Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur performing Bosom Buddies

She's hard hearted Hannah, the tramp of Savannah Ga!

Angela's the better actress, but Bea's the better singer. They're both light-years better than Lucy.

Bea is not a better singer than Angela. Angela, admittedly did get better over the years, which is a rare thing.

Somebody gonna set you straight in about 3, 2, 1

They were both too damn healthy as far as I was concerned!

The musical opened on Broadway in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur. It ran for 103 years.

Angie had better voice but both were great actors. They became very close and good friends later in LA.

Bea Arthur is great in that scene...but Angela Lansbury is the star.

She has that big wide MGM face and big clear eyes, you can read every expression. And precise, perfectly timed, elegant movements.

Mame was Bea's reward for getting cheated out of Fiddler on the Roof. She took FOTR when the part of Yente was much larger. During the rehearsal period, she watched as her role got cut to almost nothing.

Her reward from whom? Jerome Robbins directed FIDDLER and Gene Saks directed MAME. Why would saks (who was married to Arthur at the time) reward her with the supporting role of Vera, when he could have rewarded her with the title role of Mame?

The director is not the only one who casts the starring part in a major musical, R10. Bea Arthur was not a box office draw, nor even a familiar name from the movies (as Lansbury was.) Saks couldn't have cast her as Mame even if he had wanted to.

Go 20 minutes into video below as Angie & Bea talk about how Bea "never got over" being passed OVER for the lead part of Mame

And "Maude" was her reward for "Mame."

And "Maude" was our punishment for not intervening sooner in WWII.

[r9/r11] - The director has the final say in casting, with the blessing of the producers. Fryer, Carr & Harris produced MAME. Hal Prince produced FIDDLER. Different directors; different producers. So, once again, how was MAME a reward for FIDDLER?

I had lunch with Bea one time circa 1998. She was not a warm person. I think she respected Lansbury's talent, but it didn't seem to me they were close. She talked about going to some fancy function that Angela happened to be at. When the piano player realized they were both there, he started to play Bosom Buddies. Bea told me this and kind of sarcastically twirled her finger in the air and said "Ohhh it's Angie and Bea!".

She wasn't like Maude or Dorothy. She sort of expected me and her friend to entertain her.

[quote]Different directors; different producers. So, once again, how was MAME a reward for FIDDLER?

Reward in a karma sense. She stuck with Fiddler even though her role was slashed to nothing. Karma paid her back by giving her the wonderful role of Vera.

[quote]how was MAME a reward for FIDDLER?

MAME got her out of those filthy rags at the shtetl and into some fabulous frocks in a decent neighborhood.

R16 Angie has told in an interview they saw each other a lot, they lived close and talked a lot.

I agree, if you ever saw Bea's one woman show Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, she talked about how close she and Angela were and that Angela had the most filthiest mouth she ever heard, worse than a sailor.

R19 yes, I'm sure. I only spent about an hour or so with her. And I'd just met her.

Actually Bosom Buddies in Lucy's MAME is quite wonderful.

Bea Arthur had a very high opinion of herself, always. I remember when Maude was on she commented negatively about Mary Tyler Moore. She said you can't compare what she does to what I do. And Arthur did not mean it graciously, as in it doesn't matter who gets the Emmy. She meant she was better, more talented than MTM.

I would find Lansbury's gracious lady persona a bit hard to take too, although by all accounts it's true.

"My name is Esther Rolle. I don't do windows and I don't do comedy!"

Watch Bea's archive of television interview. She's pretty blunt about some of the people she's worked with. But by many accounts, she's a loving and caring individual once she let's her guard down. Terry Hughes adored her, and she was his favorite of the four to work with. A GLBT center in new York is dedicating a center in her name because of the money she gave to them.

I love the story Rue McClanahan told at Bea Arthur's funeral, followed by another insightful anecdote by the handsome dude from PETA.

Bea and Esther Rolle reunited on the RuPaul show

R26 I will love you and owe you forevah darling! How insanely AWESOME was that?! OMG! I grew up watching those two spare on Maude! Thank you!

Bea Arthur fans are required to check this out. If you haven't seen it before it'll knock your socks off.

Bea starred in a flop musical called A Mother's Kisses, about an over-bearing mother of a college-aged son. It closed out of town. But here she gets to belt her best ballad from the show at the 1974 Tonys.

The song is called "There Goes My Life" and it's worth your time to check it out.

R26 That video is interesting. Any interest or "excitement" Bea had about Florida being there was feigned. If would be like if you ran into a coworker you worked with for two years you hadn't seen it 20 years. You'd be polite, but you wouldn't be thrilled. As we've heard, Bea did not have great things to say about Florida as an actress.

Nor did she have great things to say about Adrienne Barbeau. She said "Poor Adrienne. She tried, but..." Bea said that Marcia Rodd, who played Carol in the pilot (which aired as an episode of All in the Family) was much better for the role.

Bea Arthur left $300,000 in her will to the Ali Forney Homeless shelter for LGBT youth, what a gal.

Bea Arthur did her one woman Broadway show in her bare feet. What was that all about?

Bea and Angela were best friends.

At least she was good enough to wear pants, Elaine.

[quote]At least she was good enough to wear pants, Elaine.

I was copying Judy Garland.

[quote]Nor did she have great things to say about Adrienne Barbeau. She said "Poor Adrienne. She tried, but..."

She should have tried harder.

Why didn't Bea and Angela guest star in each other's shows (GOLDEN GIRLS, MURDER, SHE WROTE)? They were both smash hits and both were consistently in the Nielsens' top ten.

R36, a full-time commitment to a series probably doesn't leave an actress acting do do more work on another series. Why do people expect co-stars to be personal friends or to remain friends with former co-stars from decades past?

r36, see r23's response regarding MTM. I'm sure Bea thought the same about Angela.

Bea and Angela were not best friends. They admired each other's talents, and likely enjoyed seeing each other from time to time.

Bea was kind of a lonely person, and she liked her liquor.

Angela winning her Tonys. The woman is a legend.

Bea did the show barefoot because she had big, big feet and always had problems finding shoes.

I met her a couple of times because she was a staunch animal rights advocate, which is why it's a surprise she and Betty didn't get along better. She was very much the reverse of her persona. Very quiet, shy and believe it or not, feminine. Reading her bios and listening to interviews, I think she was one of those old dykes who was born in the wrong time. She would have been much happier out of the closet and in a long term relationship with a woman. A while after "Golden Girls", she saw my friend at this place on Melrose called the "Blue Mouse." Friend was a total flamboyant queen, a male Auntie Mame if you will. Bea watched for a few minutes then came up as she was leaving and told him "Wonderful for a boy like you to be so.....out." I wasn't surprised by her generous monetary donations to gay youth causes.

Angie being fab.

Do the Emmys hate Lansbury or something? She's been nominated 19 times (12 years in a row for MURDER, SHE WROTE) and in 2005 she was nominated TWICE for guest actress in a drama (Law & Order), presumably the easiest category for veterans to win in, especially since the year before she had lost once again for Supporting Actress in a Miniseries (THE BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP).

In a fair world, she would've already been an EGOT winner long ago.

R43, in a much fairer world, Angela would have been cast in the movie of Mame and done 12 years of theater instead of Murder She Wrote ( although I hope it brought her a lot of TV money).

R42 I think the 1960s did the 1920s better than the 1920s ever did.

R2 Angela the better singer ;)

Even with two gallons of vaseline on the lens, Lucy still looked better than Lansbury. A wonderful stage actress but the big screen was not her friend.

R39 They were very close friends when they were older. Angie has told they lived near each other and met often, had long talks and good warm friendship.

Somewhere between 40 and death. LOL

With good lighting and camerawork (not that any Gene Saks movie ever had either of those) Angie could have looked glamorous enough to play Mame onscreen.

These two women loved each other!

It was called "Tit Friends"

[quote][R43], in a much fairer world, Angela would have been cast in the movie of Mame and done 12 years of theater instead of Murder She Wrote ( although I hope it brought her a lot of TV money).

And in this more fair world, Bill Walsh and Robert Stevenson would have called the shots on the editing of [italic]Bedknobs and Broomsticks[/italic]. In the real world where we got LucyMAME and Disney's still pulling a bait-and-switch on the running time of B&B after finally getting it right with the restored cut, there was no scheduling conflict that could have prevented her from doing both, just WB's lack of interest. Disney was (and still is) more likely to take a chance on theater and TV talent. WB was often willing to get original male leads and supporting cast members and female supporting cast members from Broadway for their musicals, but rarely female leads.

I remember when Bea was going on an animal's rights tirade and Michael J Fox pointed out that research on animals helped find drugs to control his Parkinsons and Bea said, "I'd rather be sick than hurt an animal."

tit friends more like it

They were good and close friends. Getting close with Bea might have been difficult but I’ve read once you did she was very loyal lovely caring friend.

Bea would never have been the lead in Mame. Angela has detailed how difficult it was for her to get the role. She worked really hard with Jerry Herman for her audition. They really wanted a big name star for Mame and at the time Angela was a supporting character actress with a Broadway flop musical on her resume.

Who would have been the top if Bea Arthur and Julie Andrews had dated?