Not so golden.
“Golden Girls” co-producer Marsha Posner Williams opened up about Betty White and Bea Arthur’s rumored feud throughout an occasion celebrating the hit sitcom’s fortieth anniversary in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women, but when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together,” she stated, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Williams recalled that Arthur “used to call me at home and say, ‘I just ran into that [C-word] at the grocery store. I’m gonna write her a letter,’ and I said, ‘Bea, just get over it for crying out loud. Just get past it.’”
The producer continued, “I remember, my husband and I went over to Bea’s house a couple of times for dinner. Within 30 seconds of walking in the door, the c-word came out [to describe White].”
“The Golden Girls” aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992, following 4 older single ladies sharing a house in Florida whereas navigating their “golden” years. There was Southern belle widow Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Minnesota-born widow, Rose (White), Brooklyn-born divorcee Dorothy (Arthur) and Dorothy’s Sicilian mom, Sophia (Estelle Getty).
Getty died in 2008 at age 84, McClanahan died in 2010 at age 76, White died in 2021 at age 99 and Arthur died in 2009 at age 86.
Producers speculated concerning the supply of White and Arthur’s animosity. Co-producer Jim Vallely stated he thought it was as a result of White received extra applause throughout solid introductions.
However Williams disagreed and thought they clashed over their completely different backgrounds, since Arthur had a theater background whereas White got here from TV.
It’s additionally beforehand been speculated that the feud got here from jealousy, as White was the present’s first solid member to be nominated for a Greatest Actress Emmy in 1986.
Within the 2016 “Golden Girls Forever” biography, creator Jim Colucci famous that Arthur remained in character throughout taping, whereas White relaxed between photographs and joked round with the reside studio viewers.
“I think my mom didn’t dig that,” Arthur’s adopted son, Matthew Saks, advised THR in 2016, seven years after she died of most cancers. “It’s more about being focused or conserving your energy. It’s just not the right time to talk to fans between takes. Betty was able to do it and it didn’t seem to affect her. But it rubbed my mom the wrong way.”
White revealed her facet of the story in 2011, saying in an interview, “Bea had a reserve. She was not that fond of me. She found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude — and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she’d be furious!”
Arthur’s alleged c-word remarks about White have surfaced earlier than. Throughout a 2022 episode of The Originals podcast, the present’s casting director, Joel Thurm, stated, “Literally Bea Arthur, who I cast in something else later on, just said, ‘Oh, she’s a f–king c–t,’ using that word [about White].”
“Bea Arthur called Betty White a c-word?” podcast host Andrew Goldman requested on the time.
“Yeah, she called her the c-word. I mean, I heard that with my own ears,” Thurm alleged. “And by the way, so did Rue McClanahan. Rue McClanahan said it to me in Joe Allen’s [restaurant]; Bea Arthur [when she was] on the set of ‘Beggars and Choosers.’ ”
Thurm recalled how Getty — who died from Lewy physique dementia — started having points memorizing her traces on set.
“And she would write the lines on her hand, and … Betty White would make fun of her in front of the live audience,” he stated. “That may seem like a minor transgression, but it really does get to you … I have no idea how Estelle Getty felt, but I know the other two did not like [White] at all.”
Throughout Wednesday night time’s occasion, Williams additionally stated that the remainder of the solid was sport to proceed previous seven seasons, however Arthur needed out.
“The show would have continued after seven years,” she revealed. “Their contracts were up and … the executives went to the ladies, and Estelle said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going,’ and Rue said, ‘Yes let’s keep going,’ and Betty said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going.’”
However, “Bea said, ‘No f–kng way,’” she recalled, “and that’s why that show didn’t continue.”
