Bea Arthur

Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur (left) with Angela Lansbury at the 1989 Emmy Awards.
Born	Bernice Frankel
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.77 m)

Bernice Frankel (born May 13, 1923), known professionally as Beatrice Arthur or Bea Arthur, is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, singer, and comedian. She is known for her distinctive deep voice, acid wit and prominent stature, standing almost 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m).

Biography

Early life

Arthur was born in New York City to parents Philip and Rebecca Frankel and was raised in Maryland. She became a medical technologist before World War II, when she volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps, becoming one of its first female recruits.

Career

Her notable television roles included the title role on the popular sitcom Maude in the 1970s, and a starring role on The Golden Girls in the 1980s and 1990s. In the former she played Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal living in the community of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, with her husband, Walter (Bill Macy).

The show was a spinoff from All in the Family, on which Arthur had appeared in the same role, playing Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton)'s cousin, a feminist Democrat, and antithesis to the prejudiced, conservative Republican Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor).

In The Golden Girls, she played Dorothy Zbornak, a past-middle-aged substitute teacher who lived in a Miami, Florida, house owned by man-hungry Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). Her other roommates included dim-but-sweet Rose Nylund (Betty White) and Dorothy's mentally ill, yet "hip" Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). Getty is actually two months younger than Arthur in real life, and was heavily made up to look significantly older. Dorothy had an acidic sense of humor and was prone to making witty, often biting wisecracks.

On stage, her roles included "Lucy Brown" in the 1954 Off-Broadway premiere of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, "Yente the Matchmaker" in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of "Vera Charles" to Angela Lansbury's Mame (she recreated the role on film opposite Lucille Ball in 1974). In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's The Floating Lightbulb.

Two decades later, she toured the U.S. with a one-woman show in which she made a triumphant return to Broadway. 2002's Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, a collection of stories and songs (with musician Billy Goldenberg) and based on her life and long career, was nominated for a Tony award for Best Special Theatrical Event, but lost to Elaine Stritch At Liberty.

Private life

Bea was married for many years to her second husband, director Gene Saks, with whom she had two sons, but the marriage ended in divorce.

Arthur has also been a committed animal rights activist, taking part in numerous campaigns for PETA.[1] In the late 1990s, a Bea Arthur fan attracted considerable attention for his bumper sticker campaign, "Bea Arthur - Be Naked", as well as for a CK1 ad spoof, "Just Bea".

TV work

• Caesar's Hour (regular performer from 1954–1956)
• Maude (1972–1978)
• The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
• Amanda's (1983) (canceled after 4 months)
• The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
• My First Love (1988)
• Dave's World (cast member from 1996–1997)
• Malcolm in the Middle Dewey's babysitter in the season one finale (2000)
• Futurama as "Fem-puter" in "Amazon Women in the Mood" (2001)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's mother on the season five finale (2005)

Emmy Awards

• 1977 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Maude
• 1988 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - The Golden Girls

Stage appearances

• Threepenny Opera (1954)
• Plain and Fancy (1955)
• Seventh Heaven (1955)
• Threepenny Opera (1955) (revival)
• Nature's Way (1957)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
• Mame (1966)
• The Floating Light Bulb (1981)
• Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends (2002)

Filmography

• That Kind of Woman (1959)
• Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
• Mame (1974)
• History of the World: Part I (1981) (cameo)
• For Better or For Worse (1996)
• Enemies of Laughter (2000)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)

Trivia

• Unbeknownst to most, Bea was engaged to international playboy Erik Van Zandt in 1958. They married in a secret undergound ceremony in Zermatt in September 1960. The marriage ended in 1967 when Bea discovered Mr. Van Zandt in flagrante delicto with her longtime chauffeur, Bud. The two have remained amicable and recently co-hosted a telethon in honor of international diva and singing sensation Persona.
• The Marvel Comics character Deadpool harbors a bizarre obsession with Bea Arthur and seems to consider her particularly sexy. The obsession has since been brought up on numerous Internet forums, particularly Fark.com.
• Beatrice Arthur was seen throughout the 1980s in Canada as a regular character in “Shoppers Drug Mart", television commercials for a popular Canadian chain of pharmacies. www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/
• In the movie Airheads (1994)—with Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler—the main characters ask for naked pictures of Bea Arthur as part of an elaborate ploy to build an insanity defense.
• Arthur is referenced in the song "California" by singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright on his 2001 album Poses. The lyric, "I don't know this sea of neon / Thousand surfers, whiffs of freon / And my new grandma Bea Arthur", references in part a chance meeting with Arthur. A homesick Wainwright, away from his native Canada, told her seeing her on reruns of The Golden Girls made him feel like he was with his own grandmother, to which Arthur is reported to have curtly replied, "I am not your fucking grandmother!"
• In the Clerks: The Animated Series episode The Last Episode Ever, Randal Graves admits to stalking the Golden Girls, including "exposing myself to Bea Arthur."
• In the Family Guy episode Ready, Willing and Disabled, Bea Arthur played Peter Griffin in a movie based on Joe's life. Her voice, however, was provided by Alex Rocco.
• Arthur is mentioned early in the Bret Easton Ellis novel Glamorama: The protagonist Victor wants to know if his girlfriend Chloe will be bringing "Beatrice and Julie." His acquaintance Beau wonders if he means "Beatrice Arthur and Julie Hagerty" but Victor really means Julie Delpy and Beatrice Dalle. [2]

Bea Arthur and her co-star Betty White are long-rumored to have carried on a feud that started while working together on The Golden Girls. There have been many rumors about this.

In an article about her Broadway show, this rumor is addressed:

Betty White, Feud With: Rumors have flown for years that Bea hates Betty, although both golden gals have dodged questions about a feud. Fans aren't fooled, and even point to Lifetime's recent Golden Girls reunion special, in which each of the ladies appeared but in separate studios, as proof that Bea and Betty are less than friends. More proof? While Arthur discusses every aspect of her career in her one-woman show, she doesn't once mention White. What her Web master said: "Who cares?" What Bea said (when asked about White): "Next question!"[3]

Whether or not this longstanding allegation about the two actresses is true, it has not killed the rumor mill, nor wavered hardcore Golden Girls' fan suspicions. Neither actress mentions the other in most of their interviews, and they almost never appear together on any GG reunion specials, or if they do, they are filmed in separate locations.

External links

• Beatrice Arthur at IMDb

• [4] Playbill biography
• [5] Bea Arthur In The Lime Light - fan web site by Kevin Buckstiegel
• Bea Arthur takes on KFC - video
• Bea Arthur video on Premarin