xx inspirational spotlight: Estelle Getty

The Golden Girls was a revolutionary and hysterical sitcom that had unique cross generational appeal. Estelle Getty, who played Sofia Petrillo, the witty mother hen from Sicily who had a story or a snap judgment for any situation, passed away on Tuesday morning; she was suffering from Lewy Body Dementia.

Anyone who has seen the sitcom, knows that each character was strong and interesting in their own right, but Sofia was my favorite. It was interesting to note that while she was the oldest character, both Bea Arthur, who played her daughter Dorothy, as well as Betty White, who played Rose, were older than her in real life. Estelle was just under five feet, and felt that she was discriminated against in the acting world because of her height, but found her big break with Golden Girls. She was noted in a couple of articles to an inspiration not just to older people watching the show, but also to encourage people of her age in the business.

Estelle made the character of sophia unique and won and Emmy in 1988. I thought it was interesting, noted by the LA Times, that:

Getty, a natural comedian famous for her one-liners even in private life, played Sophia for laughs, but she also brought depth to the character. It was her idea that Sophia would always carry a purse because, she said, older women are forced to shed so many possessions in their later years that everything they own ends up in their purses.

Clearly she put a lot of heart and soul into the show and her memory will live on. Cheers Estelle!


Some funny out takes of sophia.