Beatrice Arthur, 'Golden Girls' star, dies at 86

Entertainment Weekly ^ | April 25, 2009 | Steve Korn

[Fast Moving Angel]

One of the funniest moments in History of the World Part 1 was when she was disbursing the weekly $$ to the Romans ... and says to Mel Brooks, "Oh, a bulls**t artist ..." I thought I was going to ROFL.

[pray4liberty]

It is a gift from God to make people laugh and bring joy to so many.

God bless you Bea, rest in peace.

[CaptainK]

And a great Broadway star.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV5K8tw_6o

[dr_who]

Didn’t really dig The Golden Girls.. but she was so great the in the Star Wars Holiday Special.

[WorkingClassFilth]

She was about as sweet and inviting as a burning tire.

[dfwgator]

Archie: “This country was ruined by Franklin Delano Roosevelt!”

Maude: (slowly turning her head to address Archie) “You’re fat!”

Archie: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt!”

Edith: (from her chair) “Archie, you promised never to say that name again in front of Maude!”

Archie: (to Edith) “Franklin Delano Roosevelt!”

Edith: (to Maude) “He doesn’t, don’t mean nothing. His whole family was for Roosevelt.”

Archie: “That was for two terms but that was it! We didn’t know the guy was going to hang onto the job like a pope!”

Maude: (Furiously standing up) “He hung on to save the country! The people adored him, he was a saint. (Points finger up at the ceiling) That man had charisma!”

Archie: “I don’t care if he was sick! He always had his big mouth open at them fireside chats!”

[akorahil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXKySxPFCI

[Verginius Rufus]

She wasn't 86 according to The World Almanac, which says she was born 5/13/23. She would have celebrated her 86th birthday next month.

[llmc1]

Thanks. ; )

[Shadowstrike]

Semper Fi Miss Bea.

You made us laugh, you made us cry.

Didn’t agree with her on alot of things, but a great actress.

Prayers for your friends and family who are gonna miss you much.

[SuziQ]

On Maude, which aired from 1972-1978, Arthur's pantsuit-wearing, feminist title character had an abortion, which resulted in a flurry of viewer protests.

They were trying to soften folks up for the decision they knew was coming. Kind of like the way they pushed homosexuality on the public in sitcoms, got people used to the idea, then pushed for homosexual marriage and special rights.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

She was quite a lady. I remember the one eposode of MAUDE where it was just her on the tv. It was a one woman dialoge. Don’t agree with her feminists views but hats off to her she was quite a lady.

[Borges]

Lear apparently didn’t do much of the writing on any of his shows. Carol Occonor said the cast never liked Lear’s scripts and that he (Oconnor) completely rewrote most of them.

[higgmeister]

She was within a few days of being exactly the same age as my dad but we lost him in 1979.

I never really liked her characters but then again, that was the point I think. She was funny and I laughed everytime.

[Verginius Rufus]

According to Wikipedia, which cites her birth certificate, Bea Arthur was born in 1922, so the World Almanac information was wrong--maybe she lied about her age. The TV news item about her death also had 1922 as her year of birth.

According to Wikipedia, her first theatrical experience was in Lysistrata. Maybe that explains some of her later attitudes--Aristophanes corrupted her.