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Estelle Getty died Tuesday, only three days away from her 85th
birthday. She passed away at her Los
Angeles home. The actress was battling with Lewy body
dementia, a progressive brain disease, reported the New York Daily News.
The actress won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her
role in “The Golden Girls,” portraying Sophia Petrillo, a Sicilian mother
living with her middle-aged daughter and two roommates. She was
actually younger that Bea Arthur, her on-screen daughter, and she managed to make
everyone laugh with her portrayal of Sophia.
“Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest
comic duos ever, and I will miss her,” said Bea Arthur in a statement to The
Associated Press.
Estelle Getty was born in 1923 on the lower East Side. She worked in a local theater but she moved to
Queens shortly after in order to be with her
family: her two sons and husband Arthur Gettleman. After a while she came back
on stage and in 1982 got the part of Harvey Fierstein’s mother in “Torch Song
Trilogy” on Broadway.
Coming to Hollywood
she managed to get the part of Sophia Petrillo in “The Golden Girls.” Playing alongside
Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty proved she was a good
actress.
“Estelle always wanted to be an actress, and she achieved
that goal beyond her dreams. Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always
be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia,” said Rue McClanahan, according
to The Associated Press.
Estelle Getty also played the mother of Sylvester Stallone
in “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,” Cher’s mom in
“Mask” and Barry Manilow’s mother in the TV movie “Copacabana.”
“The Golden Girls” ended in 1992, when Bea Arthur wanted to
leave the show. Estelly Getty was known all over the world for her role in the
show and she was loved by many people.
“She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and
if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would
have been loved on seven continents," her son, Carl Gettleman said Tuesday.
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