmy for The Accurate Conception and Bea should've won for All Bets Are Off.

Season 6: Estelle should've won for Girls Just Wanna Have... Before They Die and Rue should've won for Sister of The Bride.

Season 7: The Case of the Libertine Belle should've won Best Writing, Bea should've won for The Monkey Show, Rue should've won for Journey to the Center of Attention and Estelle should've won for Goodbye, Mr. Gordon.

And I would've won Best Guest Star! Whoo!

[quote]r217 Bea was very troubled. Having a penis and vagina before it was fashionable placed a huge burden on his/her mental health.

I believe she talked once about feeling bad she didn’t pave the way for Jamie Lee Curtis etc. to come out with her/his secret. That was really near the end, tho.

Welcome back, R221! Enjoying the threads, I see. Thanks for continuing to bump!

I have R221 blocked,

R229 Wise move - it seems "special"

Betty White wins 1987 Comedy Award and calls Bea Arthur "Beasy". She used to call Rue "Ruesy". That's a sign of affection.

^ Here's the short answer to OP's question - Bea wanted to win and to be as popular as Betty was in Hollywood circles.

How dare she call me "Beasy" in front of the entire Television Academy!

Bea to Rue: “Is the cunt finally ready to go to lunch? I’m hungry!!!”

[quote] So, yes, Betty was there to have fun, and didn't take acting seriously.

Although Rose was my least-favorite character, I think Betty did a good job with what was given to her. I think it was a poorly-written role.

I enjoyed Bea singing "Hard-Hearted Hannah," which they played in the closing credits only, not the body of "Journey to the Center of Attention." I enjoyed all the male character actors (Rusty Anchor denizens) in the episode.

The day I took a shit ten looked at it before I flushed

[quote]Although Rose was my least-favorite character, I think Betty did a good job with what was given to her. I think it was a poorly-written role.

I loved Rose. I agree that the St. Olaf stories could be tedious, and were never as good at the Sicily ones. But Betty had some laugh out loud moments with simple, throw away material.

Like when Becky arrives. "It's just that we didn't expect you to be this fat"

Or when the blind guy came in and asks Rose for a hand, and she starts clapping.

For some reason, Betty made those moments really work.

Bea went up on a line?

Bea said don’t you ever stand me up?

What the fuck does any of this mean?

Bea was a serious alcoholic. No one liked her on Golden Girls, not even Estelle. The cast routinely had to apologize to guest cast for Bea’s behavior. I have two friends that knew and worked with Bea over the years. Bea would go on drunk tirades about Betty. She was also a bit of a weirdo. She walked around her neighborhood with no shoes on, even in the street. She would never admit to having been in the service either. We also all know the story about her throwing a fit at the TSA, throwing her shit at them and screaming, “The terrorists! The terrorists!” Bea was talented but a goddamn nightmare to be around.

Anyone remember Bea doing the Urkel dance at the Emmy awards?

Bea hated anyone who was attractive.

R237 or - “she just thought you were a lesbian.”

"Bea hated anyone who was attractive"

She loved Rue and LOVED Angela Lansbury. During her one woman show, she described Angela as gorgeous. She also said she worshipped Tallulah Bankhead and thought she was stunninly beautiful (she wasn't). I think Bea loved brilliant theatre actors. She probably felt is was her duty to "civilize" tv actors like Betty but Betty just wanted to have fun like she did on MTM.

Did Bea get along with Hermione Baddeley? I thought she was very funny on Maude.

No she apparently complained that Hermione was a compulsive farter and thus made the set very unpleasant with her continuous emissions

A lot of women check out other women’s bodies to size them up /as a competition thing - you see it the most at a hotel or rooftop pool. Are her thighs bigger than mine ? Does she work out more than me ? Does her butt have more cellulite? Etc

Yes R246, and?

R247 it’s not necessarily lesbionic. Maybe Bea was just jealous of her Maude daughter’s perky tits.

All four had brillinat timing and delivery, the show is a master class on comedic acting. However, from a dramatic perspective, I think Rue was the best technician of all the women, her shifts from beat to beat are very clear and she can access honest emotion quite well. Betty tends toward the same choice of looking to the side/off-camera when she wants to convey sincerity or depth. Bea noticably struggles trying to convey extreme joy or despair. Estelle is the most uneven with her dramatic stuff, it can either be very cliched or poignant.

Bea also said that Estelle was a constant farter so they wrote many farts into the story where Sophia would fart.

^is that true? If so, not cool Bea. I think I’d rather have a reputation as a drinker versus a farter.

The fart jokes were actually funny. It was plausible that Sophia would sit quietly and let out a Silent But Deadly.

Dorothy: If I closed my eyes, I'd swear I was in Ecuador

Sophia: Sorry, that was me.

[quote]r246 A lot of women check out other women’s bodies to size them up /as a competition thing - Are her thighs bigger than mine ? Does she work out more than me ? Does her butt have more cellulite? Etc

You think men don’t measure up other men?

R248 well Bea did not stare at Adrienne's boobs on Maude. She stared at other women's boobs and butts. Bea also had a breast reduction between Maude and Golden Girls so I don't think she was jealous of Adrienne's ample bosom. If you watch Maude carefully, she stares at attractive women often when she thinks the camera isn't on her but it is. For example, she's having a conversation with Rue and Bea's back is to the camera but we can still see the side of her face and her eyelashes while we can see Rue speaking. When Rue is looking at Bea, Bea is looking at her in the eyes but as soon as Rue stops looking at her, Bea's stare goes straight to Rue's boobs. Then Rue looks at Bea again and Bea's eyelashes go back up to meet Rue's stare. This happens so many times with Rue and other women. Other times, it's just extremely obvious like here: watch it from 3:06

Damm wrong season, wrong episode. Here starting at 3:06

I don't know why Bea had a breast reduction. I found her quite foxy in many episodes of Maude because of her nice rack and the dresses she wore complimented her tall, statuesque figure perfectly.

[quote] I think Betty did a good job with what was given to her. I think it was a poorly-written role.

Rose annoyed me in the same way Ted Baxter annoyed me on MTM, but in later years I appreciated the skill both actors had to bring to the table to be convincingly stupid/narcissistic, and yet still make the audience like them.

[quote]the dresses she wore complimented her

Her dresses spoke to her?

R256, I don't see anything. She's supposed to be noticing / checking out / ogling the young woman's body.

The turds are insinuating our man Bea is a poon hound. He's a red blooded American male. He allowed to seek the poon.

R260, she says "Come on Arthur, this is BoysTown for middle aged boys. The highlight of their day is watching the waitress in the coffee shop bend over to scoop ice cream." Then two young blondes arrive, they bend over and she stares at their asses. She does exactly what she accuses the men of doing. She didn't have to check out the girls that way but that's what Bea has done during her entire career if you watch her carefully.

Thanks, R262, I'll try to watch again.

What about Betty- was her hubby Allen Ludden really gay? I kept reading that here in DL.

Did Bea really shit on Betty’s dressing room floor? I say yes! Bea hated Betty.

Have you all forgotten this deliciousness at Bea's memorial? Wait for it. Rue delivers.

R255, you claimed that Bea didn't look at Adrienne's boobs, but at 2:54 and 3:03 in your clip, Bea is doing just that.

I can't believe it took 40 replies for someone to mention the rumor that Bea Arthur left a steamer in Betty's dressing room. I know it isn't true (maybe) but it's lore.

It's all a matter of bone structure. And Bea's wasn't very good.

R258 Fuck off, narcissism troll. You clearly have no clue what the term means. Rose was not a narcissist at all. She was a moron who took everything LITERALLY. She played the moronic bimbo well. Fuck off with your narcissism claims.

R270 Are you 12-years-old? Getting this angry over someone else's opinion? How Trumpian of you.

People fight all the time.

[quote]Betty wasn’t a cunt because she had a different personality than reserved Bea, why does one of them have to be a villain?

Betty was a cunt. Her own stepchildren hated her.

[quoteg]etting this angry over someone else's opinion? How Trumpian of you.

What? Trump doesn't do this. AOL does, Biden does, Mad Maxine does, Jolly Somali does. They all hate when anyone has an opinion differing from there's.

If you don't like Trump fine, but are you really so clueless you don't see how the Democrats are the ones against free speech?

Who's the moron who brought Trump/politics into this thread. Trolls...

[quote]If you watch Maude carefully, she stares at attractive women often when she thinks the camera isn't on her but it is.

Bea absolutely knew when the camera was on her. I don't care if she ogled hot women or not, but you're not going to convince me that she was such a newbie that she didn't know when the camera was on her.

Bea liked snatch.

[quote] They all hate when anyone has an opinion differing from there's.

Oh, dear!

Considering the source, though, I’m not surprised.

R271 Fuck off, narcissism troll. In every thread you claim it is all about narcissism. A term that doesn't even exist. You are a worse troll than fucking Darfur orphan.

R273 Where is the evidence her stepchildren hated her?

So both Bea and Betty had sapphic rumors? I never heard any for Rue. I think she even jokingly said she's a lot like Blanche - a slut.

Rue loved cock, she was married five times.

Did Betty have white pubes like her hair?

Bea had the white pubes.

I truly hate the dumb scatological rumor about Bea. It's so gross. Damn near keeps me away from these threads. Not funny either. Boring and disgusting.

The person who INSISTS that Betty and Bea had no tension between them is bizarre to me. Even Betty White eventually copped to it. Just because early on, Bea wanted all the girls to eat together doesn't mean that later on Bea didn't come to have problems with Betty and the way she worked. Grow up. They were not the characters they played in the show, They were real life, flawed, insecure adults. No different from anyone, and just as susceptible to work place politics.

[quote] Rue loved cock, she was married five times.

True. But she had far more husbands than that.

I've never heard of these people.

What show was this? What year? And why can't someone post the whole thing?

R287’s post made me wonder how it might have been if Bea Arthur had been cast as Doris in Postcards From The Edge. 🤔

^ Stupid ^

Those ugly pant suits did the manly Bea no favor in Maude.

R291 - It was the early-mid 70s. Everything was fucking ugly. That was an extraordinarily visually assaultive decade.

Funny Golden Globes moment in 1991 with our Golden Girls. God I miss those old award shows before all this woke nonsense.

[quote]Did Bea really shit on Betty’s dressing room floor? I say yes! Bea hated Betty.

I'd never heard that version before reading this thread. I've always read she dumped in Betty's dressing room toilet and then left without flushing.

R293 look Rose Jimmy Smits!

[quote]r291 Those ugly pant suits did the manly Bea no favor in Maude.

Agreed. She needed more floor length vests.

Apart from her blonde hair and big hooters Betty wasn't really that pretty. Rue was beautiful in her youth even if she looks like she was smacked with a shovel in later life

It's clear from R296's vid that the poor costumer on Maude received a 'gift' on the floor of her dressing room when she asked Bea to do a fitting after dress rehearsal...

[quote]r292 It was the early-mid 70s. Everything was fucking ugly. That was an extraordinarily visually assaultive decade.

Yves Saint Laurent did good pants suits. But by the time the style trickled down to the mass market it sometimes got wretched.

a YSL 70s pants suit is in the Met collection.

[quote] By 1970, with the acceptance of trouser suits, the Western woman's silhouette accommodated bifurcation for the first time. Yves Saint Laurent, a designer extremely sensitive to social trends, responded to the May student uprisings in 1968 by creating a line of women's tailored trouser suits. Based on the "African" theme, he created a "Safari" suit for his spring/summer 1968 collection, transforming the functional hunting outfit into townwear for women. Two years earlier, Saint Laurent had introduced his "City" trouser suit, which was intended to play the same role as a man's suit. Although trousers had been acceptable as an element of Orientalizing ensembles, for sport, as loungewear, and as an expression of iconoclasm by celebrities like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn, they had never been acceptable townwear for a fashionable woman. This radical shift is commensurate with the remarkable ascent of women in society during the 1970s.

I remember one costume designer saying she didn’t think we’d see that in history again, where an item became so central that every American woman was wearing the exact same thing. They really took over women’s wardrobes, just in varying colors.

There are zillions of examples of women wearing pants in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Saint Laurent made them runway CHIC and it trickled down like cerulean blue.

One of my grandmother's points of honor was that she never once in her life wore a pair of pants, nor sat in the sun. That was for working women.

I'm loving the look of (some) men in skirts these days. It's off the runway and on the streets now too.

I disagree R297. Betty had a great smile, cute dimples and beautiful blue eyes. She had an adorable, loveable, sweet face which is why she fooled so many people.

Betty seems nice at times, but her attempts at being funny are lame. She was great when she was performing, but not during interviews.

Betty aged so much over the course of the show. In the first season she gave Rue a run for her money in their dance recital leotards, but by season 6-7 you could see their 12 year age difference. Conversely, Bea got better looking over the course of TGG. Both Bea and Rue hit a wall QUICK after the series ended.

Betty White and Joan Rivers are pretty funny and great here.

There was something a bit phony about Betty, whether she was being raunchy or sweet. I think it hid her competitive ambition and kept her a bit remote from people. She was positive and had a healthy ego, but was not a warm person, I don't think so.

I bet that is what bugged Bea Arthur. That Betty had so many people fooled, while Bea came off as the difficult bitch.

[quote]r301 There are zillions of examples of women wearing pants in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

We were talking about pants SUITS.

R298? ENOUGH.

We can’t dismiss or “pretty up” the past, r307

[italic]Shit happens.

That's why 70s movies are so terrible. They look like shit. Fuck the American new wave. They look awful and are awful. Even the big old fashioned musicals like Mame and Funny Lady have to be the ugliest musicals ever made.

Aside from a little weight gain I don’t really see that actually. Also unlike Rue and Betty who yo/yo’d Betty stayed pretty much the same weight (on the thin side of average) her whole career /life (also partially accounts for her better health) - gaining maybe a small amount each decade. I didn’t really see her start to look appreciably different until around the early 2000s, probably the age (80ish) where it stops being safe to get face lifts (and they ALL had them).

[quote]r309 That's why 70s movies are so terrible. They look like shit.

Hi - -

[quote] (also partially accounts for her better health)

Betty was the only non-smoking Golden Girl. Bea, Rue and Estelle all smoked.

R309 70’s tv wasn’t all that great either.

R311 Ha! Ok you found one! But only two of the four leads could act!

I recently rewatched DAYS OF HEAVEN. Richard Gere is really not inherently an actor. He’s quite rudderless in it, though he looks delish.

R297 Fuck off. Rue was one of the ugliest cunts to ever be born. Few bitches have been uglier than Rue. She bests them all.

Who do people think are in heaven and who are in hell?

I like to think they are all in heaven having a really great time, even if I don't believe in that clap trap.

R309, the 70s was known for having the best movies: The Godfather, Jaws, The Exorcist, Network, Greese, Apocalypse Now, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest etc.

^ Chinatown, Cabaret, The Poseidon Adventure (definitely a cult favorite), French Connection, Halloween, Deer Hunter, Annie Hall, The Conversation, Taxi Driver, Last Picture Show, Dirty Harry, American Graffiti, Warriors, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever, Mad Max, Murder On the Orient Express, Carnal Knowledge, Love Story, and on and on.

[R310] There's a talk Betty gave in 1989 on YouTube, someone in the audience asks how she stays in shape, she said if she sees her weight creeping up she diets for a week or two and never lets it get far out of control. Her bod was tight in the beginning of the series, but by the end those tightly belted sack dresses seemed to be doing most of the work. Her voice was ragged in season 7, too, much more noticeable in some episodes than others.

The writing on the Roseanne reboot (one season) was pretty good, I thought. I think several of the writers during that season quit after Roseanne’s tweets…wasn’t Wanda Sykes one of them? They should have gotten them back after she was fired.

^ sorry wrong thread

[quote]Betty was the only non-smoking Golden Girl. Bea, Rue and Estelle all smoked.

I didn’t know that. That’s fascinating to me.

[quote]I'm loving the look of (some) men in skirts these days. It's off the runway and on the streets now too.

Say what? Is this a typo? Why haven’t I seen this?

Kate Spade

Glad to know Betty didn't have any children. She was immature herself.

Betty didn't like kids, her stepchildren hated her.

[quote] Betty stayed pretty much the same weight (on the thin side of average)

What? Thin side of average? She wasn't obese, but not thinner than average. I think she had a thick mid-section (as a lot of us do) and a large-ish bust. She wore belted dresses all the time to play up the differential betw. her bust and waist.

Betty had numerous fur babies and that was very meaningful to her . Human kids are a 24 hour situation. Ugh

Betty would have been wonderful in “Days of Heaven.” As a predatory locust.

How come Betty was nominated for an Emmy every year when Rie and Bea were not? She had her best momrnts in the first few seasons and did no exceptional work later in the run, as oppose to Rue who was amazing in later seasons.

How come she got to stay friends with both Joan R and Johnny Carson and appear on both their shows - didn’t everyone else have to pick a side?

Bea would just give Betty the death stare.

[quote] "Meanwhile, Bea was the only one out of the four who had her own hit TV series."

Not true, R50. Long before "Maude", White had "The Betty White Show", and "Life With Elizabeth". They were smaller in scope, & and shorter runs, but both did well. White received her first Primetime Emmy nomination during "Life With Elizabeth", in 1951.

Someone named curobero left this comment under a Bea & Betty youtube video: "They did indeed like each other, trust me, I know. Bea was just moody. Sometime during 1991, the ladies were on an interview backstage and Bea was telling a story while holding Betty's hand and making her laugh. I have witnessed it personally. Its true that Bea was irritated at Betty but again, the stories of them hating each other are far fetched." Someone asked him how he saw that interview backstage in 1991 and he replied "I was there because my partner at the time was a studio executive." This was the video he was commenting under.

R288 it was an episode of "Dinah!" from 1975

I preferred her talk show when it was live action and called Dyna-Girl

Thanks R336

[quote]r335 Someone named curobero left this comment under a Bea & Betty youtube video: "They did indeed like each other, trust me, I know. Bea was just moody.”

You don’t take a crap on the dressing room floor of someone you “like.”

Unless it was a lovers dispute.

(But is that love?)

How does anybody know Bea took a dump in her dressing room? Did Bea admit to that, did Betty tell people that or is it just another BS urban legend?

[quote]Did Bea admit to that, did Betty tell people that or is it just another BS urban legend?

No, it was a steamer!

I saw an episode of Life with Elizabeth earlier today on Retro TV. It wasn't a traditional through plot series. Each show consisted of 2 to 4 sketches of married life with Betty and her TV husband. I'd forgotten she was a brunette back then.

R340, see r294.

R340 It's completely made up

I can almost believe r294's version where she dumps in Betty's toilet but leaves without flushing. It's deliciously passive-aggressive.

Only a scat aficionada would keep reposting that ridiculous story. It's not even a rumor. Just a total lie.

Boring OLD scat TROLL.

Shoo.

Great, now we have a scat troll and a scat-conspiracy troll.

I agree r346 but there must be a bunch of IMDb refugees then - because that’s where I first read it.

r346 is the troll who pretends to be a young-ish black man and calls posters "ancient white fags." He was recently outed in the Shania Twain thread as being a VERY middle-aged white man who lives in Canada. Total fucking loser.

HUH? You fucking piece of lying ANCIENT RACIST OLD F@G! You're insane R349. Posting from multiple devices day and night, Upvoting and complimenting your own posts from other accounts. And attacking all men of COLOR who grace you pathetic life with a response.

I do not live in Canada, you fucking loser. But I did go to the Royal Conservatory there. I hate Shania Twain. I'm a musician and singer and she's a talentless whore from northern Ontario. You are the freak who chases after John Mulaney and Tori Amos and supermodels of the 80s and Donna Summers and Shania Twain. You're at least 75 years old and reside in your diaper.

May Jesus visit healing to your diseased mind and ancient holes, tonight, R349. We pray you will be delivered in your sleep.🙏🏾🙏🏾

John Mulaney DIVORCES Anna: “I am heartbroken John has decided to end our marriage,” sez jilted wife r164 Mulaney himself has called her a ball-busting Jewish Princess in his act.

R349 really does have HUNDREDS of posts on John Mulvaney and Liza Minelli and it hates Beyonce and loves SCAT!!! Total racist. Typical OLD DL Drunk.

Get rid of this racist PIG, DL.

F&F.

Yep, you really are a mental case you crazy old white Canuck! Remember, you forgot to switch accounts in the Shania Twain thread when you posted that you worked on the Toronto production of Sunset Boulevard starring Diahann Carroll in 1995. You were clearly not born in 1983, as you've always claimed. Another poster found the Playbill and several posters narrowed down the list of suspects. Your ass was exposed.

[quote]I do not live in Canada, you fucking loser.

Well you sure did in 1995, asshole! This was your post, it's #139 in the linked thread:

[quote]Cher was signed to do Sunset BLVD in Toronto many years ago. She would have been fantastic in it. For exactly the same reasons. She got very cold feet. I was in that show with Diahann Carroll and Cher would have been a miracle.

You were BUSTED, bitch!

[quote]Do These Two Fuck?

I don't have any. My home is my sanctuary. Except for the occasional grindr visitor, but he doesn't sit. I wait for him on my knees, hands behind my back with a leather belt nearby, in case he wants to have more fun. The floor is covered in towels , you never know where the squirts are gonna land. When they finished, I show them the way out. Easy peasy, and no need to clean behind them . (still remembering the time I needed to go to the bathroom, and that middle eastern guy suited himself on my antique rocking chair. Couldn't believe the sight of his naked ass on my mutton skin throw. never again.)

^^you were busted, bitch. I guess you'll remember to switch accounts now, you old white Canuck fuck!

^^Muriel needs to exterminate this cockroach.

^^Honey, Muriel couldn't give a rat's ass about your lying crazy self. Why the fuck does a VERY middle-aged white Canuck want to pretend to be an urban American black man anyway? You don't even know the American black vernacular.

I am always mystified at the cult of personality around celebrities. These people aren't gods FFS. They're performers. And with many of them, their success is more a matter of luck, marketing and being in the right place at the right time rather than organic talent and really having something to say or contribute to the world.

The internet has caused crazy fandom to explode. These mere mortals are put on pedestals and are untouchable by their unbalanced fans. It's so sad and empty.

R367 must stop stocking the younger posters of color. We find him despicable and mentally ill.

R357 is also Datalounge's SCAT TROLL. Which is why he's so bothered to begin with. Fucking inhuman filthy OLD racist piece of diseased F@G.

r358/r359actually you are the mentally ill one. So why do you pretend to be an urban American black man who's 38 years old when you are actually an "old white fag" yourself? You must have toxic self-loathing issues.

BTW, was Diahann Carroll any good in Sunset Boulevard back in 1995?

^ SCAT TROLL ^

r361 why don't you answer the questions posed to you? What pleasure do you get out of pretending to be someone else? Of harassing gay men when you are a gay man yourself?

^ SCAT TROLL ^

Happy Birthday Beyonce!!

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Eat the cake, Anna Mae. <3

Any record of Bea's reaction when Betty kept getting Emmy nominations when she and Rue were left in the cold for season 5,6,7?

R342 She was always a brunette, moron. A bad dye job does not make a blonde.

Anyone know where I can purchase old tv shows like Dinah!/Dinah and Friends? Bea and Betty were dancing together on that show and I would like to see the entire episode.

I thought this episode should have won an award.

She looked so much better as a brunette, honestly. The kind of blonde she did just aged her rapidly.

All this said, the A list who shat on everyone loved her. I have no idea what she was like when she was not “on” (if she lived alone for 40 years, probably much more an introvert than we thought ) , but she knew to treat others with respect. Richard Kline has a lovely story about her.

You want a decade a million light years ahead of the 70s try the 30s. From the astonishing pre code era to the great year of 1939. Simply beyond belief in its excitement and brilliance.

So who was the female GG guest star the Bea hit on?

Does anyone know any details on that situation?

At least I only shit in a girl’s wig. True, it was steaming and corn-filled, but it was contained. I also didn’t have the squirts like some older women get when they take a dump in a rival’s dressing room.

I can only imagine what happened backstage with Bea and Helen Lawson when Helen guest starred on the Golden Girls.

[quote] So who was the female GG guest star the Bea hit on? Does anyone know any details on that situation?

Maybe it was Big Mommy and that's why her role got reduced to an under-five after rejecting Bea.

R373, her name is Hilary Shepard and she played Yvonne, the aerobics instructor in an episode of Season 4 of GG. Here's the video in which she talks about being on GG and Bea checking her out. It starts at 1:10.

[r377] where’s the video?

Sorry R378

Bea shit on Betty's dressing room floor!

^ same lines, again and again and again.

Wow, R379, Bea was staring at her body in the spandex and making her feel she was being hit on - I've never heard it confirmed before.

And Betty was really sweet to her.

Maybe Bea was staring because she was appalled by her body and/or her bad acting.

Is the Yvonne troll aware of this? 🤯

Can just any never-was bit-player in Hollywood draw a Q&A crowd? Who the hell went to see her speak (and presumably paid)? I mean, she seems like a nice enough lady but holy shit, really?

This is what Bea was staring at! Woohoo!

Bea was a boob admirer.

^ Bea did more than admire them

What else did she do with them R388?

What’s amazing about her story is she doesn’t even know what Bea Arthur’s name is and just called her the “the tall one”

R358 I hear you. While I was thrilled to have had lunch with Beateice Arthur, doing so made me realize she was simply not her characters. And, she was really no more or less interesting than any of my friends.

Bea on the Dick Cavett Show in 1989. She thought Amanda's By The Sea would revolutionize television lol.

Here's part 2. I wish someone had put the entire interview on youtube.

That had to be the Yvonne troll asking the question at R379. He seemed starstruck.

How does she not fucking know Bea Arthur’s name???

Anyway I call bullshit. She may have had a penis but I really don’t think she was a lez.

R395, during a Larry King interview several years ago, Angela Lansbury struggled to remember Bea Arthur's name and they were best friends. It happens. Hilary Shepard was on one episode of GG in 1989 and she momentarily forgot Bea's name but remembered Betty. Why is it so hard for you to accept that Bea might have liked women too? You just want her for yourself? Well guess what, gay icon Judy Garland loved having sex with women. We don't know for sure if Bea had sex with women but we know she liked staring at women's boobs and butts.

Typical case of Geriatric Lesbian Drama between Bea and Betty. I bet they fought each other with canes too.

Why was Bea so obsessed with her height? She was 5'9 1/2 which is tall but there are plenty of tall women. Nicole Kidman is 5'11. Melania Trump is 5'11. Princess Diana was 5'10. Janes Lynch is 6 feet tall. Sigourney Weaver is 5'11. Julia Child was 6'2. Female supermodels have to be between 5'9 and 5'11 if I'm not mistaken. Was Bea ashamed of her height because there weren't many tall women in old Hollywood? Was she self conscious about her height because she had to play next to Estelle Getty who was 4'10 1/2? I'm just surprised at how many times she mentioned how tall she was during interviews as if she was completely abnormal.

r398 television prefers shorties because when they employ 20+ playing teens, shorter means young... so, the adults tend to be not much taller than 5'7, being taller can shut you out of a lot of series/sitcoms that feature families/kids.

And likewise, many male actors tend to be shorter or even around the same height, which throws off romantic roles, too. . . which is part of why she was typecasted as she was.

And she did have unusual features, she could be attractive but she was a Nancy Kulp.. who had much of the same insecurities, btw.

post-GG/GP

Bea played off better than the other "Girls" ... which were pretty sad and tragic guestspots until that aligator film that Betty was in because people were in shock that their poor sweet innocent Rose told someone to if I had a dick, this is where I would tell you to suck it. And she became America's sweetheart once again.

5’9 1/2”yes, R398. But the hump was at least 6’.

Bea was Emmy nominated for her Guest spot on Malcolm. She didn't have many scenes but she was terrific.

Betty guest-starred as Ally McBeal's therapist who's obsessed with suppository anti-depressant. When Ally tells her she flushed the pills Betty is horrified and screams she was "meant to stick them up your ass... you pissy little thing!"

R398 - It wasn't just about her height. It was how the height played into her masculine appearance and her deep voice. It was part of the package, a running joke way back from when she was Maude and callers on the phone thought she was Mr. Findlay.

Kidman, Weaver, and many other taller-than-average actresses do not come off as drag queens.

[quote]she was typecasted as she was.

Oh, dear!

The "Oh, dear!" cunt doesn't think autocorrect is ever to blame. Tired of that bitch with no friends.

It's a shame neither Bea nor Rue got to headline a Broadway show after the series ended, they both seemed to love the stage.

Didn’t Bea have her one man I mean woman show?

Yes but I mean a play or musical where they could perform

McClanahan was in both The Women (2001) and Wicked (2005) on Bway.

R409 - "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane: The Musical" would've been perfect.

I saw Bea’s one man show. She was a miserable old bitch. Think Freida Claxton.

The Day Betty White And Beatrice Arthur LICKED EACH OTHERS PUSSIES.

I always felt like they should have brought Jean the lesbian back for a second episode like they did with Clay, Blanche's gay brother. Blanche's jealoust about Jean prefering Rose over her should have been further exploited. Blanche could have tried to seduce Jean by wearing skimpy outfits around the house. It could have been very funny.

Correction: jealousy, not jealoust

[Quote]Bea was a boob admirer.

[Quote]^ Bea did more than admire them

[Quote]What else did she do with them [R388]?

Bea didn't shit on Betty's dressing room floor, she took a dump on Betty’s boobs.

[quote] I always felt like they should have brought Jean the lesbian back for a second episode like they did with Clay, Blanche's gay brother. Blanche's jealoust about Jean prefering Rose over her should have been further exploited. Blanche could have tried to seduce Jean by wearing skimpy outfits around the house. It could have been very funny.

They already had an episode like that.

Bea was insecure about her perceived lack of femininity. It's ridiculous and sad that she grew up and lived in a society that made her feel that way. She would get angry if there were too many cracks about it in the GG scripts. She once stormed off the set of a roast because Jeff Ross started his set with "So, I was just in the men's room takin' a leak next to Bea Arthur..."

On Maude, they did it more sparingly, and it was often funnier. On the episode where Maude discovers she's starting menopause, she said "Walter, this is terrible, I'll lose my femininity! My voice will change!" A beat goes by, and with her timing, Maude goes "God'll get ya for what you're thinking, Walter."

But yeah, hence her denying ever having served in the Marines. If she had lesbian feelings, I'd be very surprised if she ever acted on them.

Have you seen Bea's son, Matthew Saks. Holy shit, he's hotter than I ever would have guessed. The other son, Daniel, is what I would have expected. Was Matthew adopted?

In the pic below, Daniel is on the left and Matthew (blond) is on the right.

R419, both Matthew and Daniel are adopted.

I call bullshit on 5.9 1/2, Bea looked a good six footer I would say, that’s why she was mostly barefoot in the house. Though god knows why she would inflict those big ugly man feet onto the rest of us.

[quote]In the pic below, Daniel is on the left and Matthew (blond) is on the right.

You’re describing someone as hot and felt the need to tell us who was who in THAT picture?! Oh, honey.

I believe it. Betty and Rue were probably 5’3” on a good day, and let’s not even talk about Estelle. Most women in showbusiness in that era were very, very short. Debbie Reynolds (who guested on the show ) was 5 feet.

Bea was also tall and broad which photographs very differently from tall/willowy model type, for sure.

I don't know why Bea got a breast reduction. She had a nice rack on Maude.

R420 Bea was a biological male so of course they were adopted. LOL.

R422 - I don't assume others will agree with my tastes.

Wasn’t it proven that Bea was a man?

Proven how R427? Because she had a deep voice? Funny how Esther Rolle also had a deep voice but nobody ever called her a man. Is it because it's more common for black women to have deep voices?

Why were there lesbian rumours about Bea during Maude? Who started those rumours? The tabloids?

R419, he's one of the cops in Hurricane '91 episode.

Nanette Fabray said Bea was not an easy friend.

[quote] both Matthew and Daniel are adopted.

Bea would have produced a handsome biological son.

I love when things get linked like R431's video -- thanks, very interesting!

Elaine Stritch was friendly with Nanette Fabray…so make of that whatever you will.

Nanette: "When you love somebody, you put up with their problems." I wonder which problems she was refering to? Bea alcoholism? Her chicken and gum chewing phobias? I wonder...

Usually people who speak of their 'friends' being 'difficult' are no day at the beach to be around themselves.

Yeah because nobody except Nanette ever said Bea was a difficult person R436. ;-)

If the GGs were around today.

[quote]he's one of the cops in Hurricane '91 episode.

He’s the hawt one.

438 What a horrible fucking pic. Looks nothing like them. Jesus fuck.

R440- That's from a failed reboot pilot called The Pewter Cunts

What's up with Nanette Fabray's nose? Did it always look that way or did she lose her original nose in an accident?

R442 she got a bad nose job early on.

R442 - WAY too much coke in the 70s.

She snorted coke on top of Bea's toxic pussy. Her nose melted off.

Am I the only one who thinks there should have been an 8th season of GG? Estelle, Betty and Rue wanted to continue and an 8th season would have been better than Golden Palace. Empty Nest went on for 3 more years without Kristy McNichol who was a very important part of the show. The could have given the three remaining women more adventures, less waiting around for men to go on dates with and Bea could have made one or two appearances with or without Leslie Nielsen. I think it would have worked. Bea was an important part of GG but the world didn't revolve around her as she seemed to think.

R446 Not true at all, moron. Bea was always the star of the show. Without him they had nothing.

How does one develop a chicken phobia? Was she attacked by one when she was a child? Chickens don't tend to be aggressive -- I've never heard of anyone being scared of chickens.

Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory was afraid of birds because he was chased up a tree by a blood-thirsty chicken when he was a child. Maybe the same thing happened to Bea.

What would cause a chicken to be blood-thirsty? He must have provoked it and it was defending itself (or its chicks).

The Big Bang Theory was a sitcom. It was supposed to be funny. Don't take what Sheldon said (a fictional character) too seriously R450.

It's R449 who's taking the notion of a blood-thirsty chicken seriously, and suggesting that maybe Bea Arthur did too. I find the notion of a chicken phobia not only funny but improbable. Arthur must have been seriously neurotic, whether she actually was phobic about chickens or just pretended to be (for sympathy? or attention? or laughs?).

R452, I have a neighbor who is terrified of my indoor cat. She was even scared of him when he was a kitten and he's the sweetest little fluffball ever who wouldn't hurt a fly. She won't come into my house unless I tell her my cat is in the basement with the door closed. I guess she was attacked by a cat when she was a child. I don't know the reason behind her illogical phobia but then again most phobias are illogical.

"Well that's a fucking 'Betty White' thing to say!"

R453 Yes twat because being phobic of catching the aids or killer diseases is so illogical. Twat, sit your cunt down and STFU.

R455, Can you read, idiot? I said MOST phobias are illogical, because they are. Off your Prozac again grandpa?

I already had R455 blocked.

R446 I think TPTB didn't want to give an actress who left the show any more $. Didn't they have to give her part ownership/ profit percentage to get her to renew her contract?

The Golden Palace was a different title/show so she couldn't claim that she was owed anything despite not appearing in it.

I wonder if the other 3 actresses had it put in their TGP contracts to get Bea's ownership part It might've been another reason it wasn't renewed.

R4 "I never bought that Betty simply didn't understand why Bea didn't care for her. "

Same here. She conveniently left out the fact that she humiliated her in front of an audience who could see she was struggling with her lines.

R145, so Bea spoke at her own memorial service?

Just the one Dear?

My mother who was about her age went to her one woman show and thought it was odd she was barefoot on stage for the performance. She said it was boring and there were enough walkouts Bea watched as people left.

I received the complete set of The Merv Griffin Show yesterday and watched the entire Golden Girls interview from November 1985. There's a shorter version of it on youtube but the original interview is twice as long. Bea and Betty seemed to like each other a lot. Bea at some point grabs Betty's face in a loving way and Betty blows her a kiss. BUT, I do understand why Betty over the years got on Bea's nerves. At one point during the interview she says to Bea "don't turn your back to Rue" who's about to come out as the next guest. She says this twice but Bea just ignores her. Then Betty says "I taught her (Bea) how to act in interviews but she doesn't listen". Now that might have been a joke but she says it like she's Bea school teacher. I think Bea thought Betty's behavior was cute in the beginning but after a few years it probably started to irritate the hell out of her.

R463 - The COMPLETE set? That thing ran daily from 1962 to 1986! Is it 500 discs?

R463 or maybe after 30 or so years in the business Bea should have learned how to take a joke. I’m sure she had to (as anyone did) deal with much worse things over the years which should have given her a thicker skin .

And lol r464 you’re right

Artists, and especially actors, have the greatest insecurities and the thinnest skin. What you or I would blow off, would probably cause someone even as successful as Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts days of anxiety and consternation.

There are three Larry Randolph videos (one is linked above) where he talks in detail about socialising with Bea Arthur. She could turn on a dime and she could never bring herself to apologize. The thing is... she was good as gold for Angela Lansbury, so... she could hold it together if necessary.

Bea was a grouch and Betty was annoying. End of discussion.

Yes R464 it includes 500 discs and exclusive backstage footage of Merv blowing his young male staffers.

Joan Rivers who ran like a truck driver over everyone expecting them all to know how to take a joke seems to have had the thinnest skin of all. Even Sinatra could take Rickles pretty scathing take no prisoners remarks.

George Clooney was on The Drew Barrymore Show and said Bea Arthur was the funniest Golden Girl and had a filthy mouth and Betty was a Godsend. George was on 1 episode Of GG in the early years. Also, Drew is fucking annoying.

Christ, someone should teach Larry Randolph how to make an anecdote amusing or at least interesting.

I wonder why we've never seen bloopers from the later seasons of GG? Maybe it's because we would see that Bea and Betty didn't get along during the last seasons.

Drew looks like Ethel.

[quote] Am I the only one who thinks there should have been an 8th season of GG?

I agree. They should have just replaced Bea with Fess Parker in drag.

Bea never looked like Fess Parker.

She did in anything backless.

Dorothy looked like Fess Parker in Rose’s home made video.

LEAVE BEA ALONE!!!

Actually, Bea looked like the mother of a solid gold dancer

[quote]Arthur must have been seriously neurotic

Ya think?

R474, Clooney looks like Fred.

Betty was the crazy one. She lived her entire life like she was on-stage performing for the public. Not healthy.

Betty lived to a healthy 99 and 348/365 ths. Bea shit on Betty’s dressing room floor because Bea knew Betty would outlive her and have the last laugh.

Yes, Bea knew Betty would outlive her. WTF

Bea Arthur was a fine TV comic but that she considered herself a great classically trained artiste because she was in a few Broadway shows is sad and delusional.

R486 Actually, dear, she was classically trained. From 1947, Beatrice Arthur studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City with German director Erwin Piscator. Don't be a hater.

I love when I find bloopers they left in the show because they think nobody will notice. In Season 2: Ladies of the evening, Sophia prank calls Rose at the hotel and Rose says "I think this is Sophia" and Bea almost starts laughing. You can tell she's holding it in and almost loses it. In Season 5: Clinton Avenue Memoirs, Dorothy takes Sophia to her old neighborhood and before entering her old apartment, Sophia says " Isn't it good to be back in the old neighborhood Dorothy, watching the kids plays stick ball on the corner"? Dorothy replies " Ma, they were beating a man". Bea and Estelle stare at each other while the audience laughs and you can tell Bea started laughing and it was a blooper they cut out but not completely. The most obvious blooper is this one. Betty almost loses it at 0:15.

You are a fucking moron. Golden Girls never would have let a stupid thing like that get through editing. Back in the 70s and 80s, most girls on shows like this were pros. Breaking or fucking up the take is not something they did. Betty White was not breaking at 00:15 you fucking dumb girl.

R489 Calm down old bitty. Nobody is saying they're not pros. Betty did break at 0:15 and it's funny.

Biddy, means a chicken. Just pointing that out for future use.

R490 You're obv a fucking moron who thinks Jimmy Fallon is "funny" and that his "breaking" bullshit is just fucking awesome. You're a fucking goof and a cunt.

R491, I didn't write biddy, I wrote bitty, which is what R489 is.

Ok R492, you're an old, sad, lonely queen who worships the Golden Girls. I understand. Take care.

R494 Fuck you, cunt. I am always attacking the DL cult of the GGs every chance I get.

^ needs professional help

R496 Bitches/girls need to get the fuck off the DL. You don't belong here.

Calm down dude. You lost your fucking mind over a Golden Girls blooper video/post? Get some help man. lol

Loons. ^^

R497 Hi Elon!

Who needs me to come shit on their floor?

Bea Arthur had the biggest, blackest, baddest cock in Hollywood. He'd have split all the DL pussyboys in two. All in one night. He was awesome.

Bea Arthur interview from 1995 in Detroit. She's asked about the tabloids saying she didn't get along with the other Golden Girls. Weird makeup she has on. Good interview.

The more I read about the Bea-Betty feud the more I believe it had to do with Estelle's memory problems. Their feud started in season 4 of GG. Before that, they were friends. Rue once said in an interview that Estelle's memory issues started in season 4. Betty apparently made fun of Estelle to entertain the audience and Bea couldn't stand that and called her a cunt.

They probably fought over this interview with what BW had to say about her at 2:58 =

bump

R505, In 1986, Bea and Betty were still friends. Betty liked to tease Bea back then.