Today In Disney History ~ September 20th
The Golden Girls aired 180 episodes from 9/14/1985 through 5/9/1992 on NBC. The show was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions and
Touchstone Television and distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. The show’s story line was based in Miami, Florida and centered on the lived of four single retirees. Blanche Devereaux owned the home the women lived in and was a well to do “Southern Lady” and was played by Rue McClanahan. Rose Nylund, the sweet and naive woman from St. Olaf, Norwegian farming settlement in northern Minnesota was played by Betty White. Dorothy Zbornak,
the only divorcee as the other three women were widows, was a teacher and was usually sarcastic and the most grounded of the four women was played by Bea Arthur. Sophia Petrillo the sarcastic and blunt mother of Dorothy was originally living in the Shady Pines Retirement Home until a fire caused her to move in with her oldest child was played by Estelle Getty.
The show spent six straight years in the top 10. On it’s last and final season, it was at number 30. When Bea Arthur decided to leave the show, the writers decided to end the series with a one hour series finale that ends with Dorothy marrying Blanche’s Uncle Lucas and moving to Georgia. The finale was viewed by 27.2 million viewers. The three remaining woman would then star in a spin-off series “The Golden Palace” which aired from 9/18/92 until 5/14/93.
Though Estelle Getty (born 7/25/23) played the oldest of the four women she was actually younger than Betty White (born 1/17/22) and Bea Arthur (born 5/13/22); Rue McClanahan was the youngest of the four actresses (born 2/21/34).
TMSM Today in Graphic by Sherry Rinaldi DeHart
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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