The Golden Palace: The 10 Best Guest Stars

Like its predecessor The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace featured a number of special guest stars during its brief time on the air.
Even though The Golden Palace wasn’t nearly as successful as its predecessor, The Golden Girls, it is still an enjoyable sitcom, full of both laughter and pathos. Furthermore, like its predecessor it also managed to have several notable guest stars who appeared during the course of its run. Some of these were holdovers from The Golden Girls and so helped to establish continuity with that series or to bring closure to some of its storylines.
Others, however, were entirely new and helped to build up this series identity as its own entity with its own universe.

Bea Arthur
Dorothy was, of course, an iconic and indelible part of the original series, and her marriage to Blanche’s uncle Lucas meant the end of the foursome as it had existed.

However, she makes a special appearance in The Golden Palace, and though she ultimately realizes that the women have moved on with their lives, it is still a very enjoyable guest appearance. As she always does, Arthur shows why Dorothy remains one of the best characters in the history of the sitcom.

Harold Gould
The romance between Rose and Howard Gould’s Miles is one of the most important romantic relationships in The Golden Girls. He only appears twice in The Golden Palace, and both of his moments are important for Rose’s development as a character.

At first, they break up because Miles has fallen in love with someone else, and then, slightly later, they get married at the hotel. Even though it’s difficult to see this romance end, Gould still manages to convey how much Miles still loves Rose and doesn’t want to hurt her.

Anne Haney
There have been many great character actors in television, and Anne Haney would definitely be one of them, having appeared in numerous TV shows and movies.
In The Golden Palace, she appears as an elderly woman who wanders into the hotel and is very confused and clearly not well. Although she was a very funny actress, Haney’s brilliance in this episode is that she is able to write so much pathos out of this character, showing a side of her talent that wasn’t always obvious in some of her other roles.

Bobcat Goldthwait
It’s hard to imagine another actor who sounds and acts quite like Bobcat Goldthwait, with his high-strung demeanor in his remarkable voice. He brings his considerable comedy talents to bear in his one-episode appearance in The Golden Palace, in which he is mistaken by Rose and Blanche for a possible murderer.
Given that he is almost constantly yelling and appearing to be dangerous, their confusion is understood, and it makes for a very funny episode that comes close to capturing the original joy of The Golden Girls.

Barry Bostwick
Barry Bostwick is another prolific actor who has been in many television series and movies, and he makes a very important appearance in this series as a man that Blanche falls in love with. There’s no doubt that he is very handsome and charming, so it’s not surprising that Blanche would find herself drawn to him.

However, it is ultimately revealed that he is a man who is trying to swindle her out of her money. His confrontation with Rose is one of the best moments in the entire series.
Bill Engvall
Bill Engvall looms large in the world of stand-up comedy, and many of his specials have been widely acclaimed. In this series, he appears as Blanche’s son who, uncertain, wants to give up his career to take up stand-up comedy. As he always does, Engvall shows that he has a keen eye for what makes humor work.
At the same time, it’s easy to believe that he is Blanche’s son, as the two of them fall very easily into the mother/son dynamic, each of them not quite willing to give in to the other.

Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert is most famous for performing on Green Acres, one of the most iconic sitcoms of the 1960s. Here, he plays a man that looks identical to Rose’s first husband Charlie, leading her to fall in love with him.
There’s no question Albert has a charismatic screen presence, and there is also an undeniable chemistry between him and Betty White’s Rose. Just as important, however, he shows genuine sadness at having to end their relationship, since he realized, even if she doesn’t, that she can never really love him independently of her ongoing affection for her late husband.

Herbert Edelman
Stan was one of the best supporting characters to appear on The Golden Girls, so it makes sense that he would also put in a guest star appearance on The Golden Palace.

Herbert Edelman, as he did throughout his time on the previous series, managed to make Stan into both a jerk and yet also someone the audience can cheer for. He may not always be the most honest or reliable person, but he is still a man with a complicated life, as his final conversation with Sophia amply illustrates.