After decades of introspection, TV writer Stan Zimmerman believes Betty White supported Estelle Getty who struggled with memorizing her lines when filming The Golden Girls.
Of course, The Golden Girls followed three over-50 women, Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), and Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), living in a Miami home with Dorothy’s mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).
Hey Dorothy. It’s me, Stan:
In the book The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore, Stan Zimmerman discussed a behind-the-scenes happening from the The Golden Girls set from the 90s that he sees differently now.
Stan Zimmerman [not Stan Zbornak] explained that there were concerns about Estelle struggling to remember her lines on filming days. At that time, few knew she was quietly living with early-onset dementia.
While Stan Zimmerman thought Estelle wasn’t focused on her work, but going out. “She was going to AIDS benefits, in a time when actors did not.”
As far as filming, “You would see her mess up her lines. Obviously, they’ll yell, ‘Cut!’ Then, Betty White would start making jokes and go up to the audience, in the bleachers.”
ICYMI, Bea was bothered by Bette hamming it up for the live audience. As a seasoned stage actress, “Bea Arthur didn’t like that, because she felt like you stay in character.”
Stan explained, “I would get mad thinking that [Betty] was making fun of Estelle. I was very protective, like, ‘You don’t.’ So for years, I didn’t like them laughing at her.”
In retrospect, Stan sees it differently. “Now, I kind of look at it like, ‘What if Betty was going up there to draw attention to herself to give Estelle the time to work on the lines and get through it?’ And it was the beginning of the relationship. I mean, I could see how years later, where it could get kind of annoying, but at that point, they were saying every word we wrote.”
