It won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Blanche lied to her housemates about her age so easily (and Sophia promptly called her out and said shed be 70 when the kid graduated), its reasonable to assume she was 53 when The Golden Girls premiered. This "created a great deal of stress and competitiveness amongst those of us who weren't in that inner sanctum. In an interview with The Village Voice in 2011, White stated that Arthur found me a pain in the neck sometimes. The series starred Stephanie Hodge and a set of other young nurses. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy. But the women were so uniformly brilliant at nailing it the first time we basically knew that if the women didn't get it right the first time, the joke needed to be replaced." The Golden Girls came to an end when Bea Arthur elected to quit the series after six seasons in the top ten and the seventh season at #30. 41 Behind-the-Scenes 'The Golden Girls' Facts - 'Golden Girls' Trivia. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be on the show? According to Evans, "I wanted a sexy, soft, and flowing look for Rue, a tailored, pulled-together look for Bea, a down-home look for Betty, and comfort for Estelle. The Golden Girls first aired on September 14, 1985, and it continues to appeal to both young and older audiences. Rose Nylund was 55 years old when the show premiered, as Dorothy stated in the Season 1 episode Job Hunting.. ", This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 17:40. Arthur flipped upon reading the script, but felt hesitant about McClanahan's approach, as she did not "want to play (their Maude characters) Maude and Vivian meet Sue Ann Nivens." 12. McClanahan insisted on the character having a thick Southern accent, a popular aspect of her character throughout the show. When Arthur first received the script for The Golden Girls, she loved the concept of having senior women as the stars of the show. Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak and Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC). Starring actress Hodge left after two seasons, David Rasche joined the cast at the start of the second season, and Loni Anderson was added as the new hospital administrator in the third. Exploring the World of Knowledge and Understanding. Sophia was supposed to accompany her, but she ends up staying in Miami with the other females, which leads to the spin-off series, The Golden Palace. For instance, Blanche mentions in one episode that she was married in 1952, which would have made her 21 at the time. Sophia was never ashamed to confess her age, and she often took advantage of it to get an advantage over the other ladies in the home. [74] The show was the anchor of NBC's Saturday line-up, and almost always won its time slot, as ABC and CBS struggled to find shows to compete against it, the most notable being ABC's Lucille Ball sitcom Life With Lucy in the beginning of the 198687 season although it aired at 8:00, an hour earlier. Similarly, Dorothy mentions in another episode that she was married in 1960, which would have made her 22. Beginning July 3, 1989, NBC added daytime reruns of the show, replacing long-running Wheel of Fortune (which had moved to CBS) on the NBC schedule at 11:00am(EST); it ran until September 1990. Privacy Policy, Brands Sophia, Dorothys straight-talking mother, was the Golden Girls houses oldest figure. Crypto Wallet Development: Types, Features, and Popularity, 5 Ways AI is Detecting and Preventing Identity Fraud. We didn't want the show to be about four dowdy ladies. Hulu estimated that over 11 million hours were spent viewing this sitcom in 2020 alone, making it one of the top ten most binge-watched series on the streaming service. The part of Sophia Petrillo was the first of the four roles to be cast. 100 Black-Owned Businesses to Shop Now. The shows executives were unsure how the public would react to the eccentric program because older women in leading roles were rarely seen on television. As a tribute to the success of The Golden Girls, all four actresses were later named Disney Legends as part of the class of 2009.[78]. When the show hit TV screens in the 1980s, society believed that women in their 50s were more grandmotherly, and ready for retirement. [24] The Cosby Show director Jay Sandrich, who had previously worked with Harris, Witt, and Thomas on Soap, agreed to direct the pilot episode. Sarah Jessica Parker and Betty White, both of whom play a 55-year-old woman. The majority of sitcoms in the period centered on either families or teenagers. In Germany, airing of the show started in January 1990, only months before the German reunification, by German public broadcaster ARD in the late evening programme on their main channel Das Erste. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be? Characters from both shows made occasional crossover guest appearances on the other show, with the four girls guesting on Empty Nest and Mulligan, Dinah Manoff, Kristy McNichol, David Leisure, and Park Overall appearing on The Golden Girls in their Empty Nest roles. The Golden Girls first aired on September 14, 1985, and it continues to appeal to both young and older audiences. One, while the characters ages on the show appeared to be quite. For example, Betty White, who played Rose, was 76 when the show first aired and 80 when it ended. Lifetime, which held the rights to The Golden Girls at the time, aired reruns of The Golden Palace in the summer of 2005, and again in December of that year. The basic facts to work with are that The Golden Girls began in 1985 and ended in 1992, both in real life and in-world. Golden Girls Cast, Ages, Names & More - Parade: Entertainment, Recipes Although the writing was mostly comical, dramatic moments and sentimental endings were included in several episodes. If technically supported by the home television, this system allowed their audience to watch the show either in the dubbed German version (by default) or the original English version. She would return home to New York if she were unsuccessful. In order to try and determine the real ages of the Golden Girls, we need to look at other sources of evidence. There was a lot of competition to get your words into the script. That was the case. "[72], During the NBC upfronts, the preview screening of the show got a standing ovation. By the end of the series, Rose was 62. How Old Were the Golden Girls Supposed to Be? (Photo Credit: MovieStills DB). The show was a hit with viewers of all ages. Casting director Judith Weiner had seen Torch Song Trilogy, and thought Getty was terrific in it. The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. Audiences can figure things out with a little detective work. [24][30], In the pilot script, Blanche was described as "more Southern than Blanche DuBois", so McClanahan was perplexed when she was asked by director Sandrich during the filming of the pilot not to use the strong Southern accent she had developed, but to use her natural Oklahoma accent instead. It had a total of 180 half-hour episodes across its seven seasons. The basic facts to work with are that The Golden Girls began in 1985 and ended in 1992, both in real life and in-world. [3] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time. But what made the show golden were its stellar cast and the beloved characters they portrayed. Rue McClanahan was the youngest of the Golden Girls, according to Parade. How old were The Golden Girls supposed to be on the show? [52][53] Debbie Reynolds was brought on as a guest star in the season six episode "There Goes the Bride: Part 2" to test her chemistry with the other actresses as a possible replacement for Arthur, but producers decided that nobody could replicate the chemistry of the four original actresses. [70][self-published source?] Arthur died from cancer in 2009 at age 86 and McClanahan followed in. The clever use of makeup and a wig aged Getty to match her character's age. White's birthday is January 17th and Arthur's was May 13th. [81], Forever Golden: A Celebration of The Golden Girls released in select movie theaters across North America via Fathom Events on September 14, 2021, marking the show's 36th anniversary. [68] Many episodes of the series followed a similar format or theme. Rose Nylund - Wikipedia [7][8], The first episode features a cook/butler named Coco (played by Charles Levin), but the role was dropped before the second episode. Whatever the reason, it is clear that the Golden Girls are truly ageless. Its time to look back at the golden years with our favorite Golden Girls. Its a tiny marvel, looking back, that the Golden Girls magnificent casting came together as well as it did. The Golden Girls are also dressed in cardigans or long dresses, similar to the outfits we would find in our grandmothers closet. We hope this article on how old were the golden girls has been interesting and has also been able to bring back good memories. Blanche was inspired by the popular fictional characters Blanche DuBois (from A Streetcar Named Desire, a famous 1947 Broadway play written by Tennessee Williams) and Vivien Leigh, who portrayed the same character in the 1951 film adaptation alongside Marlon Brando. Bea Arthur actually hated cheesecake. The doorway from the living room, with the alcove and baker's shelf just inside, was designed to give the illusion that the actors were walking into and out of the kitchen. In "The Golden Girls", Rose is 55, Dorothy is 53, Blanche is 47 and Sophia is 79. According to the math, Blanche was 53 at the start of the series. The Golden Girls (TV Series 1985-1992) - Trivia - IMDb Blanche was 17 in 1949, according to Season 3, Episode 25, Mothers Day, when she and her mother reminisce about one of Blanches dates. Win free shoes, organize your shoe closet, see the latest styles + more, About As of December 1, 2021, every episode was made available to stream on Disney+. This suggests that she was likely in her early 50s when the show began. She is passionate about Princess Diana, the Titanic, the Romanovs, and Egypt amongst other things. Discover all about The Golden Girls cast from their names, ages and how old they were supposed to be in the showwho was oldest & youngest, and more. Sophia, Dorothys straight-talking mother, was the Golden Girls houses oldest figure. Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai. During its original run, The Golden Girls received 68 Emmy nominations, 11 Emmy awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Viewers for Quality Television awards. However, White and McClanahan wanted to play against their typecasting, so McClanahan was cast as Blanche instead. Both Betty White and Bea Arthur were 63 when The Golden Girls premiered, coinciding with the fan theory. McClanahan said, "Betty and I loved word games, and we would play word games every day,". However, there is also some evidence to suggest that these ages may not be accurate. Subscribe [69] One of the other girls then told a story from her own life, which somehow related to the problem (though Rose occasionally regaled the others with a nonsense story that had nothing to do with the situation, and Sophia told outrageous, made-up stories). The oldest character in Golden Girls is Sophia (Estelle Getty), who is thought to be about 80 years old at the start of the series. As such, this social belief is shown on our screens in the Sex and the City reboot, whereas Golden Girls portrayed societal norms of the 1980s. [64] Rue McClanahan had a special clause written into her contract allowing her to keep her costumes, which were mostly custom-made for her, utilising expensive fabrics. For example, one or more of the women would become involved in some sort of problem, often involving other family members, men, or an ethical dilemma. Luckily, Susan Harris didnt lose her spark after Soap concluded, as she included much of the humor and sharp wit that made Soap popular in The Golden Girls as well. We assume that middle-aged women continue to live their lives working, partying, being mothers, or hanging with their friends. : Extreme Stunt Show, discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS, List of awards and nominations received by The Golden Girls, "TV Guide Magazine's 60 Best Series of All Time", Golden Girls appears to get better with pop culture age, "7 Things You Might Not Know About The Golden Girls", "The Golden Girls - Cast/Crew Documentary (2/9)", "These Are the Most-Watched TV Series Finales of All Time: 17", "The TV Ratings Guide: 1987-1988 season ratings", "Golden Girls: A 20th Anniversary Oral History", "Catching Up with the Golden Girls' Susan Harris", "Crackle's Creator Conversation: Soap's Susan Harris", The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, "Betty White and Bea Arthur's Friends Open Up About Their On-Set Feud", "Say It Isn't So, Girls! [71], On Metacritic, the series has an overall score of 82 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim. 3. The producers of The Golden Girls decided to cast Bea Arthur, Betty White, and Rue McClanahan after seeing them act alongside each other in shows like Maude (1972-1978) and Mamas Family (1983-1984).