Estelle Getty

She has always been linked to acting, albeit informally, more as a hobby than as a profession. So when she married Arthur Gettleman in 1947, she left the stage to devote herself to her family. She and Arthur had two children and a long life together, which ended in 2004, when he died. Years after the wedding and with the family more than organized, Estelle took time to return to acting and, specifically, to return to the theater, where she had spent many years of youth. This return to the stage was combined with her work as a secretary in a law firm. Little by little, the option to earn a living with acting gained strength thanks to the success she obtained on Broadway with “Torch Song Trilogy.” The good public reception that this work had,

The scenarios opened the doors of the cinema for him and he had the opportunity to participate in films such as Tootsie (1982), although with a very minor role. She then came into her life like a whirlwind Sophia Petrillo. The great mom from The Golden Girls fit her perfectly. Estelle was born to play that wonderful woman without mincing words and with an energy capable of leaving any twenty-something who crossed her path breathless. The series was broadcast between 1985 and 1992, with a resounding success with the public. On a personal level, it brought Estelle an Emmy and a Golden Globe, and over the years, having become a living part of the collective memory of an audience belonging to several generations. the golden girlsit narrated the adventures of four mature women who shared a house. Sophia was the shrewd mother of Dorothy, who was in charge of the group. Mother and daughter lived with the uninhibited Blanche and the naive Rose. The four characters turned out to be a total success, one of those recipes for success that is not often given, but it must be recognized that in that group, Sophia occupied a prominent place, which made her the favorite character of most of the audience. That role was made for her, as evidenced by details such as that in real life she was younger than Beatrice Arthur , who played her daughter Dorothy hers. Nothing a little makeup couldn’t fix.

The success of the series led to his return to the cinema, although with little significance. She was her as the mother of Sylvester Stallone in Stop! Or my mother shoots (1992), a comedy that will not go down in history, but if it is memorable for something, it is precisely because of it, because of the funny interpretation that it gives as the mother of the burly Stallone. Over the years her health deteriorated and in 2000 she announced her retirement, shortly after playing Grandma Estelle in Stuart Little . She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and a degenerative disease similar to Alzheimer’s, which permanently ended her life in July 2008.

The energy and vitality that this woman exuded suggest that now those who have loved her the most think of her and cannot prevent the chords of “Thank you for being a Friend” from ringing in their minds, like in tune with The Golden Girls .