20 Secrets You Didn’t Know About ‘The Golden Girls’

The Golden Girls was and still is a wonderful show. Full of wit, humor, love, kindness, insanity, and lots of food, it’s a true feel-good television show that is relevant at any point in time, even in today’s era. Especially in today’s era. So we decided to take a look into the show and dug up a few secrets about our favorite golden girls.

Animal Lover

Betty White is a well known animal rights activist and that just melts our hearts. She also had a major role in the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association since 1974.

Butler Coco

If you can recall the very first episode then you’ll remember that the girls had a homosexual butler and private chef. He was however written out of the show because the writers saw that in many of the proposed scripts, there was much interaction between the girls in the kitchen while they prepared and ate food. So they decided that a separate cook would just distract from that friendship.

Camera Shy

This seems crazy but Getty, our dear Sophia, actually had severe stage fright! She said that it was because she believed that she was the least talented actress and that her lack of talent would show through…that couldn’t be further from the truth! We love you, Soph!

Emmy Here, Emmy There

The show was crazy famous as it received more than 60 Emmy awards! I know, incredible. Apart from Emmys, it received many other awards and the four actresses got a lot of recognition for their work on the show and their work after the show.

Estelle Was The YOUNGEST!

I know, right? Total shocker. While Estelle may have played the oldest on the show, she was actually the youngest of the four women. They have to use a lot of makeup and costuming to make her appear older.

Estelle, You Look Good

Well then. Between the second and third seasons of Golden Girls, Estelle went out and got a face-lift to look younger. However, the producers weren’t happy as she was meant to look like an old lady.

Famous Appearances

In the shows seven year run, a lot of celebrities made appearances. Such as Quentin Tarantino, Burt Reynolds, and George Clooney. Not bad.

Fighter

Bea Arthur had a big heart and before her death, she was an advocate for civil equality in the LGBTQ community, Jewish Communities and for women’s rights. She also donated around $3 million dollars to help homeless youth. Now that’s a role model.

Just Made It

Turns out that NBC didn’t want to cast Bea Arthur as Dorothy because they believed the ratings that Bea had with the television was too low. They assumed no one would tune in and watch her. Boy, were they wrong.

Killer Wardrobe

Blanche has some amazing clothes in the show and in Rue McClanahan’s contract, it actually said that she could keep the entire wardrobe when the show would end. That’s pretty incredible.

Oldie

Betty White played the youngest golden girl on the show but she was actually the oldest of them all! Who would have guessed?

Last Standing

Even though Betty White is the oldest of the bunch, she is currently the only member of the original cast who is still alive to this day.

Long Hours

It sounds like total insanity that it took NINE hours just to film one episode! I hope they gave everyone more than just chocolate gift baskets for all their hard work.

Long Live The Queen!

In 1988, the girls actually put on a private show for the Queen! Queen Elizabeth had requested that the girls put on a private live performance of the show for her at the London Palladium. The girls happily agreed.

Not The Favorite

Well this one is just sad. Turns out that Bea Arthur was deemed as “eccentric” so she was something of an outcast. The rest of girls actually came out and said they didn’t like her all that much and that sometimes, they didn’t even lunch together. That’s tragic.

No Cheesecake For Me

The show had a pretty awesome ritual where all the girls would share a cheesecake at the kitchen and everyone loved it. Expect for Bea Arthur, she hated cheesecake. As soon as they stopped shooting the scene, she would spit it out.

PETA

Bea Arthur also helped in the fight for the rights of animals as she a prominent member of PETA. You go, girl.

Set Switch Up

I just love the kitchen in the Golden Girls set but guess what, it wasn’t made just for that show! It was previously used for the television show It Takes Two.

Role Switch Up

Could you imagine our favorite girls playing any other role then what they did? Yeah, neither can we! Turns out that everyone was actually cast for roles other then what they played. Betty White was originally supposed to play Blanche! I know, crazy. And Rue was going to play Rose. We’re so glad none of that worked out.

The Fight For AIDS

Off the show, Estelle’s nephew passed away from AIDS, and all through his final years, she was there to help him financially and emotionally. After his passing, she began to raise awareness of the importance of AID research and gay rights. We love her for that.

Touchy

The show did not shy away from bringing up issues like abortion, gay marriage, and sex into the storyline. This was very progressive in that time and we couldn’t be more proud.

Veteran

Betty White is now 94 years old! She received an award for being an actress with the longest running television career. She still hasn’t slowed though, she recently starred in the TV show, Bones.

What Are You Wearing?

While Blanche had a killer wardrobe, turns out that Bea Arthur didn’t like hers. Her character had a rather eclectic style of clothing and Bea didn’t like it. She would complain that the heavy earrings she wore made her ears numb after a day of shooting.

Writer!

The show wanted to keep things fresh and new so they hired numerous writers. Although it didn’t work all that well as there was inconsistency in the story line throughout all the seasons.

You Can’t Sit With Us

So even though there were four women in the house, there were only three chairs! The camera wanted everyone to have their face facing the frame so ergo, three chairs in the kitchen and not four.