The beloved sitcom The Golden Girls ended because one of the leads, Bea Arthur, decided to leave the show. Arthur played Dorothy opposite Betty White’s Rose, Rue McClanahan’s Blanche, and Estelle Getty’s Sophia. Unlike other sitcoms with multiple leads, The Golden Girls was a true ensemble, as each character was pivotal in the show’s overall vibe. So, it was a shock when Arthur announced that she was walking away from the project, effectively setting up its end.
For seven seasons, the series went through the main characters’ day-to-day lives, highlighting the delights and struggles of ladies their age — something unique and even modern during that era. Each character was charming and memorable in their own right: Dorothy was sarcastic and witty, Rose was a bit slow to catch on but always kind and charming, Blanche was unapologetically sexual, and Sophia was wise and frank, almost to a fault. The Golden Girls is one of the best ’80s sitcoms, so why did Bea Arthur leave Golden Girls?
Why Bea Arthur Wanted The Golden Girls To End
Bea Arthur Felt The Quality Of The Stories Was Declining
There were several reasons Bea Arthur left Golden Girls, including feeling like the writers had done everything they could with the four main characters. According to the book Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind The Lanai written by Jim Colucci, who interviewed 20 actors and crew members of the show, including Arthur, the actress felt that the quality of the sitcom was starting to slip in its later years. The Golden Girls was known for its solid narratives, and she was simply no longer impressed with how the episodes were panning out.
Arthur wanted to leave the show while it was still resonating with people. The same tell-all also revealed that she was actually offended by how much the sitcom poked fun at Dorothy. Colucci says that while White, Getty, and McClanahan were less fazed by below-the-belt jokes regarding their characters, their co-star ultimately struggled. Perhaps that explains Arthur not participating in a Golden Girls reunion on the 1990s sitcom Ladies Man. The author shared,
“Unfortunately, the things that were said about Dorothy were that she was big and ugly . And that wears on an actress after a while.”
Arthur’s son, Matthew Saks, backed up the idea that his mother thought that “the ideas had started to run out” in a separate interview with Closer (via Cheat Sheet). But he added that aging was also part of why the actress left The Golden Girls. Arthur was around 70 when the sitcom ended, and it’s understandable why she wanted to retire Dorothy Zbornak and slow down. Filming an entire season of a series composed of 25–26 episodes is no easy feat. Arthur died of lung cancer in 2009, two and a half weeks short of her 87th birthday.
