{"id":15061,"date":"2024-11-03T09:35:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T09:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/?p=15061"},"modified":"2024-11-03T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T09:35:14","slug":"little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless you live under a rock, there is no way you haven\u2019t heard of the mega-hit show,<\/p>\n

The Golden Girls. The show aired from 1985 to 1992 and captured the hearts of audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n

A show that was not expected to run beyond the first season became<\/p>\n

such a massive success that it\u2019s even still talked about over 30 years after its last episode aired!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Newsner recently sat down with Stan Zimmerman, staff writer for Season 1 of The Golden Girls,<\/p>\n

to get to know some of the stories behind the scenes! Keep reading to learn little-known facts about everyone\u2019s favorite show.<\/p>\n

No one can forget the formidable Estelle Getty in her role as Sophia Petrillo<\/p>\n

in The Golden Girls. While viewers remember her for her iconic one-liners<\/p>\n

and sizzling put-downs, Stan Zimmerman remembers her for something else entirely; her warmth.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman, a young writer at the time, recalls the first time Getty came over to talk to him:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very excited that she was coming over to talk to me and my writing partner,<\/p>\n

Jim. And she\u2019s like, teeny tiny. And she came in her layover and she\u2019s like, \u2018come here, come here\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

He goes on: \u201cShe pulls us to the back of the set and we\u2019re like, \u2018just follow her.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s Estelle Getty!\u2019 And she said to us, \u2018your secret\u2019s safe with me\u2019.<\/p>\n

And I thought that we\u2019re Jewish. And it was actually, that we\u2019re gay.<\/p>\n

And she had got to know a lot of gay people through this play, Torch Song Trilogy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shared how at the time he was told by his management that he should keep<\/p>\n

his identity a secret on-set. He said, \u201cPeople find it hard to believe.<\/p>\n

But we could not talk about ourselves, our true selves at work. And, this<\/p>\n

was, you know, 1985. And our representatives said you had to keep that<\/p>\n

quiet. And she was, willing to do that for us. And I thought that was really nice and, very sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estelle Getty\u2019s lesser know side\u2026<\/p>\n

Zimmerman shared that while her character delivered zingers on camera, in real life,<\/p>\n

she had a motherly quality about her. He recalled: \u201cShe had that very motherly quality.<\/p>\n

And even years after, when I was not writing Golden Girls, we would talk on<\/p>\n

the phone. And she\u2019d always like to know, like, \u2018who you\u2019re<\/p>\n

dating? Where you working?\u2019 And, you know, and not shy about giving advice about any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And while Estelle played the oldest Golden Girl, she was younger than both<\/p>\n

Bea Arthur and Betty White! As a result, the makeup team would have to make her appear older through the use of makeup.<\/p>\n

Stan recalled a funny story about this: \u201cShe had to put on old age makeup.<\/p>\n

And then I think between season one and 2 or 2 and three, she went and got a facelift.<\/p>\n

And then, like [the makeup team were like] \u2018Estelle, now we need to do your makeup.<\/p>\n

Why are you looking better?\u2019 But I think she was just so excited to be in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

And can you imagine your whole life you strive for something and never reaching it and you know,<\/p>\n

and probably many times you thought of giving it up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Zimmerman also recalls seeing his friend deteriorate. At the time they didn\u2019t<\/p>\n

know what was going on with her. The writer recalled: \u201cWe didn\u2019t know at the time<\/p>\n

that she was, experiencing early onset dementia. And I think that with, the anxiety<\/p>\n

she had of performing in front of a live studio audience, knowing she was starting to forget lines really troubled her.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled taping nights: \u201cAnd so Friday night tapings were anxiety filled for her.<\/p>\n

And I know she worked really hard to get through that, but all three of<\/p>\n

the women were very protective to make sure, you know, that she was in<\/p>\n

the best state mentally to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since she was close to Zimmerman, she confided in him about going to therapy several times a week,<\/p>\n

a fact that not many knew on set. He said: \u201cIn the writer\u2019s room, they thought<\/p>\n

that she was out going to Hollywood parties every night. And that\u2019s why she wasn\u2019t home studying her lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

He revealed the drastic measures they took. \u201cAnd so I remember they called in her managers,<\/p>\n

who we became friendly with, the executive producers and said, you\u2019ve got to be on top of her. Make sure she learns the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the time Getty didn\u2019t have a dementia diagnosis and was struggling through her work.<\/p>\n

Stan recalls: \u201cBut when you have dementia, you know, all the studying you can do,<\/p>\n

if you can\u2019t, if your brain can\u2019t retain those lines, then it\u2019s very scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reveals the measures they took to help Estelle with her lines. \u201cAnd so when you see in the TV show,<\/p>\n

if she\u2019s sitting there eating raisins, it\u2019s because we wrote some of the lines<\/p>\n

on her hands and, or sometimes they taped it to the furniture. And I think in later years they actually had some cue cards to help her out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even with her struggles, Estelle delivered every time. Stan says: \u201cBut even through all of that,<\/p>\n

when she sent her lines, they were like home runs every time. I mean, it was so amazing<\/p>\n

to see her. And we always went to her for those jokes at the end of the scene,<\/p>\n

because we just knew that she was going to, you know, hit it out of the park every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something wasn\u2019t right with Betty White\u2026<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Zimmerman\u2019s initial impression of Betty White wasn\u2019t all that positive.<\/p>\n

He revealed to Newsner that during tapings \u2013 if and when Estelle Getty messed up her lines<\/p>\n

\u2013 White would often turn to the studio audience and make jokes at Getty\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman said: \u201cShe would walk up to the stands with the audience<\/p>\n

watching the taping and make jokes. And I thought that was very cruel of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though recently, as he has grown older, Stan has developed another perspective on it.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cAnd it was until recently when I thought, oh, maybe she was going<\/p>\n

over there to draw the attention of the audience and giving Estelle moments to collect herself and remember the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He also recalled some murmurs of tension between Bea and Betty, sharing:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard stories, I didn\u2019t see it particularly when we were there that there were some,<\/p>\n

I think, personality clashes between Bea and Betty. They had different working styles.<\/p>\n

So, because Bea was really a theater actress; you don\u2019t break character.<\/p>\n

So for her to watch Betty just kind of become Betty and go up and talk<\/p>\n

in the middle of a scene, even though we were on a break, I think Bea did not like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one can match the Golden Girls for this reason\u2026<\/p>\n

Stan also revealed something the four female stars of The Golden Girls did which actors in Hollywood seldom do;<\/p>\n

thank the writers and credit them in interviews. Stan said: \u201cAnd I have to say and thank those four ladies<\/p>\n

because they went and talked about the writers, pretty much every talk show.<\/p>\n

They always complimented us as writers. And you don\u2019t usually see that. And so I\u2019m forever grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, contrary to popular belief, the actresses never did ad-libs on the show!<\/p>\n

A lot of times, Stan says fans think certain scenes were ad-libbed,<\/p>\n

with the actresses coming up with things on the spot, but that was not the case.<\/p>\n

Stan recalls: \u201cSeason one, they said every word, every comma, every period. They said what we wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zimmerman wrote about his enthralling experiences with The Golden Girls and more in his book The Girls:<\/p>\n

From Golden to Gilmore. Within its pages, he details his experiences with<\/p>\n

some of TV biggest women, including the four Golden Girls, Roseanne, Lauren Graham, Lily Tomlin, and more!<\/p>\n

He is currently touring with his play \u2018Right Before I Go\u2018, a poignant story inspired by a close friend\u2019s suicide 13 years earlier.<\/p>\n

Share this piece with other Golden Girls fans who might want to know about these little known facts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unless you live under a rock, there is no way you haven\u2019t heard of the mega-hit show, The Golden Girls. The show aired from 1985 to 1992 and captured the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nLittle-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unless you live under a rock, there is no way you haven\u2019t heard of the mega-hit show, The Golden Girls. The show aired from 1985 to 1992 and captured the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pakstne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"791\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karla Cortes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karla Cortes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/\",\"name\":\"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8e4f41b8ac46fc470afc4825a5e1fd41\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg\",\"width\":791,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pakstne\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8e4f41b8ac46fc470afc4825a5e1fd41\",\"name\":\"Karla Cortes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569591e5ad16fcdac8ec1c3810f15360?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569591e5ad16fcdac8ec1c3810f15360?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Karla Cortes\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/author\/zerotohero\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019","og_description":"Unless you live under a rock, there is no way you haven\u2019t heard of the mega-hit show, The Golden Girls. The show aired from 1985 to 1992 and captured the...","og_url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/","og_site_name":"Pakstne","article_published_time":"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":791,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Karla Cortes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karla Cortes","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/","url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/","name":"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-03T09:35:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8e4f41b8ac46fc470afc4825a5e1fd41"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/464669653_514285058143494_2346123762830084073_n.jpg","width":791,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/little-known-facts-about-the-golden-girls-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Little-known facts about \u2018The Golden Girls\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/","name":"Pakstne","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8e4f41b8ac46fc470afc4825a5e1fd41","name":"Karla Cortes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569591e5ad16fcdac8ec1c3810f15360?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569591e5ad16fcdac8ec1c3810f15360?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Karla Cortes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/author\/zerotohero\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15063,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15061\/revisions\/15063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakstne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}