It was my positive attitude - and that made Bea mad sometimes. White chalked it up to their differing personalities, noting, “She was not that fond of me… She found me a pain in the neck sometimes. But Arthur's relationship with White was much frostier. McClanahan and White developed a bond during the series, passing the time on-set playing word games and creating riddles. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) Despite their on-screen camaraderie, the actresses were not as close in real life (L-R) Burt Reynolds as Himself, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux and Betty White as Rose Nylund in a scene from "The Golden Girls" He later told Jimmy Fallon that the $3,000 he earned (including residuals for repeat airings) helped pay for preproduction costs for his first film, Reservoir Dogs. Future director Quentin Tarantino’s first paid acting gig was as an Elvis Presley impersonator at Sophia’s wedding. Clooney’s agent reportedly asked for the small role so that his client could continue to qualify for his actor’s union medical insurance. George Clooney, who appeared on a number of classic '80s shows before he hit the big time on ER, appeared in one episode as a police officer. Burt Reynolds, Julio Iglesias and even Sonny Bono made appearances as themselves as romantic interests of the women.
Legendary comedian Bob Hope played himself in one episode, as did Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. Over the course of its run, a number of well-known Hollywood actors appeared on the show, including Mickey Rooney, Rita Moreno, Jerry Orbach, Debbie Reynolds and more. The show featured some famous (and soon-to-be famous) faces According to a 1989 issue of Orange Coast Magazine, it took makeup artists three hours to transform Getty into her character - a job made even harder after Getty underwent a facelift in between seasons one and two.
In a 2006 interview with the Paley Center, White admitted that McClanahan had done much more with the role of Blanche than she ever could have.Īlthough Getty played the oldest of the women, she was actually a year younger than her on-screen daughter. The pilot’s director came up with the idea of flip-flopping the casting. White was originally cast as man-hungry Blanche, a role very similar to the one she had played on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, while McClanahan was cast as naïve Rose. It was the fear of typecasting that also impacted the roles of Rose Nylund and Blanche Deveraux.
McClanahan eventually convinced her reluctant former co-star, pointing out the originality and promise of the show’s premise, and network execs were won over. Network execs worried that Arthur’s controversial Maude role would make her an unsympathetic star. Arthur feared that because she, White and McClanahan were so closely identified with the earlier roles that audiences wouldn’t be able to see beyond that. When the show’s creators pushed for Arthur to play the “Bea Arthur” character, both NBC and Arthur herself were reluctant.