ESTELLE GETTY, 25TH JULY, 1923 - 22 ND JULY, 2008
To most Hong Kong people, Estelle Getty isn't a household name but she was a vibrant, witty actress most famous for the constantly-sarcastic, sharp-tongued , feisty mother Sophia Petrillo in my most favourite comedy show of all times - THE GOLDEN GIRLS and other spinoff shows Empty Nest and the Golden Palance. Her first movie was Tootsie (Dustin Hoffman). Today is one of my saddest days in life as this wonderful, caring person passed away today (22nd July, 2008) at her Hollywood home, at the age of almost 85. She is survived by her sons Carl and Barry Gettleman , brother David and sister Rosilyn.
Sophia Petrillo - the older character portraited by Ms. Estelle Getty in the Golden Girls. This character constantly comments on her daughter's lack-of-love-life; Blanche's licentious life style and Rose's child-like intelligence and ignorance. She is like a walnut - hard on the outside, softer on the inside , like my grandmother. The other golden girls constantly seek her advice and Sophia gladly gives her advice with her sometimes-faked stories. She always starts her story by saying" "Picture it, Sicily, 19XX ...... ". Occasionally, another location was suggested: "Picture it, Morocco.....", then Blanche said;"I thought these stories always happened in Sicily.". Sophia replied: "Can someone go for a holiday sometimes???". It is so funny, and I saw a glimpse of Bea, Betty and Rue at the scene. Apparently, the actors (or actresses) found that funny too.
She is wise and experienced, she claims to have love relationships with a few WWII political characters. Sophia, being an Italian character, loves the Pope like God.
Sophia's deseased husband was Salvador Petrillo (Sal for short), the character came back as a ghost from time to time and Sophia always talks to him. Once, she tried to recapture her old memory by returning to her old New York apartment looking for the carving Sal did. Unfortunately, she mistook the wrong place (the kitchen) for the love-carving and Dorothy thought her mother was getting old and making things up. At the end of the episode, they did find the carving and it was at the closet door in her bedroom (Sal hanged his sausages in the closet, that is why Sophia mistook the place as the kitchen instead of the bedroom) and Sophia said:
" I knew it was in one of the places I was good at - the bed room!" ; the other place she was good at was the kitchen. She makes wonderful Italian spaghetti saurce and other dishes.
Sophia has two brothers (Angelo and Vito) and sisters (Regina and Angela who constantly discredits Sophia's cooking).
She has three children: Dorothy, Phil (a married [to a woman] cross-dresser) and Gloria (was a wealthy woman until she lost all her money in investments). Phil never appeared in the Golden Girls but often talked about. Sophia was angry at Angela (Phil's wife, not Sophia's sister) for allowing Phil to wear dresses. In reality, she blamed herself for Phil's cross-dressing.
Although she is a wise and fearless woman but she is afraid of the German and Nazi, being lived through WWII and the retirement home once her daughter placed her - Shady Pine!!
Sophia was engaged at an early age to Augustine Bagatelli, a young man at her village back in Italy; she was also engaged to Giuseppe Mangiacavallo (I hope I spelled that right). She also annulled her marriage at 14 to Guido Spirelli to whom Sophia returned to Italy and apologised. The funny thing is, after Guido heard the apology, he just said;" Forget about it." (strangely, in an American accent) and he returned to his drink as if nothing had happened. Sophia left the village (on a donkey) and returned to America. Blanche thought Sophia was missing and went to the italian village and looked for Sophia on a donkey!!! So funny.
Later on, Sophia was married to her husband Sal's best friend - Max Weinstock for convenience, not love and opened a pizza place at the beach. Sal was her true love.
Once, Sophia got the worst flu in 40 years and had Dorothy and the other girls in charge of the pizza place. They had problems attracting customers because it was a sunny day and everyone was in the water. Sophia came by as she felt better and said to the girls: " You have problems getting people out of the water?? Amateurs......"; then she yelled "Sharks .... Sharks!!". Everyone got out of the water and the pizzas sold like hot cakes. The pizza place was eventually burnt down due to faulty electrical wirings.
Being an Italian character, Sophia often bragged about her close relationship with the mafia.
Sophia Petrillo
The Golden Girls - Dorothy Zbornak (center bottom, played by Bea Arthur; she also played Sophia's wheel-chaired mother Eleanor); Rose Nylund (right, played by Betty White); Blanche Devereaux (center top, played by Rue McClanahan)
Golden Girls co-star, Rue McClanahan (Blanche) said earlier today: "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia."
When Estelle went to her audition for the role of Sophia which is an older character (age 80) than Estelle, she told the make-up artist: " To you, this is just a job. To me, it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." She got the job and won 2 Emmies or Emmys.
The character Sophia was a minor supporting role in the Golden Girls at first, but almost instantly, the character was a big hit, everyone knew who Sophia was. The mother-daughter relationship between Dorothy and Sophia is the greatest duos ever seen on TV.
The character Sophia has many wonderful , funny lines in the show, so many that a book could be published.
Some of my favourites:
Once the heating system in the house broke down, so the house had no heat, everyone gathered in Sophia's bed because she was the only one with an electric blanket. Suddenly, Blanche heard a voice and Sophia said " Yeah... this is my bed , I do what I want!!" (She just farted in her bed.)
Once Blanche was visiting a neighbour (as the same household in Empty Nest) and bragged about her beauty and how beautiful people had their own problems too and said "........ I have been in that position" (as in the same difficult situation); Sophia added: " You have been in many positions." (as in many sexual positions, as Blanche is a lascivious, man-loving person)
Once , Rose was mad at both Blanche and Dorothy for reading her diary; without realising both Dorothy and Blanche were in Sophia's room, Rose knocked on her door. Sophia pretended to be an answering machine and said " Beep....... I am not here, please leave a message."
Rose replied:" Hi, Sophia, this is Rose......" and she was leaving a message at the door thinking the door was really an answering machine. So funny. The character Rose isn't a smart person but she is a wonderful caring human being.
The best line in a mother-daughter scene:
Once an Italian old couple (Sophia's old neighbour back in Italy) came to America claiming Dorothy was really their daughter and were arranging a marriage for Dorothy. In order to discredit the claim, Sophia and Dorothy decided to have a blood test. At the hospital, after Sophia got the test result, she..........
....... immediately torn up the test result and said to Dorothy: "I don't need a blood test to tell me that you are my daughter...." Dorothy wept and Sophia said:" Let's go.". They left the hospital without ever knowing the test result.
Of course, Estelle did more than TV, she was in various movies too.
In the movie, Stop! Or my mom will shoot! with Sylvester Stallion
Estelle on stage (earlier stage work - Torch Song Trilogy)
I don't pretend to know a lot about Ms. Getty. She was a New-Yorker and born to Polish parents , raised under Jewish faith. She started her career on stage and in stand-up comedy. She played a lot of mothely roles on TV and in movies. Off screen, she took part in many charity organisations and events particularly in AIDS and senior communities. She was as vibrant and funny as the charcters she portraited. In many ways, she reminded me of my grandmother who passed away a long time ago. You could say Estelle was a western counterpart of my grandmother. In her life, Estelle constantly fought against discrimination against her age and her smaller statue but she had been a big heart person.
She had been struggling with LEWY BODY DEMENTIA (雷威氏小體病) . Symptoms of LBD include:
- Stiffness (so can't move too well)
- constant changes in memory
- hallucinations, seeing things that aren't really there.
- degradation of cognitive and emotional functions in the brain.
LBD is second only to Alzheimer's Disease (老年痴呆症).
She passed away at 5.35 am on 22nd July , 2008 with family at her side....... peacefully and painfully I hope.
Today is a very sad day for me and everyone. Sometimes bad things happened to good decent people like Estelle but at least she is no longer struggling with diseases and had gone to a better place.
~~Estelle, you can rest now and join Arthur in a happier place~~
I guess the only thing we can do now is to keep her alive in our hearts, and remember that once a point in time, there was a wonderful loving person named Estelle Getty.
If you haven't seen the Golden Girls, go and grab the DVDs, it is a wonderful show loved by people from all ages. It has many wonderful characters and talks about many realistic social and personal problems. Many of Estelle's fans are children. I think the character Sophia Petrillo brings out the best of Estelle.
I also want to mention Herbert Edelman who played "Stanley Zbornak" who is Dorothy's divorced husband and whom Sophia constantly calls "Yutz". He passed away in 1996, died of Emphysema. Not many have mentioned him for his film credits. I know him since the days of the Japanese movie series 男はつらいよ (otokowa tsuraiyo, starring 渥美清 Atsumi Kiyoshi) , one of the longest movie series (48 movies of the same series). He starred in many movies and on TV (including a recurring role in Murder She Wrote). He was in The Yakuza starring Robert Mitchum.
News of Estelle's passing :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_a5q2CjyA8
Check out The Golden Girls on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22golden+girls%22&search_type=&aq=f
