1. The idea for a show revolving around older women came about after network executives watched Doris Roberts and Selma Diamond do a skit at the NBC upfronts.
Shortly before her death, Doris even tweeted about it:
2. The producers originally wanted to use Bette Midler’s song, “Friends,” as the theme song. But, it was too expensive so they settled on “Thank You For Being A Friend.” (Thankfully!)
3. The house used on the show isn’t in Miami, it’s actually in the LA neighborhood of Brentwood.
4. The kitchen that appeared on the show was actually a reused set from a short-lived sitcom called, It Takes Two.
5. Susan Harris created the role of Dorothy Zbornak as a “Bea Arthur type,” but the head of NBC at the time did not want to cast Bea in the role.
6. Elaine Stritch was one of the original choices to play Dorothy, but she said she blew the audition because, not only did one of the writers not like her, but she ad-libbed and added the word “fuck” during her audition.
7. Betty White was actually up for the role of Blanche Devereaux, while Rue McClanahan was up for the role of Rose Nylund.
8. Rue and Betty had actually both co-starred together before, on Mama’s Family.
9. While Bea Arthur and Rue had both previously co-starred together on Maude.
10. When Estelle Getty got the script she thought they were offering her the role of Dorothy.
11. Estelle found Sophia’s iconic straw purse (which was used for the entire run of the show) while shopping for props to use as part of her audition for the role.
12. It took the makeup artist 45 minutes to transform Estelle (using aging makeup and a wig) into Sophia Petrillo.
13. Rue had a clause in her contract that allowed her to keep all of Blanche’s clothes.
14. Bea did not have pierced ears, so she wore clip-ons. Unfortunately they would make her ears go numb from wearing them for so long.
15. Sophia was never supposed to be part of the regular cast, but Estelle stole every scene she was in in the pilot. She was then promoted to series regular.
16. The fourth character on the show was meant to be Coco, the gay cook who worked for the ladies. While the character did well with test audiences, he was removed from the show in favor of Sophia (who tested better).
17. The show premiered at No. 1, and was watched by 21.5 million households.
19. Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury were also both reportedly fans of the show. According to UK comedian, Cleo Rocos, the two once spent an afternoon drinking champagne while watching reruns of the show with the volume down and improvising lines with “a much naughtier storyline.”
20. Estelle suffered from extreme stage fright (she was a theater actress and wasn’t used to TV) and often hid her lines in the objects in front of her.
21. In the episode “Valentine’s Day,” Julio Iglesias was supposed to serenade Sophia. But he said he didn’t want to sing (possibly because of nerves), so Estelle improvised and instead, in the scene, she took him by the arm and serenaded him.
22. Bob Hope appeared as a guest star after Susan Harris asked Betty (who was close friends with him) to call him and ask him to be on the show.
23. The episode where Dorothy is diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome is based on Susan Harris’ life.
24. In real life Bea Arthur hated cheesecake.
25. George Clooney’s agent asked for him to guest star on the show so that he could maintain his health insurance.
26. Quentin Tarantino appeared as one of 12 Elvis impersonators in the episode, “Sophia’s Wedding: Part 1.”
27. Bea once personally called a housewife who had told TV Guide that the show wasn’t as good as it had been during its first season and that the character of Dorothy wasn’t “interesting.”
28. Estelle would not allow the writers to write any jokes for Sophia that included gay-bashing or domestic violence.
29. In fact, Estelle loved the gay community and was very close to the gay writers on the show, and would often set them up on blind dates.
30. Both Betty and Rue have said they never really had much of a friendship with Bea.
31. Before writing the episode “72 Hours” (the episode where Rose learns she might have been exposed to HIV during a transfusion), the writers talked with HIV experts at UCLA, so that they could learn what information they wanted to the public to know.
32. The series ultimately ended after seven seasons because Bea did not want to do the show anymore and wanted the show to go out on top.
34. Each of the shows four stars won an Emmy for their roles.
35. After The Golden Girls spin-off, The Golden Palace, was cancelled, Estelle Getty went on to play Sophia on Empty Nest (which was another spin-off) from 1993-95.
