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Blanche Devereaux
Blanche Devereaux (née Hollingsworth) is one of the four main fictional characters on the 1985–1992 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its CBS spin-off The Golden Palace. Blanche was portrayed by Rue McClanahan for 8 years and 204 episodes across the two series.
McClanahan had previously been a co-star with Beatrice Arthur in Maude and with Betty White in the first two seasons of Mama's Family. In pre-production, producers had originally planned for White (who was known for playing promiscuous characters such as Sue Ann Nivens) to play Blanche, but neither White nor McClanahan wanted to be typecast, and the two were given permission to switch roles.
Family
Blanche Hollingsworth grew up near Atlanta, Georgia, at her family's mansion, Twin Oaks. Her parents were the late Elizabeth-Ann Margaret Bennett (later seasons named her "Samantha Roquet") (Helen Kleeb) and Curtis "Big Daddy" Hollingsworth (first Murray Hamilton, and after Hamilton died, David Wayne), the latter a revered man in his neck of the woods. As a young child, she had a mammy named Viola Watkins who took care of her before suddenly leaving one day. Much to Blanche's dismay, her father married a young widow named Margaret Spencer (Sondra Currie) years after Blanche's mother died, but she grudgingly accepted the marriage. After her father's death, she learned that he and Watkins had been secret lovers for over 40 years. Blanche is a member of "the Alpha Gams" (Alpha Gamma Delta), but which university she attended is not known. On a few occasions, Blanche states that she is of the Baptist faith. She is proud of her status as a Southern debutante, but when tracing her family history, is shocked to learn that she has a Jewish great-grandmother named Rosalyn Feldman from Buffalo, New York, which prevents her from joining the Daughters of the Old South, a Southern women's organization.
Blanche is the third of five Hollingsworth children. Charmaine Hollingsworth (Barbara Babcock) is the spoiled oldest sister, who infuriated Blanche when she wrote a sordid novel that Blanche thought was about her. When it was revealed that the book was about Charmaine and not Blanche, they made up and apologized to each other. The next youngest sibling is Blanche's brother Clayton Hollingsworth (Monte Markham), who appears in season four (1988) and season six (1991).[1][2] Blanche is troubled to some extent when she learns that Clayton is gay; her reluctance to accept Clayton's sexual orientation nearly cost her relationship with him.[1][2] Blanche's sister Virginia Hollingsworth (Sheree North), with whom Blanche shares a mutual loathing, is one year her junior. They buried the hatchet when Virginia went into renal failure and Blanche offered her kidney to her sister. However, their relationship became strained once more after their argument following Big Daddy's death in which Virginia accused Blanche of being too selfish and self-centered to say goodbye to her own father. During The Golden Palace, Blanche was revealed to have a mentally challenged older brother, Tad Hollingsworth (Ned Beatty), who has spent most of his life in a Chattanooga institution.[3] Blanche also has a promiscuous niece named Lucy (Hallie Todd), who visits her during the first season.
Love life
Although notoriously man-hungry, Blanche was faithfully married for decades to her husband, George Devereaux. George died in 1981, four years before the start of the series in 1985, and at some point earlier they had moved from Atlanta to Miami.
In a 1990 episode, Blanche had a dream that George came back from the dead nine years later (he said that he faked his death to escape criminal prosecution for fraud, for which he was framed by his own business partner). Rue McClanahan has said that George was the love of Blanche's life, and that her promiscuity was in fact a desperate search for the next love of her life. The cause of George's death is never definitively established in the series; he either died immediately during a car accident when Blanche was at home, or after being in a coma when Blanche was getting a pedicure.
During her senior year in high school, Christmas 1949, when she was 17, she almost eloped with Deck Boughvenlough, the father of her rival at cheerleading with the sole purpose of having her taken off the squad. From this story, Blanche was shown to be born in 1932.
On the show, Blanche is shown to have dated various men, some of them unsavory. She almost married a bigamist in the pilot episode before he got caught by the police. Another man stole her necklace at her full moon-leap year's party, and he, too, was caught by the police. One boyfriend named Rex was emotionally and verbally abusive, until her roommate Dorothy helped her realize his true personality. Another boyfriend Gary (Jerry Hardin) cheated on her by sleeping with Rose's sister Holly (Inga Swenson), who was visiting. Yet another, who appears in The Golden Palace, turns out to be a gigolo (Barry Bostwick). Blanche overcame her apprehension of dating Ted, who was in a wheelchair, only to find out he was married, so she terminated the relationship because she has never been the "other woman" in extramarital affairs and never wanted to be. The only other time that occurred was when her beau's wife was revived by paramedics after she was declared dead. Blanche has also ruined good relationships with worthy men. Jake (Donnelly Rhodes) was perfect and wanted to marry her, he was charming and romantic, but they had too many differences and she turned him down, to the disgust of her roommates, and regretted it later. When Steven (Robert Mandan) was hospitalized, she refused to visit him until much later, by which time he reconciled with his ex-girlfriend, Karen. Unlike Blanche, who feared commitment and having another man die on her, when Karen heard of Steven's illness, she went right to his side when he needed someone. She also dated John Quinn (Edward Winter) and considered breaking up with him because he was blind and she felt self-conscious because she knew he was not attracted to her physical beauty. She later apologized to him and made plans to go out with him again, but the relationship apparently ended, as he is never mentioned on the series again. Blanche's most frequent (but only seen once in season six) date was Mel Bushman (Alan King), who was always available whenever she lacked male companionship. The one time he was not, Blanche assumed he was dead and promptly fell in temporary love with him when she realized he was alive. Because of his zipper manufacturing business, Mel was known as "The Zipper King". When Blanche's death is reported mistakenly in a newspaper, Mel Bushman sends flowers and a note, saying he has gone back to his ex-wife.
Blanche is portrayed as a promiscuous woman. In one episode, it is stated that her initials, Blanche Elizabeth Devereaux, spell out the word "BED." However, in a previous episode, Viola Watkins calls her "Blanche Marie Hollingsworth". Blanche spends a great deal of her time with men, and this is a source of both condemnation from and amusement to her roommates. Blanche's seemingly liberated human sexual behavior is a contrast to the sexual climate of the 1980s, when AIDS was beginning to seep into a nation's consciousness. However, in the episode "72 Hours", Blanche was cognizant of the dangers of HIV and STDs; she always used protection and knows every lover's full sexual history. It is also implied in one episode that she has had numerous interracial sexual liaisons with African-American men, though no such relations were ever depicted on camera.
In spite of her promiscuity, Blanche was actually conservative in many respects. She was a Republican, plus she had a hard time accepting her brother Clayton's homosexuality, and still seemed to have issues in regards to his sexual orientation when he visited her again with his partner Doug (Michael Ayr).
Age
Throughout the course of the show, Blanche's precise age was never told. During the Mother's Day episode, Blanche's mother says that she was 17 in 1949, placing her birth year in 1931 or 1932. In an episode later in the series, Rose successfully got all of Blanche's documentation, but when she sat down with the other girls to go over the information she had received, the age columns of all of papers said "Deleted by Authority of the Governor", implying Blanche had sex with the Governor to get her age struck from her record. In a 1993 episode of The Golden Palace, Blanche's mentally challenged brother, Tad, confirms to Rose that Blanche is in her early 60s.
In real life, Rue McClanahan was the youngest member of the show's cast (10 years younger than the other three series regulars), and the same is true of her character.
Children and grandchildren
At various times over the course of the series, Blanche mentions the names of six children: Janet, Rebecca, Mathew, Doug, "Biff", and "Skippy". However, in the third-season episode "Bringing Up Baby", when Dorothy questions an impulsive car purchase, Blanche says to her: "I have had four children, I have never had a Mercedes". She mentions three sons — Skippy, Biff and Doug — in the episode "Bringing Up Baby", while the fourth name, Matthew, was mentioned in the episode "To Catch a Neighbor" and made an on-screen appearance on an episode of The Golden Palace, played by Texan comic Bill Engvall). During the series, Blanche learns that George also had a son named David (Mark Moses), as the result of an affair.
During the course of the show, Blanche is revealed not to have been very "hands-on" as a mother, as she frequently left her children to nannies and housekeepers. She had a strained relationship with both of her daughters, especially Janet, something that led to some of the most dramatic storylines as she expressed regrets that she was not there for her children more, and it is loosely implied that she might have even been emotionally abusive to them when they were growing up (the relationship between her sons is never mentioned). However, Blanche slowly rebuilt her relationships with Janet and Rebecca throughout the series. By the time the series ended, both Rebecca and Janet had healed their relationships with their mother.
Blanche's daughter, Rebecca, was seen most often on the show, although Blanche and she had frequent falling outs and bitter fights. When Rebecca was first introduced, she was overweight and about to marry a verbally abusive man (Joe Regalbuto). Later in the series, they fought over a slimmed-down Rebecca's decision to be artificially inseminated and raising the baby without a father. Rebecca decided to visit a birthing center saying: "Hospitals have a rigid way of doing things." After hearing a frightening shriek, Rebecca changes her mind and lets her mother take her to a hospital and even lets her help with the labor in the delivery room. Rebecca gave birth to her daughter, Aurora. They feuded again when Rebecca believed that Blanche was using her granddaughter to "get a man." In each case, they eventually made up again, which was something Blanche seems not to have entirely done with Janet.
Besides Aurora, Blanche has at least three other grandchildren: David, Melissa, and Sarah, all born to Janet, who married a "Yankee." Blanche's 14-year-old grandson David visited the girls in the first season, but was unhappy and rebellious, due to problems in his home life. Sophia eventually hit him for being disrespectful. After David confided in Blanche, she told Janet that she wanted David to live with her, leading to a bitter falling out between mother and daughter.
Relationship with her roommates
Blanche acts as co-roommate and landlord to Rose Nylund, Dorothy Zbornak, and Sophia Petrillo. Throughout the series, Rose and she are often involved in the same activities. Though she, like Dorothy and Sophia, is annoyed at times by Rose's constant storytelling, she saw her as both her best friend and a surrogate sister. Blanche has her own collection of strange stories which she shares from time to time, often tales of her rivalry with sisters Virginia and Charmaine or of the promiscuous stunts she pulled as a teenager.
Her relationship with Dorothy is mixed with envy and condemnation and sisterhood on both parts: Dorothy envies and condemns Blanche's sexual comfortability, while Blanche envies Dorothy's intelligence and condemns her fashion sense, among other things. And yet, both Dorothy and she at times isolate themselves from Rose, ganging up on her when the latter said anything particularly foolish, and taking turns hitting her on the head with a newspaper or magazine. Their relationship is also symbiotic; in one of the last episodes in the series, Dorothy admitted that Blanche has helped her be comfortable with her own sexuality, while Dorothy herself has always served as Blanche's other voice of reason. Although Blanche is only a few years younger than Dorothy and Rose, she frequently brags about being the youngest roommate in the house.
Blanche considers Sophia as both a mother figure and as a mean old lady. Sophia considers Blanche as one of her own daughters, and very vocally, as a street prostitute. In the pilot episode, Sophia bluntly tells Blanche, "You look like a prostitute."
Significance
Rue McClanahan said playing the role of Blanche made her "one of the most recognizable women in the world," and resulted in her being named the "Fifth most beloved celebrity over 55" in the world. She said the fame of Blanche Devereaux, on television "week after week for decades", made McClanahan inseparable from Blanche in the public eye.[6]
Blanche and the other three women were hailed as breakthrough television role models for older women, being attractive, stylishly dressed, and romantically active.
Rose Nylund
Rose Nylund (née Lindström) is a fictional character featured on the popular 1980s situation comedy The Golden Girls, and its spin-off The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years, totaling 204 episodes. Rose was originally supposed to be played by Rue McClanahan, whereas Blanche Devereaux, one of Rose's roommates, was to be played by White. However, Jay Sandrich, the director of the show, suggested that Betty and Rue switch parts. He felt that Betty would be a better fit for Rose because she had already played Sue Ann Nivens in the television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which is similar to the character of Blanche Devereaux.[1] In a January 2017 interview with Katie Couric, White stated she jumped at the opportunity to take the role of Rose, noting she loved the character and describing Rose as "so innocent, not the brightest nickel in the drawer, but funny."[2]
Rose Nylund was built on Scandinavian dialect comedy and stereotypes: a good-natured but often naive and dumb character not unlike the ones portrayed in the tales and humor of William F. Kirk.
Fictional biography
Rose was born in St. Olaf, Minnesota to a monk named Brother Martin and a 19-year-old girl named Ingrid Kerklavoner, who died giving birth. Brother Martin claimed to have not known about Rose's existence until after she had been given up for adoption. She spent the first eight years of her life at the St. Olaf Orphanage before being adopted by Gunter and Alma Lindström (although she erroneously says "Gunter and Alma Nylund" when retelling the story). Rose explains that she was adopted after she was left on a doorstep, in a basket with some hickory-smoked cheese and some crackers "that didn't go with anything". She used to daydream about her birth father, feeling that Bob Hope was in fact he, and she wrote the comedian many letters whenever she fell on tough times.
It is stated that she was valedictorian in her high school graduation, fourth out of nineteen, and was chosen valedictorian because she drew the longest straw. It is revealed that Rose attended St. Paul Business School, Rockport Community College, and St. Gustaf University, but also that she had never graduated from high school due to a case of mono. Nevertheless, she was voted "most likely to get stuck in a tuba" by one of her graduating classes. Her parents did not allow her to date until she was a high school senior, and between then and her wedding day, she had fifty-six boyfriends. Rose fell in love with Charlie Nylund, a salesman, and they later married. Rose met Charlie when she was seven and he was eight, and he sold her an insurance policy for her red wagon. She and Charlie had a long and happy marriage, and a very active sex life, to the extent that she was unaware of the existence of a popular television show called I Love Lucy. Over the course of the series, Rose names five children: Brigit, Jenella, Kirsten, Adam, and Charlie Jr. Rose also has two granddaughters by Kirsten - Charley (named for Kirsten's father) and another unnamed, mentioned in the episode where Rose had her heart attack. Of her children, only Brigit and Kirsten appeared on the show, although Kirsten was played by two different actresses.
Charlie died of a heart attack while he and Rose were making love in 1980 and this gave Rose a fear of sexual intimacy for several years thereafter. Years later, a boyfriend named Al Beatty (Richard Roat) dies in a similar fashion. On one episode Rose confides to Blanche and Dorothy that she and Charlie made love twice, everyday, once in the morning before breakfast and then once after dinner, getting Blanche to remark "No wonder you still mourn that man".
Charlie and Rose's marriage length is unclear. Although it was mentioned in the 1985 pilot episode that Charlie had been dead for 15 years, in the first-season episode "Job Hunting", Rose says that she had been a housewife for 32 years when Charlie died in 1980. In the same episode, Rose is 55 years old in 1985, which would put her birth year in 1930. This would make her 63 when The Golden Palace goes off the air in 1993.
Charlie is the only spouse of the four women on The Golden Girls that the audience never sees. In an episode of The Golden Palace, a man said to bear an incredibly strong resemblance to Charlie makes an appearance; the look-alike is played by Eddie Albert.
Rose is laid off from her job at the grief counseling center in season 1, and briefly works as a waitress at the Fountain Roc Coffee Shop before being rehired at the counseling center shortly after. Later on in the series, Rose suffers financial difficulties when her late husband's employer files for bankruptcy and her pension is cut off. She suffers from age discrimination in her attempts to get a new job, but her luck changes when she gets a position as assistant to TV consumer reporter Enrique Más. Rose finally finds a significant romance with college professor Miles Webber, though their relationship is put through a serious strain when it is revealed that Miles is actually a former mobster accountant named Nicholas Carbone, and a participant in the witness protection program. His former employer, "The Cheese Man," begins dating Rose in order to get information on Miles's whereabouts. Eventually The Cheese Man is apprehended, Rose and Miles resume their lives together, and all goes well for approximately the next year. In season 7, Rose and Miles consider marriage, but ultimately decide against rushing into anything. Their relationship later ends permanently during an episode of The Golden Palace when Rose discovers that Miles loves and subsequently marries another woman.
St. Olaf
Rose frequently tells the other women various stories, which they find to be annoying, of her hometown, St. Olaf. Rose usually begins each story with, "Back in St. Olaf..." According to her, St. Olaf is a Norwegian farming settlement in northern Minnesota, known on local license plates as "Big Statue Country". During the show's seven-year run, St. Olaf is seen only twice in flashbacks,[citation needed] and once when the ladies visit during an episode in which Rose was nominated for St. Olaf's Woman of the Year award.
One of St. Olaf's chief attractions is a giant black hole, which the townspeople enjoy standing around and looking at - which prompts Dorothy to refer to St. Olaf sarcastically as the real "entertainment capital of the world." St. Olafians also celebrate various oddly themed festivals. St. Olaf appears to be a bilingual town with a significant amount of unique vocabulary (that may be specific to the area and not appearing in standard Norwegian).[citation needed] One of the unique attractions of St. Olaf is Mt. Losenbauden, similar to Mount Rushmore, except that it features the faces of losing presidential candidates; Adlai Stevenson is featured twice because he lost twice.
It is suggested by Rose's stories that St. Olaf is populated almost entirely by idiots. In the season three episode, "Mother's Day", Rose encounters a traveling woman named Anna, who says about St. Olaf, "I don't mean to say that everyone there is an idiot, but it just seemed that, per capita, they have more than their share." When Rose says that her children realized it would be cheaper for her to visit the family than it would for the family to visit her, Anna happily replies, "They figured that out, and they live in St. Olaf? You must be very proud!"
Hobbies
Although all four women volunteer their time, Rose is arguably the most involved in charity work. Among other things, she drives a bookmobile, is a candy striper at a hospital, and helps organize a charity talent show. On her resume, she lists cheese making, stamp collecting and Viking history as hobbies. She also volunteers as a girl scout troop leader. Rose is a perennial runner up for a Volunteer of the Year award, even coming in second one-year to a woman who is dead.
Rose also enjoys painting and even got recognized in an episode to have her artwork of St.Olaf ‘s horses in a museum. She always enjoyed art and painting but began to get stressed when the museum work had asked too much of her.
In many episodes, it is hinted that Rose is a fan of science fiction movies and TV shows. (In the 1987 episode "Bringing Up Baby," the other women are reading Benjamin Spock's book on child rearing. Rose quips, "What does Spock know about raising babies? On Vulcan, all the kids are born in pods." To which Dorothy replies, "I know this is a bit of a stretch, but did you take much acid during the '60s?").
Personality
Rose is simple minded and something of a pushover who rarely stands up for herself. On one occasion, her blind sister Lily tries to guilt Rose into moving to Chicago to take care of her. At Dorothy's urging, Rose says no, which forces Lily to learn how to care for herself. In The Golden Palace, Rose has a much more resilient will and becomes a much stronger personality after Dorothy's departure from the group (as Dorothy notes during her lone appearance on The Golden Palace—"Seems Like Old Times"—when she states "When did she become the strong one?!"). Despite this, Rose is often portrayed as being quite competitive, particularly in various games she engages in with the group. At one point, Rose dabbles as a junior football coach and is shown to encourage the players to do anything possible to win, including lying and cheating.
Dorothy and Rose often clash on-air, with Rose being generally upbeat and Dorothy reflecting a more terse, down-to-earth worldview. This reflected real-life tension between Bea Arthur and Betty White, who had similar personalities to their characters in real life.
Though portrayed as dimwitted, the show implies Rose is actually bilingual as she often cites odd festivals, locales, customs, and food in Norwegian. In the episode in which her cousin Sven visits, her ability in both English and Norwegian is again hinted at when she explains how she had to converse with her furious Viking uncle on the phone.
Running gag
Rose is the fool of the group, and is the center of a few running gags. The most common involves her asking a stupid question, after which the other women usually look at her oddly, and then say something sarcastic. Another involves Dorothy or Blanche hitting Rose with a newspaper after enduring one of her frustrating St. Olaf stories. Rose herself behaves uncharacteristically sarcastic in a few instances. In one episode in which the ladies' roof was leaking, Rose exits her room carrying two buckets of water; Dorothy asks if the ceiling in her room is leaking too, and Rose replies, "No, Dorothy, I just finished milking the cow I keep in my closet!" She then says, "Gee, with only three hours of sleep I can be as bitchy as you!". In another episode, Rose says her sister Holly is a flautist. Dorothy asks Rose if Holly plays a flute, and Rose sarcastically replies, "No, Dorothy, she plays a 'flaut'. It's a big instrument that looks like a tuba, and has hair at the bottom of it. Of course she plays a flute!". In a situation where Dorothy and Blanche have gotten into an argument, neither of them cares that the dog that Rose takes in off the street is sick and needs immediate veterinary care; after their argument, both Dorothy and Blanche leave the kitchen. Rose then imitates the dog as if he were speaking to her: "Don't explain, Rose. I used to live with a couple of bitches myself."
Rose's hair color is debated from time to time. She claims it is her natural color, but several characters comment that it is a result of cheap hair dye. In one episode, Rose claims that she never lies, but abruptly leaves the room when Dorothy asks what her natural hair color is. On another occasion, Sophia remarks that Rose is known as a dumb blonde. Another time, while Blanche is discussing her hair's "natural hue", Rose says, "To be perfectly honest, I use a touch of peroxide." Rose's confession is irrelevant to the conversation and is immediately followed by an irritated Dorothy shouting, "Oh, shut up, Rose!"
Health issues
Rose suffered a number of major health problems during the series. In season 2, she had an esophageal spasm that caused a near-death experience. In season 4, Rose came clean about a 30 year long addiction to prescription painkillers. Rose also endured an HIV scare in season 5, when she was alerted that a blood transfusion she had received during a cholecystectomy six years before may have been tainted with the virus. In season 7, Rose suffered a major heart attack and had to have a triple bypass surgery.
Dorothy Zbornak
Dorothy Zbornak (née Petrillo) is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls, portrayed by Beatrice Arthur for seven years and 180 episodes. Dorothy was the strong, smart, sarcastic, sometimes intimidating, and arguably most grounded of the four women in the house. Though tough, she is normally friendly, polite and does genuinely care for the other girls. In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Dorothy Zbornak was selected as the Grandma for "The Perfect TV Family."
Family
Dorothy Petrillo was born in New York City, and was the daughter of Italian immigrants Sophia and Salvatore Petrillo. Dorothy states in one episode that she is a Leo[3] (born in July or August). In the third-season episode, "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself" (1987), Sophia says Dorothy was conceived in 1929, after Sophia's and Salvatore's first argument as newlyweds. In the show's final season in 1992, Dorothy's age is stated as 62.
Dorothy was nicknamed "Pussycat" by her mother, and "Spumoni Face" by her father. Dorothy has two younger siblings: brother Phil, a cross-dresser, who died later in the show's run; and a sister, Gloria, who was nicknamed "Kitten" and married into money, and with whom Dorothy was sometimes estranged. In the fourth-season episode "Foreign Exchange", Dorothy wondered whether she is the biological daughter of the Petrillos, since Dominic and Philomena Bosco claimed that the hospital switched babies. However, in the third-season episode "Mother's Day," Sophia Petrillo's mother is also played by Bea Arthur, so it is implied that Dorothy and Sophia are biologically related (though in one episode Dorothy states that her grandmother was 94 when she was only 6, though it is never made clear if it is her paternal or maternal grandmother). In that episode and three others with flashbacks to Dorothy's young adulthood, Dorothy Zbornak was portrayed by a tall, dark-haired actress named Lynnie Greene. In the episode "Clinton Avenue Memoirs," Dorothy was shown as a young child (played by Jandi Swanson) jealous of the attention that her parents were giving to her baby brother Phil, until her father tells her that he loves her very much.
She was a "bookworm", and an over-achiever in high school. Yet, she suffered from low self-esteem, in part because one previous boyfriend was emotionally abusive, while another one supposedly stood her up on the night of her prom (he later returns as a character played by Hal Linden). In reality, he did show up, but was disrespectful toward Sophia, who did not like the way he was dressed or his attitude, and turned him away, without telling Dorothy. Dejected, she later accepted a date with Stanley Zbornak (Herb Edelman) because she "felt she couldn't do any better". She became pregnant on a date when Stan drugged her drink, knocking her out, resulting in a shotgun wedding to Stan possibly in 1946 (however, in the fifth-season episode "An Illegitimate Concern," Dorothy states that her wedding date was June 1, 1949).
Stan and Dorothy eventually moved to Miami, but divorced after 38 years when Stan fell for a stewardess named Chrissy and ran off to Maui with her. In the first-season episode "The Return of Dorothy's Ex," Stan mentions how they bought property together when honeymooning in Miami. Dorothy and Stan were frequently mentioned to have been married for 38 years at the time of their divorce, which occurred some time shortly before the show's 1985 premiere; however, in the episode "An Illegitimate Concern" Dorothy specifically mentions June 1, 1949 as her wedding date, making it impossible that she and Stan were married for 38 years. It is also stated in the first-season episode "Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding" that Dorothy and Stan had been separated for two years at that point, insinuating that the marriage ended some time in 1983. They would eventually make several attempts to reconcile, but never ultimately got back together.
Career
Dorothy worked as a high school substitute teacher of English and American History (her major in college) for over thirty years. Her teaching career is important to her, since she learned French for an exam for her teaching position. When she was in college, she taught part-time at a school for the blind. She also taught a night-school course for adults wishing to complete their high school equivalency, including Rose Nylund. One of her former students hired her to teach business executives for his company, but they showed no interest in her teaching, and she realized that she liked teaching younger, impressionable students. Dorothy also had summer and part-time jobs, which included tutoring Mario (Mario Lopez) and working alongside Blanche at the museum. Rose Nylund's boyfriend helped her get a job as a writer for the television show that he starred in titled Mister Terrific Show, and she also appeared on the show's segment as a character named "Mrs. School Teacher" before she quit. She also acted with her mother in a pizza commercial, but it was aborted when Sophia tasted the pizza for the first time and hated it and walked out.
Characteristics
While often mocked as a manly and sexually unattractive woman by her two roommate friends and her mother due to her height, deep voice and somewhat severe features, Dorothy is also in possession of many talents. In one episode, she is able to upstage Blanche at the latter's favorite bar, the Rusty Anchor, with her singing, winning the admiration of Blanche's many suitors (this trait took advantage of Arthur's extensive singing and Off-Broadwaystage experience). At another point, remembering how funny she could be in high school, Dorothy tries her hand at doing stand-up comedy, in the end winning over her audience by poking fun at her own life and bringing up such subjects as menopause with its hot flashes.
She is often very humble, and it is usually rare that she ever brags about herself. Dorothy can be comedically sarcastic, especially towards her less-than-sophisticated roommate, Rose, and man-obsessed Blanche. They can laugh at each other's remarks without hurt feelings, much of the time. Dorothy's mother Sophia has a tendency to "borrow" money from her, often without Dorothy's permission. Dorothy regards her roommates as family. She is very comforting and loving to them, giving them good advice. However, there are times when Rose and Blanche are scared of her, specifically when she gets angry. Blanche once reminded Rose of the time the latter had lost Dorothy's keys, to which Rose responded that Dorothy had "uprooted a mighty sequoia." When Blanche considered that she and Rose should defy Dorothy, she made a list of questions, such as "Can she intimidate us?" and several other possibilities. Rose replied, "Blanche, she can do all those things!" Dorothy, who had a no-nonsense personality, was quick to make sarcastic remarks if someone (especially Rose) made a dumb comment; this tension between Dorothy and Rose was a natural byproduct of Arthur's and White's real-life personalities, and the two often struggled to get along offscreen.
During the run of the show, it is implied that Dorothy is likely a Democrat due in part to her liberal views, although she never announces her party affiliation. She has a Michael Dukakis bumper sticker (covering a Walter Mondale bumper sticker) and planned to confront then-President George H.W. Bush when he visited Miami about his views on education, ignoring warnings from her mother and friends. When Bush did come, she was so shocked at actually meeting him that she couldn't say anything. The character shared many of the same political views as Arthur herself, who in a 2005 interview surmised that "that's what makes Maude and Dorothy so believable; we have the same viewpoints on how our country should be handled."
Dorothy is a very dedicated and strong-willed teacher, earning the nickname "Attila The Sub," which she loved. In one episode, she would not let her lazy student, a star athlete, play football in the school game, even after the school threatened and intimidated her. The student went ahead and played football anyway and broke his leg, and she visited him in the hospital to read him A Tale of Two Cities.
Major event
After her divorce from Stanley Zbornak, in which she kept her married surname, Dorothy Zbornak moved into a house in Miami, Florida, with widows Blanche Devereaux (owner / co-owner [all the girls decided that they should all own the house in one episode due to the building codes] of the house, played by Rue McClanahan) and Rose Nylund (Betty White). Shortly thereafter, Dorothy's mother, Sophia, moved in after her nursing home, Shady Pines, burned down. This was a running gag during the show's run, where Sophia would often refer to Shady Pines as a prison, and Dorothy would defend it as a lovely retirement village. Other times, when Dorothy would become exasperated with her mother or try to get Sophia to listen to her, Dorothy would threaten "Shady Pines, Ma!", after which Sophia would immediately fall in line. Dorothy shared a unique relationship with her roommates, one often laced with her famously sardonic comments; the four shared a home for seven years, and in more than one episode it was pointed out that, despite a lack of blood ties, they were as much a family as any other household.
Dorothy and Stan had been married for 38 years, with the 'cause' of their marriage was the fact that Stan had gotten Dorothy pregnant on a date by drugging Dorothy's drink, knocking her out. During the course of the show, Dorothy saw both of her children get married: Kate, to a podiatrist named Dennis, and Michael to a woman named Lorraine, a singer in his band, whom he had gotten pregnant. Lorraine was African American and several years older than Michael; this initially did not sit well with Dorothy because she felt Lorraine was far too old for Michael, quipping that Lorraine was nearly "twice" Michael's age, as Lorraine was 44 and Michael was 23 (at least in this episode; Michael was portrayed as several years older in some of the other episodes in which he appeared and was implied to be the son borne out of the shotgun pregnancy, and Scott Jacoby, who portrayed Michael, was in his early 30s at the time). Lorraine's family, on the other hand, didn't want her to marry Michael because he was white. Kate's husband, Dennis, cheated on her at one point, but she ultimately forgave him, almost causing Dorothy and Kate to stop speaking (Dorothy believed Kate should not have taken Dennis back), but they also quickly reconciled. Lorraine left Michael later in the series, and there was no specific mention of his child with Lorraine (Dorothy's grandchild) thereafter. Before Lorraine, Michael had previously slept with Rose's daughter Bridget. Although it is mentioned that Dorothy did have grandchildren, it was never specified whether they were Michael's or Kate's children.
Like the other women living in the house, Dorothy had her fair share of romances, with her love life often coming into criticism by her mother. Ex-husband Stanley made regular attempts throughout the series to "win her back," and at one point nearly remarried Dorothy, though she called it off after Stanley and his lawyer, the famed Marvin Mitchelson, presented her with a pre-nuptial agreement to sign.
Some of Dorothy's suitors turned out to have less-than-virtuous characters. Elliot Clayton, a respected doctor, made a pass at Blanche, and when Blanche told Dorothy about it, Dorothy accused Blanche of making it all up, and wanting Elliot for herself. Blanche, deeply hurt that Dorothy would believe Elliot's word over hers, announced she was kicking Dorothy out of the house, and this would have ended their friendship for good had Rose not exposed Elliot for the liar he was on the day Dorothy was set to move out. During the battle, one of Dorothy's classic lines was: "It's not enough that you've had half of the men in Dade County, you have to have everyone else's men, it's PATHETIC!"
Yet another incident which put her at odds with Blanche was when she dated Stan's brother, Ted (McLean Stevenson). She was so angered that Blanche didn't want to see anyone but herself happy, she angrily told Blanche, "Blanche, have you seen the latest ad campaigns? Join the Navy, see the world, sleep with Blanche Devereaux; Join the Army, be all you can be, and sleep with Blanche Devereaux; the Marines are looking for a few good men who have NOT slept with Blanche Devereaux!"
Another suitor turned out to be a married man, Glen O'Brien (portrayed by Alex Rocco in the first season); Dorothy broke off the relationship when she remembered how much it had hurt to be cheated on by Stanley. She dated Glen again a few years later (this time portrayed by Jerry Orbach) when he was divorced, but she broke off with him again because she felt that the only reason he wanted to be with her was that he didn't like being divorced and alone. Yet another prospect, named Eddie (John Fiedler), was the best lover Dorothy ever had, but Dorothy broke up with Eddie as well because their relationship never progressed past the physical stage. Her high-school teacher, Mr. Malcolm Gordon (James T. Callahan), whom she'd had a crush on, came back into her life many years later, only to plagiarize and take credit for an article that she had written. Stan's brother, Ted Zbornak (McLean Stevenson), told her that he had had a crush on her since they were young. They then "spent the night" together, nearly destroying her friendship with Blanche, who had gone out with Ted earlier that night. Later, Ted asked Dorothy to baby-sit the children of a stewardess that he wanted to date (Dorothy was under the impression that Ted was going to ask her to marry him), making Dorothy feel humiliated. However, Dorothy got her revenge when she announced to everyone in the restaurant they were dining at that he was impotent.
A few other suitors were portrayed by well-known actors, including Dick Van Dyke and Leslie Nielsen. Leslie Nielsen played Lucas Hollingsworth, Blanche's uncle (her father's brother), whom Dorothy later married. Blanche was excited to hear that he was coming to visit her in Miami, but, because of a previous engagement (a supposedly very important tennis date), she pawned him off on Dorothy. The date was rather dull, and both Dorothy and Lucas were angered with Blanche for her inconsiderate attitude. To get even with her, Dorothy and Lucas decided to fake an engagement. They played it up for 3 days, angering and annoying Blanche. However, during the ruse, Dorothy and Lucas fell in love for real, he proposed, and she accepted. Despite Stan's hope to derail the marriage, he took her to the church in style (in a limo), and although he wanted to say something, he didn't. With that, Dorothy moved to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta, and moved on with her life. At first, Sophia was to move with her, but she decided to remain in Miami with Blanche and Rose (they all later opened a hotel named The Golden Palace, and a spin-off was also named The Golden Palace).
In spite of her strengths, Dorothy does have phobias, namely hospitals and flying. She eventually manages to conquer these fears, however, with help from her friends.
The series showed a social awareness in various episodes. A two-part episode involved Dorothy suffering from extreme exhaustion, which was ultimately determined to be chronic fatigue syndrome; Susan Harris, the show's co-writer, also suffered from the then largely unrecognized condition. In an earlier episode, Dorothy's lesbian friend, Jean (portrayed by former Miss America semifinalist Lois Nettleton), came to Miami for a visit and struck up a friendship with Rose, with whom Jean suspected she was falling in love. Dorothy was also shown to have a recurring gambling problem that eventually caused her to seek help through Gamblers Anonymous. She started smoking cigarettes again after quitting many years earlier, because of stress from her job and her mother's remarriage. Presumably, she was able to kick the habit, since she was not seen with a cigarette again.
Dorothy also appeared in the two-part episode of The Golden Palace, "Seems Like Old Times"; she is revealed to still be married to Lucas, who does not appear, although Dorothy is shown speaking to him on the telephone. She appeared in one episode of Empty Nest,entitled "Dumped", in which her favorite nephew Jim dumps Barbara (Kristy McNichol).
According to the episode, "Mary Has A Little Lamb", Dorothy's childhood nickname was "Moose."
Sophia Petrillo
Sophia Petrillo is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls, and its spin-offs The Golden Palace and Empty Nest and one episode each of the series, Blossom and Nurses. She was portrayed by Estelle Getty for 10 years and 258 episodes.
Early history
Sophia Petrillo was most likely born in April 1905 in Sicily. She had a sister Angela, a sister Regina, a brother Angelo, and she mentioned another brother, but he was unnamed and only spoken of a few times. Dorothy mentions an uncle Vito in Season 2, but it is unclear whether he is Sophia's brother or her husband Salvadore's. It is revealed in the season 2 episode "A Piece of Cake" that her 50th birthday was in April 1955, placing her date of birth in April 1905. Most of the episodes of The Golden Girls put Sophia's age as between 80 and 85 years old. In the first episode of The Golden Palace (1992) Sophia's age was said to be 87 years old. In her many flashbacks to life in Sicily, she frequently places herself as being a young woman (having romantic affairs) in dates between 1912 and 1920, and in another season 2 episode, "And Then There Was One", Sophia claims she had been "walking since 1904." These discrepancies may be due to either continuity errors or dramatic license on the part of Sophia.
While in Sicily, as a teenager she was briefly engaged to a young man from her village Augustine Bagatelli, she also claims that she was once engaged to her brother. Later, she became engaged to Giuseppe Mangiacavallo, who jilted her at the altar. She moved to New York after she annulled her arranged first marriage to Guido Spirelli when she was 14. She has no accent left to show that she grew up speaking the Sicilian language. Instead, she sports a Brooklyn accent with a fast speaking pace, which often contributed to the humor in her one-liners.
Sophia then married Salvadore "Sal" Petrillo (played by Sid Melton in flashback), and had three children with him: Dorothy, a divorced substitute teacher; Phil (an unseen character), a cross-dresser with a wife named Angela, a welder, and several children in a trailer park in Newark, New Jersey who later died of a heart attack during the series; and Gloria (played by Doris Belack and Dena Dietrich), who lived in California and married into money and later lost her husband to some unknown cause. She remained with Salvadore until his death from a heart attack.
1985–92
In her later years, Sophia suffered a stroke (the effects of which are said to be a partial explanation for Sophia's blunt, uncensored, and brazen remarks) and was subsequently placed in Shady Pines retirement home by Dorothy. After Shady Pines was damaged in a fire, Sophia moved in with Dorothy.[4] Sophia did not have many good things to say about "the home", alluding to poor treatment by the staff many times, and Dorothy sometimes threatened to send her back there to check Sophia's behavior.
While living in Miami, Sophia had many suitors but does not date any for a substantial amount of time. She did remarry once more though to Max Weinstock (Jack Gilford). Max was her late husband's long-time business partner whom Sophia had long blamed for ruining the business, although it was later revealed Sal was responsible. Sophia and Max forgave each other after the latter reveals the truth, and the two quickly became close and got married. The newlyweds realize their romance would not work out, and they part ways as friends. However, both remained legally married, as divorce would have gone against her Roman Catholic beliefs.
Due to Sophia's Sicilian descent, there were regular hints in the series that she and her family have some mafia connections; she has made reference to several vendettas. It is even hinted that Sophia herself has done mob work; she once stated that no one in her family had "ever left a body to be found". Sophia also claimed to have been present at the 1929 St. Valentines Day Massacre, to which she then took back stating, "Oh yeah, I was at the movies that day. All day."
Sophia believed strongly in ancient Sicilian custom and traditions, and in the power of a "Sicilian curse." The list of people she claims to have cast curses on include: Shelley Long, the Baltimore Colts, the New York Jets, Giuseppe Mangiacavallo (the boy who stood her up at the altar), and Leonard Barton (the girls' next door neighbor who expressed disdain for Italians, played by Gordon Jump). She has threatened to cast a curse on Dorothy (before she found that it was prohibited by another arcane custom), and on Stan Zbornak. In the final season, Sophia spent two episodes doing odd tasks in order to save Dorothy from an ancient curse from a Sicilian strega, or witch.
In the series finale of The Golden Girls, Sophia, after initially deciding to follow the now-married Dorothy out of the house, turns back and decides to stay with Rose and Blanche, which sets up the transition to The Golden Palace. When Rose, Blanche and Sophia invest in a hotel, Sophia is installed as one of the two chefs, specializing in Italian cuisine while the hotel's previous chef, Chuy Castillos (Cheech Marin), handles Mexican food. Sophia begins to show signs of senile dementia, usually in comical situations (for instance, she is shown to be standing still and apparently unconscious while attempting to operate a vacuum cleaner) and her bluntness is toned down to a certain extent. In the episode "One Angry Stan" she is the only one to witness Stanley Zbornak after he fakes his death to avoid tax troubles; the fact that no one else sees Stan in these episodes (he ducks out of sight whenever someone else enters the room), coupled with Sophia's increased senility, make it unclear whether or not Stan is really alive or if Sophia is hallucinating Stan's appearance.
After the events of The Golden Palace (which ended without a series finale), Sophia returns to the Shady Pines nursing home, joining the cast of Empty Nest.
Relationships
Sophia is best known for her wisecracks, put-downs and brazen remarks, often commenting on Dorothy's unmarried state, Blanche's promiscuity, and Rose's cluelessness. However, despite her sharp criticism of her daughter and roommates, she loves and cares for them deeply; she even sees Rose and Blanche as surrogate daughters. The other women usually seek Sophia out for advice, which Sophia is all too willing to share, usually beginning with her catchphrase, "Picture it…" Like Rose's tall tales, Sophia's parables often end with a moral, from which advice can be gleaned. These stories usually also involved historical figures, with Sophia claiming to have had trysts with Pablo Picasso, Sigmund Freud, and Winston Churchill, among others. She also claims to have befriended many famous people including Golda Meir, Mama Celeste, and accidentally claimed that Robert Frost was always "nipping at my nose" (she was confused with Jack Frost).
Members of Sophia's family who have appeared on the program include: Her sister, Angela (Nancy Walker for 2 episodes in Season 2); her brother, Angelo, and her father (both roles were played by Bill Dana); her daughter, Gloria; her husband, Sal (in flashbacks and in dream sequences); and Sophia's own mother (Bea Arthur in a dual role who also didn't have a Sicilian accent), who also appeared exclusively in flashbacks; and even Dorothy at a younger age (played by Lynnie Greene).
It is unclear whether Sophia moved to the United States alone or with her family, as her sister and mother had both eventually lived in New York as well. Sophia and her sister Angela were estranged for decades after a misunderstanding at a Christmas party in 1955; Angela then became a widow and she moved back to Sicily for 30 years until they reconciled and she moved back to the U.S. Sophia's brother Angelo (initially a priest, then a layman) remained in Sicily and moved to the United States only in season six.
Probably one of the most notable continuity goofs in Golden Girls with Sophia is when her mother is mentioned. In an early episode, Sophia's brother stated that their mother died seventy-two years earlier just as Angelo was about to become a priest (which he didn't do). In later episodes, Dorothy, as a young woman, brought Sophia's mother to visit (she was played by Bea Arthur). In an episode not long after this one, Dorothy mentioned that her grandmother (Sophia's mother) died when Dorothy was six years old.
Appearance
In her younger years, Sophia apparently had always been short, with reddish-brown hair (Estelle Getty's natural color), but in one episode she says she was "a tall voluptuous blonde with a butt like granite" when she was younger (though this statement was likely a by-product of her penchant for telling tall tales).
During the series' run, Sophia resembled the archetypal "old lady" in looks: White-haired, small stature, wrinkles, and large-framed eyeglasses. Sophia owned a tan bamboo handbag which became her personal trademark, as she carried the purse everywhere, even around the house (including the bathroom). Sophia's sister Angela displayed these traits as well.