If you haven’t been living in a cave, you must have heard of the super popular show, The Golden Girls. It was on TV from 1985 to 1992 and won the hearts of fans all around the world.
A show that nobody thought would last past its first season turned out to be a huge hit, and people are still chatting about it more than 30 years after the final episode!
Newsner recently had a chat with Stan Zimmerman, who was a staff writer for Season 1 of The Golden Girls. They talked about some interesting behind-the-scenes stories! Keep reading to discover some fun facts about this beloved show.
Estelle Getty is unforgettable as Sophia Petrillo in The Golden Girls. While fans love her for her hilarious quotes and sharp comebacks, Stan Zimmerman remembers her differently; he thinks of her kindness.
Zimmerman, who was a young writer back then, remembers the first time Getty visited him and his writing partner, Jim. He said, “I was super excited that she was coming to chat with us. She was so small, and when she arrived, she said, ‘come here, come here’.”
He continued, “She led us to the back of the set, and we were all thinking, ‘let’s just follow her. She’s Estelle Getty!’ Then she told us, ‘your secret is safe with me.’ At first, I thought she meant our Jewish identity, but really, she was talking about us being gay. She had met a lot of gay people through the play, Torch Song Trilogy.”
He explained that back then, his management advised him to keep his true identity hidden while on set. He said, “It’s hard for people to understand, but we couldn’t talk about who we really were at work. This was in 1985, and our agents insisted we keep it a secret. But she was ready to support us, and I thought that was really kind and sweet.”
Estelle Getty’s lesser know side…
Zimmerman mentioned that even though her character was known for her sharp comebacks on the show, in real life, she was really nurturing and caring. He remembered, “She had this really motherly vibe. Even after I stopped working on Golden Girls, we would still chat on the phone. She always wanted to know things like, ‘Who are you dating? Where are you working?’ and she wasn’t afraid to share her advice on those topics.”
Estelle played the role of the oldest Golden Girl, but she was actually younger than both Bea Arthur and Betty White! Because of this, the makeup team had to work hard to make her look older with their makeup skills.
Stan shared a funny memory about this: “She had to wear old age makeup. Then, I think between the first and second seasons, she got a facelift. The makeup team was like, ‘Estelle, we need to do your makeup. Why do you look so much better now?’ I think she was just really happy to be in Hollywood. Can you imagine working your whole life for something and almost giving up, but then finally getting it?”
Zimmerman sadly remembers watching his friend struggle. Back then, they had no idea what was happening to her. He said, “We didn’t realize she was dealing with early onset dementia. The pressure of performing in front of a live audience and the fact that she was starting to forget her lines really stressed her out.”
He talked about the taping nights: “Friday night tapings were really stressful for her. I know she put in a lot of effort to get through it, and the other two women were very supportive, making sure she was mentally ready for the show.”
Since they were close, she opened up to Zimmerman about going to therapy several times a week, something not many people on set knew. He mentioned, “In the writer’s room, they thought she was out partying in Hollywood every night, which is why she wasn’t home practicing her lines.”
He talked about the extreme steps they had to take. “I remember they brought in her managers, who we got to know pretty well, along with the executive producers, and told them, you need to keep a close eye on her. Make sure she knows her lines.”
At that time, Getty hadn’t been diagnosed with dementia and was having a tough time with her work. Stan remembers, “But when you have dementia, all the studying in the world won’t help if your brain can’t remember those lines. It’s really frightening.”
He talks about the ways they supported Estelle with her lines. “So, when you see her in the TV show eating raisins, it’s because we wrote some of her lines on her hands or sometimes taped them to the furniture. Later on, they even used cue cards to assist her.”
Despite her challenges, Estelle always performed wonderfully. Stan shares, “Even with everything she was going through, when she delivered her lines, they were like home runs every single time. It was incredible to watch her. We always turned to her for those funny moments at the end of the scene because we knew she would nail it every time.”
Something wasn’t right with Betty White…
Zimmerman didn’t have the best first impression of Betty White. He told Newsner that during filming, if Estelle Getty messed up her lines, White would often turn to the audience and make jokes about her.
Zimmerman mentioned, “She would walk up to the audience while they were watching the taping and make jokes. I thought that was really mean of her.”
However, as he has gotten older, Stan has changed his mind about it. He now thinks, “It wasn’t until recently that I realized she might have been trying to distract the audience to give Estelle some time to gather her thoughts and remember her lines.”
He remembered hearing some whispers about tension between Bea and Betty. He said, “I’ve heard some stories, but I didn’t really notice it while we were there. I think there were some personality differences between Bea and Betty. They had different ways of working. Bea was a theater actress, and she believed you should never break character. So when she saw Betty just being herself and chatting in the middle of a scene, even if we were on a break, I think Bea wasn’t a fan of that.”
No one can match the Golden Girls for this reason…
Stan shared an interesting fact about the four female stars of The Golden Girls. He mentioned that they did something that most Hollywood actors rarely do: they thanked the writers and gave them credit during interviews. Stan said, “I really appreciate those four ladies because they always talked about the writers on almost every talk show. They consistently praised us as writers, which is not something you see often. I will always be thankful for that.”
Many people think that the actresses made up their lines on the show, but that’s not true at all! Stan mentions that fans often believe some scenes were improvised, with the actresses creating lines right then and there, but that wasn’t how it worked. Stan remembers, “In the first season, they followed the script exactly, saying every word, comma, and period. They said what we wrote.”
Zimmerman wrote about his enthralling experiences with The Golden Girls and more in his book The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore. Within its pages, he details his experiences with some of TV biggest women, including the four Golden Girls, Roseanne, Lauren Graham, Lily Tomlin, and more!
He is currently touring with his play ‘Right Before I Go‘, a poignant story inspired by a close friend’s suicide 13 years earlier.
Share this piece with other Golden Girls fans who might want to know about these little known facts!
