Why didn't Bea Arthur and Betty White get along? Part 2

The fact that Bea hated her speaks of a hidden level she kept from the public. Expose that dark side to get your answer

There could only be one alpha in the pecking order.

The real reason was Bea was a US Marine. They're tough. Betty was an American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS).

Bea felt women should actually HELP fight Nazis, whilst Betty just giggled.

I loved Betty White as much as the next person, but these threads are getting ridiculous.

I should have known DLers would NOT take this news well.

Bea hated Betty enough to shit on her dressing room floor.

Bea did not hate Betty.

r5 She shit on her wig, enough said.

Bea didn’t always like Betty because Betty was the type of person who always had to be on. Betty was an extrovert. Bea was a sullen introvert and found Betty’s behavior annoying. My guess is that she was also just a teensy bit jealous. They were both lovely and perfectly reasonable ladies. They were just different birds.

CONDOMS CONDOMS CONDOMS

Bea thought Betty was a phony, and who can blame her.

One day on the GG set, Bea overheard Betty making fun of her singing in the film version of Mame.

In a series of interviews and TV appearances spanning more than 35 years, Betty White shares her thoughts and memories of her Golden Girls costar Bea Arthur.

I think Bea wanted to be an old-world, heavy on the hand, Shakespearean type of actress. Maybe a part of her resented having to “resort” to television comedy.

Betty, of course, loved the camera.

Bea did not hate her. They were very different people. I don't hang out with every one of my coworkers after work, but I don't necessarily hate them. We're just different.

Maybe because DYKES of a different feather really don't flock together.

True, R14

Funny enough, they both loved Rue McClanahan

I read Bea liked to shoot with the discipline of it being like a theater piece. Just be letter perfect and do long takes all at once without breaking, whereas Betty would flub her lines, crack up and just get what they needed without pretending they were onstage, and Bea found her lacking in her brand of theater discipline.

Ok, sure, but television is NOT theater.

Lesbians are very competitive.

I've always felt that Bea's biggest problem with Betty was Betty's incredible popularity. Bea just seemed like the type of person who couldn't tolerate someone she considered a goody two shoes, whether they were or not.

I thought I read somewhere that Rue said she wasn't a great friend of Bea's.

Actually Rue and Bea were long term friends.

Rue speaks at Bea's memorial service.

They just worked together.

There is an interesting interview with one of the producers who talks about the "behind the scenes" aspect, and says how professional they both were, but that they were so different - as others have mentioned - Bea took things very seriously, while Betty was a cut up, etc.

There's also an interesting interview with one of the writers - linked below - who talks about writing for them - it's interesting if you're into that sort of thing - worth a watch.

One more - about writing for the actresses

I saw a live taping of the Golden Girls as a kid.

I remember Betty hanging around in between takes and goofing around with the crew and audience. Rue would stay on stage and would look amused at Betty. Bea stayed sometimes and looked slightly amused. Estelle would leave the set.

(that's all I remember.)

Betty was brilliant at improv and spontaneous remarks, if you ever saw her on gameshows and in the outtakes/bloopers from GG.

This may be the interview r24 was referring to. I posted it in a previous thread on the subject (I don't know if it was Part 1). The first minute and a half discusses the differences in Betty and Bea's personalities and some of the natural tension that resulted from that. It's very insightful.

[quote]Funny enough, they both l̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ pitied Rue McClanahan

Without Bea, both Rue and Betty would've been back to syndicated "Mama's Family."

I have to say, for a Method-y stage actress from the LEGITIMATE theater, Rue was just as hammy, indicating and frankly one-note as any actress just starting out with very little training at all.

I see this in my fellow actor peers. In my opinion many of my MFA conservatory (I hate that word) trained pals are no better at all than actors who just developed their own style of working and creating a character. Often the MFA crowd is overly studied, inflexible, rigid and more than anything TIME CONSUMING in their "process" in getting a simple performance out.

I think with Bea, it was because she had huge success being the star of her own show that she couldn't really deal with the ensemble nature of TGG. In the 70's, Bea was a TV star along the lines of Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett and Caroll O Connor. I'd imagine that going from that to just being one of the group was hard.

You also have to remember that when it was offered to her, there was a gay man as one of the main characters and Sophia was not meant to be in every episode. So the dynamic was a lot different from what the show came to be. For the pilot, and a lot of that first season, Bea really is the orbit of the show that the others kind of spin around. But that changed as the show went on.

She should be given credit for going on the seven seasons, when she was adamant that she was done after number five.

Bea was obviously a miserable unhappy person.

The idea that they had a cook in the pilot is so odd. So Blanche is that rich to have a chef but she needs roommates? Or does she just want them for company? Do they say in the pilot?

[Quote] I think Bea wanted to be an old-world, heavy on the hand, Shakespearean type of actress.

Actually, Bea wanted to be a leading lady of musical comedy.

R28 - Thank you so much for posting that. I'd never seen that interview with Christopher Lloyd before. What a hugely successful career he's had in television -- from Golden Girls to Frasier to Modern Family. And, Wikipedia tells me, his dad was a talented screenwriter and producer as well having written for Taxi, Cheers, Mary Tyler Moore -- including the Chuckles the Clown episode. Beyond all that, I could listen to him talk about Golden Girls for hours. He seems like a smart, sensitive man -- he seems to speak with great insight about Rue, Betty, Estelle and Bea.

R31 - I have to completely disagree with your assessment of Rue. Yes, Blanche was certainly a heightened character, but Rue played her beautifully. As good as the writing was on this show, the laughs often came from the cast's REACTIONS to the lines. Rue could do so much with just one look.

Rue said she and Bea got on but they weren’t close.

Bea preferred the company of gay men. Rue preferred the company of a hard dick.

R39 So Rue was basically Blanche?

The man at R28 has the calmest, sexiest voice.

I want him to whisper in my ear about Bea and Betty whilst he gently fucks me.

Bea was a notorious cunt. That is also that needs to be said.

No she wasn’t.

No, it's not weird at all, R41. Though, I'd personally prefer he keeps the Beat and Betty talk post-coital.

Bea had a big dick!

I've had co-workers whom I liked but on occasion could get on my nerves, and I'm sure there were coworkers whose nerves I got on too from time to time. Didn't Bea and Betty allegedly have lunch every day together? Maybe they enjoyed personal time together but their individual habits could create tension. Bea was commanding of attention, getting it with barely trying, and Betty obviously used tricks to get it. Both extreme talents but very different, but obviously they admired each other individually even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye. I think Betty embellished it. The Bette/Joan feud was equally as exaggerated.

Bea was self-conscious about her weight so the lunch thing was just to make sure Betty wasn't getting snatched by abstaining.

R37, you are so right.

In honor of Betty, I’ve been binge watching and starting with season 1. This season is the first time we meet Glen O’Brian, Dorothy’s married lover.

Anyway, in the beginning of the episode, Dorothy is describing him as a gym teacher, cut to Blanche who does this little number with her face and eyebrows that says “ooooh, that’s sexy.” It lasted a mere second or so but got a huge laugh from the audience.

In the same way as Dorothy’s stares into space or double takes could crack the audience up.

Yes r37, broad hammy tv acting is generally always popular. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, but every one of her line readings is easily predictable after watching her for just a few episodes.

We could all have played Blanche.

R49 - eat dirt and die, trash.

Bullshit r49. Rue was fantastic as Blanche. It was a difficult part and she brought a lot to it.

Buck would never have played Blanche.

r51 could not have played Blanche.

Of course not. I was a little boy back then.

I read that when Bea served in the Marines, she suffered repeated sexual abuse from one of her superior officers. As a result, she contracted STDS, which left her unable to get pregnant. On top of that, she was punished for catching the diseases and was discharged! She didn’t have it easy. Maybe that’s why she had some issues. And I loved them both.

Betty came to see Bea's one woman show near UCLA before it went to Broadway. Bea completely snubbed Betty. Betty cried. Kinda sad.

R56 False

Betty never saw Bea's one-woman show. No explanation was given.

I believe Rue. She said they were all actually great coworkers, and casual friends - and had dinner a few times after Golden Girls - one time at Bea's house.

[quote]On top of that, she was punished for catching the diseases and was discharged!

So, discharged for her discharge.

It was a bit odd seeing all the entertainment reporters gushing how everyone liked Betty.......did they not research anything?

Rue confirmed the rumors at Bea's funeral saying something like Bea's often uttered phrase is where is that cunt Betty White.

I feel like Betty embellished how Bea felt about her and it has lead to the myth that they didn’t get along. I had a friend who always had that sunny outlook like Betty and they were secretly vindictive. Never trust someone who is liked by everyone.

"That's why I never trust those warm, friendly people, Mare. They'll get you every time."

---Rhoda Morgernstern about Twinks Tveidt

Sometimes I wonder if Bea Arthur might have been clinically depressed.

[Quote] Bea was an alcoholic, perhaps a functional alcoholic, but an alcoholic nonetheless. There are so many drunk stories about her, even at her memorial when Rue told the now infamous story about calling Betty White a cunt, Rue made it clear Bea was drunk at the time.

It's simple, Bea dislike cheerful closet cases.

This conversation has been done to death! It is simple. Bea and Betty had different working styles and personalities. They were both however professional about it and it didn’t stand in the way of them getting along, even if they were not buddy-buddy.

Frankly, if I had to go out for cocktails, I would pick Bea over Betty.

I don't understand why people here deny it. Both Rue and Betty had no qualms discussing it, Beatrice Arthur's distaste for Betty White grew as the series wore on. Bea looked at the show as a play, and she felt it was unprofessional, and breaking the rules of drama when Betty would mess around with the crew and the studio audience. Year after year, week after week, by the end, Bea had really had enough.

The thing about Bea snubbing Betty at her one woman show is absolutely true. Beatrice was odd. I had the pleasure of having lunch with her once, and she wasn't like Maude or Dorothy. She was somewhat prickly. Did she HATE Betty? No. But she was not a fan.

[quote]But she was not a fan.

Been there.

[quote] and it has lead to the myth

Oh, DEAR!

You don’t eat lunch with someone you can’t, 5 days a week.

*can’t stand

[quote]The thing about Bea snubbing Betty at her one woman show is absolutely true.

She didn't snub Betty. She just didn't point her out to the audience. She might not have even known Betty was there. I don't even remember if Betty was sitting in the front row.

A year or two after that, the trio did a DVD signing of season three at a store, and gave a group interview together. Bea and Betty were very cordial towards each other, and each praised the other's work. That might have been their last appearance together, but there was no trace of the animosity that they supposedly had.

Did the girls get a cut of the DVDs? Otherwise why bother.

I don't think this has been posted, and it's always worth seeing. Bea and Betty dancing in the 70s.

Ah, I see it was included in r12's link. My bad. I was just watching it again and it made me happy.

Rue looked great here.

It's weird to think both were in their 50s in that hoofing clip. They read as minimum 70s.

Betty played a lot of musical theatre leads in stock, didn't she? Did Bead?

*Did Bea?

r78 it's amazing how much older people used to look.

This clip is circulating on IG and the like. Betty's answer at 1:20 reminded me of all the comments about Bea being negative. Betty...not so much.

Lol at Steve Harvey claiming to be a positive person.

I saw Bea's one-woman show on Broadway. It wasn't very good.

She looked drastic and the only thing I recall was the first ten minutes she recited her recipe for roasted rack of lamb.

It was very dry humor and a bit odd.

Bea took the script literally and always wanted to deliver her lines verbatim while Betty would improvise every now and then.

That may explain why Betty's acting came off as organic while Bea's was very mechanical sometimes.

But sitcom scripts are rewritten, even on shooting night. You have to roll with the punches.

I know this thread has veered a bit off the original topic, but that's life on Datalounge, OP. Since a few of you posted these "Emmy TV Legends" interviews on this thread, I got sucked down a rabbit hole watching several more of them.

I'd heard the name Warren Littlefield before, but had never seen him interviewed before. I found his telling of the origins of Golden Girls fascinating. He's a good storyteller and, unlike a lot of Hollywood execs, seems like a pretty interesting, sensitive and creative person. It's also interesting to me that a straight, white executive in his mid 30s (at the time) was championing a concept about older women.

I once read Betty and Bea always had lunch together the day of taping, and then they walked across the lot to the Golden Girls studio.

[quote]Bea was obviously a miserable unhappy person.

Her mother, with whom she was very close, died just one month after Golden Girls premiered in September 1985. Also, she reportedly turned to drinking afterward. This may explain her unpleasant/unhappy demeanor.

[quote] Since a few of you posted these "Emmy TV Legends" interviews on this thread, I got sucked down a rabbit hole watching several more of them.

I did that a few years ago too when I first discovered them.

Bea always drank a lot, it didn't start during GG.

In the late '70s, didn't her director husband leave her for a young chippy (a la Stan) after nearly 30 years of marriage?

Betty livened up every show she was on.

Wow.

Betty got better looking with age, like most DLers.

I have all the seasons on DVD but haven't watched them in a while since I have Hulu. I just remembered something from Bea's commentary on "The Accurate Conception," which I often think of when I watch that episode. At one point Bea goes, "Betty's about to do something really funny here." (It's right after Blanche reveals Becky's going to be artificially inseminated and then Rose does her full body shudder.) Even if they didn't always get along, it was nice to hear her acknowledge her like that. One of my favorite parts of the Golden Girls Forever book is when Betty Garrett remembers Bea turning to her once in between takes and saying, "You're such a good actress." Bea could be prickly, but she could be kind and gracious too.

I wish there was a way to watch the commentaries for those Season 5 episodes without the DVDs.

It was this, of course.

Now that Betty is gone, we might hear more about the Bea/Betty tensions from people who worked behind the scenes on Golden Girls. I don't think there was a feud in terms of Bea and Betty arguing on the set, both women were old-school professionals, but it's clear Bea just didn't like Betty on a personal level. Publicly, both actresses were cordial to one another and spoke highly of each other as professionals and Betty never spoke publicly about her relationship with Bea until after Bea died.

That being said, while I love both ladies, Bea seems like she was just an unhappy person in general. It's also fairly well-documented that she wasn't very happy on the Golden Girls. I remember listening to a podcast with Jim Colucci where he talked about trying to interview Bea for his first book the Q Guide to the Golden Girls. Bea refused for months because she was "done talking about the Golden Girls because she hated it." When she did finally agree to talk to him, she did mention that Golden Girls was happening at a very unhappy time in her life. Rue also mentioned in her book that while she and Bea were close during Maude, when it came to the Golden Girls, Bea was much more distant and there was not a lot of relationship going on between them off screen. I think Bea didn't like the ensemble nature of the show, and it got under her skin a little that she wasn't THE star but rather one of the stars.

Bea was also effectively a function alcoholic and somewhat tortured. I think she was one of those people who wasn't every fully comfortable in their own skin and maybe never felt fully loved. I think that's where a lot of her dislike of Betty came from. Betty was an optimist and beloved by the audience and the industry and that probably got under Bea's skin a lot. Betty winning the Emmy first (and Bea being the last one to win one) just didn't sit well with her (something Rue acknowledges in her book). Rue said something like despite the fact that Bea was getting paid much more than the other three ladies, it was no substitute for love and respect so they all sighed with relief when she won the Emmy.

That's not to say it's all on Bea. I love Betty White but as a pessimist myself, I could see how her personality would get under Bea's skin. Betty seemed like she was "always on" and that would drive me nuts too.

Also the story about Bea ignoring Betty at her one woman show is 100% true. Jim Colucci was at another event with the three ladies (a DVD thing or something) and when it was over Bea went over and hugged Rue, but when Betty approached Bea to hug her, Bea made a show of ignoring her and leaving.

I wonder did it all come down to Betty's Emmy win. Diana Ladd talked about cooking for Academy members to campaign for her Oscar nomination... Did Betty do something OTT like that and it got back to Bea?

[quote]I wonder did it all come down to Betty's Emmy win.

There was friction early in the first year over Paul Bogart (legendary director of All in the family), who was supposed to be the shows permanent director. Bea loved working with him and thought he was a good fit. But Betty and him did not get along at all. They clashed over how Rose should be portrayed. Betty went to the producers and complained, and they let him go. Bea was not happy with the decision, although she was happy working with Terry Hughes

It's strange that Bea would hold on to bad feeling even a decade after the show ended.

I watched that clip of Christopher Lloyd at r28. What an attractive older man! I’ve seen his name but never had seen him, as far as I can recall. Googled him, and he’s married to Arleen Sorkin!

Calliope’s rich, y’all!

R100 In her book, Rue recounts how after Terry Hughes left the show, Bea was given final say about who their new director should be. Betty, Rue, and Estelle really like a particular director (Rue doesn't say who it was) but Bea refused to work with him because he wore his baseball cap backwards (Bea freaked out if people wore baseball caps the wrong way or chewed gum). They ended up never having a permanent director after Hughes left, but according to Rue there was one director who came back numerous times that Bea loved but Rue apparently hated (she didn't say who but it's rumored to be Lex Passaris who direct many episodes in the final two seasons but who was removed from the roster when they did Golden Palace).

Thanks, r103!

I love shit like that.

[Quote] Bea freaked out if people wore baseball caps the wrong way or chewed gum

Was Bea on the spectrum?

No, I read she just thought it was very unprofessional.

I think it was unprofessional that she insisted on being costumed as she was when her character lived in Miami.

I think Bea considered Betty to be too much of a people pleaser. Bea was a rebel by nature, she didn't give a damn if the public liked her or two. She didn't pursue their adulation or validation because she didn't need it. I'm not saying that Betty did either, but she was a little too accessible.

It sounds like Bea was a miserable cunt. Maybe there was some sublimated attraction on her part for Betty? Betty was always so much more attractive and feminine than poor, dour Bea.

Were Bea and Gene Saks a real couple?

Somewhere on the internet, there is an interview with Park Overall (who played Laverne on Empty Nest) and she is really frank about her dislike for Bea Arthur. She claims that once when Bea was doing a guest shot in Empty Nest, she freaked out because Dinah Manoff was chewing gum and refused to continue unless Manoff spit it out (Manoff refused reminding Bea she was a guest on their set). Overall also implies she thought Bea was a lesbian.

R108 I actually don't think Bea was a rebel (she talks at length about how she wished that she was a blonde starlet) but rather she was a pessimistic, somewhat resentful person who was also socially awkward.

[quote]Betty winning the Emmy first (and Bea being the last one to win one) just didn't sit well with her (something Rue acknowledges in her book). Rue said something like despite the fact that Bea was getting paid much more than the other three ladies, it was no substitute for love and respect so they all sighed with relief when she won the Emmy.

Also, Betty (and Estelle but in Supporting) were Emmy-nominated for all 7 seasons; Rue and Bea stopped being nominated after Season 4.

R109 is Allen Ludden.

Park sounds rather a kook herself. I don't quite get the Pfeiffer/Getty story.

Has this been mentioned?

Originally Rue was up for the Rose part and Betty for the Blanche part.

[quote] Somewhere on the internet, there is an interview with Park Overall (who played Laverne on Empty Nest) and she is really frank about her dislike for Bea Arthur. She claims that once when Bea was doing a guest shot in Empty Nest, she freaked out because Dinah Manoff was chewing gum and refused to continue unless Manoff spit it out (Manoff refused reminding Bea she was a guest on their set). Overall also implies she thought Bea was a lesbian.

Funny, because r114 just posted the interview and none of that was said, implied or otherwise.

She says Bea hated Betty, not that she hated Betty; there was no implication of lesbianism; and she met her outside the set when Kristy McNicoll was chewing gum on set, so she obviously didn’t “remind Bea she was a guest star.”

I think Betty milked the "Bea never liked me" angle and turned it into something bigger than it ever was.

*not that she (Park) hated Bea at r116.

Betty would shit on her dressing room floor and say Bea did it

Park does say that Betty White was "too good to be true."

I agree R37, Rue was terrific. They were a great ensemble.

Bea probably did have some animosity toward Betty, but at least she kept her emotions under control and didn't let her feelings get in the way of the work. You have to give her that. But even then, it would have been impossible for Betty not to have noticed some little inkling of Bea's displeasure with her. We've all had associations like that at work. All it takes is an slight expression on someone's face to let you know someone isn't fully on your team. They never have to say an unkind word to you.

Was their original conracts for 5 or 6 years? Rue tells in an interview it was six seasons and she was surprised they got Bea back for 7th.

Betty White had a Pollyanna personality, which Bea Arthur found tiring.

R117 I think it was Rue who really opened (or perhaps reopened) that can of worms in her book, to be fair. And then telling that “cunt” story at Bea’s memorial.

She got a bit kooky in her old age. And I don’t remember all that much but I do remember her book was full of inaccuracies - like mistaking the Merrill episode for a season 1.

Since when was Pollyanna bawdy?

Betty said it herself, in an interview. Not her exact word ("Pollyanna"), but that's the gist that I got.

[quote]R117] I think it was Rue who really opened (or perhaps reopened) that can of worms in her book, to be fair. And then telling that “cunt” story at Bea’s memorial.

Yeah, you never heard anything bad about the show until Bea died. At least I didn't. I first discovered GG during the summer of '98 (after my high school graduation) and have read/watched pretty much anything GG-related. It really irks me that Rue started that Bea/Betty 'feud.'

I’ve often wondered if that Betty’s a cunt story was always misinterpreted.

I’ve called friends some vile things jokingly and if someone who didn’t know me or my friends, or our relationship, heard it, they would be shocked and could easily misinterpret it.

I’ve seen the clip of Rue telling it at the memorial and I can’t tell if Bea was maybe joking and Rue played it there for laughs. If it was indeed ever said at all.

Betty and Rue were always friends, so I can’t see Rue making it up to make either party look bad.

[quote]All it takes is an slight expression on someone's face to let you know someone isn't fully on your team. They never have to say an unkind word to you.

@ 6:05

R127 I’ve seen that interview on Joy Behar - she was like 90 and by that point probably was annoyed that after all these years it was being brought up (after being a professional and never discussing it herself) and didn’t give a fuck if she passive aggressively made Bea look bad. I wouldn’t care either, frankly.

Bea perhaps didn't always enjoy Betty's personality. Betty did have a big personality and she was always on, and that can be tiresome to more introverted people like Bea.

What I love about Betty is that she mostly didn't seem to give a shit whether people liked her or not, especially towards the end of her life. She seemed to have aquired a "love it or leave it" attitude about it all. Betty may have minded a bit more with Bea, because Bea seemed to take other people being themselves personally, when it had nothing to do with her. Bea sounds a bit controlling, bless her, and Betty seemed to be more of a live and let live type.

[quote]Did Betty do something OTT like that and it got back to Bea?

Blow jobs that put Nancy Reagan to shame.

Betty & Rue are both on Love Boat right now as I type.

Eww. That boat must stink.

They’re both dead.

The reason the three girls stopped getting nominated for Emmys was because there was a bit of an outcry in 1989. Roseanne, who had been expected to get a nomination had been snubbed, and then Linda Bloodworth Thomason complained to the press that the Academy was showing favoritism towards The Golden Girls while completely ignoring the actresses on Designing Women. Critics started saying that they were "hogging" the Best Actress in a Comedy category. It went to five the following year only to have Candace Bergen win multiple times.

I guess because Betty was so well liked in the industry and had made a lot of friends, that was the reason she kept getting nominated year after year. But I think Bea did the best work in Season five and Rue in Season seven. Estelle had the highest likeability ratings out of anyone on TV at that time, so it was no surprise that she kept getting a nomination.

Bea's main problem was that she never really learned how to unclench. Her toilet time must have been hell.

[quote]It went to five the following year only to have Candace Bergen win multiple times.

God, that was so annoying! Except for Kirstey Alley ("Cheers") and Roseanne winning in '91 and '93, respectively, the '90s was dominated first by Candace Bergen ("Murphy Brown") and then Helen Hunt ("Mad About You").

I always roll my eyes when these so-called "introverts" complain about the rigors of being in show business! HONEY! You're an actor on television, if shyness and introversion are your issues you picked the wrong fucking line of work! You've no one to blame but yourself!

R129 I think the calling Betty White a cunt was both a mix of humor and truth for Bea. Apparently, she used that joke several times with different people saying variations of "Estelle and Rue were angels, Betty was a cunt. "

To give people some history, the rumors of Bea not liking Betty have been around since at least the late 90s. I started watching the Golden Girls in the summer of 1999 (I remember this because it was the summer before I started high school). The Bea/Betty thing was being discussed on some early Golden Girls websites even back then the tabloids had picked up even when the show was still on the air. But the real dirt stems back to an interview Bea gave with a magazine in which she was asked to describe certain people in one word (mostly actors she had worked with on Maude and GG) when it got to Betty, she stopped speaking for a minute rolled her eyes and yelled "NEXT." After that, fans began to notice Bea's treatement of Betty at various events such as the DVD launch. Then Rue discussed it in her book as well as well as in Jim Colucci's first Golden Girls book. Betty acknowledged it only after Bea died.

Betty always admitted her love of games and being very competitive so I don't think she was an entirely innocent party. I would be very surprised if she wasn't passive aggressive toward Bea. Betty's whole, 'Bea hated me and I don't know why, I guess because I'm so nice and kind' rings a bit false to me. Not to say that I don't think that Bea wasn't a piece of work but I suspect that Betty saw that she could get under her skin and did, all the while appearing to come out smelling like a rose (pun intended).

[quote]I always roll my eyes when these so-called "introverts" complain about the rigors of being in show business! HONEY! You're an actor on television, if shyness and introversion are your issues you picked the wrong fucking line of work! You've no one to blame but yourself!

Bea never complained about the rigors of showbiz. She was a professional who did her job. What she had no tolerance for was people who didn't know their stuff or people who went above and beyond and wound up holding up getting any actual work done.

It's a job.

Somehow I doubt you would be such a good sport if your coworker was doing similar antics. How many "Annoying office frau" threads do we have here?

Those bloopers at 1:30 were cute, but if that was going on every week, I could see how Bea would get annoyed.

Sometimes you just want to get the job done and go home. And that's what the show was, A JOB.

Bea was like the morose bookworm who is eager to get home after school, and Betty was the perky popular girl who extends her time at school doing extracurricular activities.

R143 One of the major differences between Bea and Betty was that for Bea acting was her job but for Betty is was her life. Bea allegedly told Marc Cherry once that "Betty will die at work" and that wasn't meant as a compliment.

R143 more like they were both straight A students, but one stayed home and studied all day and night, while the other went out all the time with the popular people, seemingly never worked and still (somehow) pulled off those grades. The latter types always incredibly annoy the former.

Bea isn’t here to speak on her own behalf. Betty waited til she died to try and make her look bad. How tacky.

Dorothy was my favorite character, but I'm guessing Bea could have been grouchy & a little difficult. Also, she was drinking (alcohol) while working. I don't think she ever appeared to be drunk on any of the GG episodes, though.

R147 Dorothy is my favorite too. Dorothy is really the bitter old Queen whose life didn't turn out the way she wanted, and I think many of us can relate. Bea was what wed' now term a "functional" alcoholic. She never drank at work or in public appearances but there are sooooooo many stories out there about Bea's drinking habits. Basically, when Bea was not working, she drank like a fish.

R142 Yes Bea was so professional that in some episodes she looked hungover and could only read her lines from a pieces of paper dotted around the set. Let’s face it, Dorothy was a great character but Bea sounds like a fucking nightmare to work with. What kind of person wants to get someone fired for chewing gum or wearing a baseball cap back to front? Somebody should have had the balls to stand up to Bea and her pathetic petulant drunken ways from series 1. She should have been grateful that she was in another hit show at her age after a series of flops, she was getting paid much more than the other actresses, and she didn’t have to carry the whole show herself. But that still wasn’t enough for her. We have all know miserable cunts like this, they want to drag everyone else down with them. Bea gave numerous TV interviews on U.K. chat shows during her time on Golden Girls, and she never once looked happy discussing the show, she would repeat one short antidote and then make it clear she was ready to move on. We then got 10 minutes of her blabbing about Mame and Maude, which nobody wanted to hear about.

Reading this thread I'm starting to wonder if that GG epi where Rose's coworker inexplicably hatws her was based on backstage stuff the writers were privy to.

I like Bea and loved Dorothy but idk....I usually like people if they are nice and decent to me and they usually have to earn me disliking them, so unless Betty really did something not nice to her to earn her dislike, then I wouldn't defend Bea's attitude.

Betty was too cheery and had to be "on" all the time. Bea was likely an alcoholic who despised people who needed that much attention.

Bea strikes me as someone who wasn't satisfied with the life and appearance they were born with and had a certain image of what they wanted to look like and how they wanted to live.

Then after working their ass off either failed or wasn't fully successful at achieving their goal and then hated or resented those who were born with or had fully succeeded in attaining the perfect life and image.

Would Bea have a BBL today?

I didn't know Bea drank while on the job, that surprises me because you never ever see any hint of it. It's not like Kelsey Grammer who you can tell is absolutely zonked in a few scenes here and there, and despite what Dick Van Dyke has said, there are times when I'm certain he'd been sipping from a flask before the cameras rolled. I never saw that with Bea.

Bea didn't seem like an introvert to me so much as someone who distanced herself from others because she was really sensitive to disorder; her problem with gum chewing reminds me of the people who can't stand the sound of smacking or eating, for instance. I guess people really took her hard edges personally, but for me I just think about her interviews, like where she's telling the famous Tallulah Bankhead story and says "I will get even with you, you miserable cunt" and I laugh, but I know others have been kind of taken aback by her tone and attitude.

Someone else who came across as nicer might well have been told "no problem" if she had asked for people to not chew or smack gum while they were working. Because Bea was so brash, people took it as an example of her being an awful person.

Bankhead wasn't wrong.

Face it. Bea was a nasty, miserable old cunt. Never happy.

[quote]Bea gave numerous TV interviews on U.K. chat shows during her time on Golden Girls, and she never once looked happy discussing the show, she would repeat one short antidote and then make it clear she was ready to move on. We then got 10 minutes of her blabbing about Mame and Maude, which nobody wanted to hear about.

As was stated, Bea's beloved mother died just one month after GG premiered, so that may have contributed to her unhappiness on the show, whereas when she was on MAME and MAUDE, she was married and her mom was alive. In fact, her marriage fell apart shortly after MAUDE ended and her husband promptly remarried. So MAME and MAUDE may have had more happy memories for her.

[quote]Bea strikes me as someone who wasn't satisfied with the life and appearance they were born with and had a certain image of what they wanted to look like and how they wanted to live.

I think she says as much during that Emmy TV Legends interview on YouTube. That when she was a little girl, she dreamed of being the pretty blonde ingenue, but she was always stuck playing tall male characters in school plays.

Bea was unkind about Adrienne Barbeau on that TV Legends YT channel.

Yeah, I can see Bea being the bully type of person. Either it’s her way or very little room for compromise. And she used her stature in appearance to her advantage so nobody would mess with her. And it’s a shame really because she wasn’t that. terrible to look at and had a largely successful career.

Jealousy towards others and dissatisfaction with her own short comings in life were displayed outwardly at times which I think made her even more miserable hence the drinking.

Bea probably only respected and liked people who shared similar views like herself.

She couldn’t stand people like Betty on a regular basis.

I myself would much prefer to stay away from people like Bea if I could help it.

Too toxic.

Damn, even Perry Como called Bea a man at 8:04.

She was in Attica for a year before they realized she’s a woman.

Barbeau is effusive about Arthur here. It's a shame that Bea was disloyal.

WAS Bea unkind to Adrienne Barbeau? I went looking and couldn't find the interview in question.

I think she's lying here... about the Marines.

R167 you think? She clearly is. There is evidence/records.

I was talking about the video. I haven't searched for Bea Arthur's X-Rays.

Bea was in the marines for a year before they realized she wasn’t a man.

For all those claiming Bea was a unhinged drunk lurching around the Golden Girls set reading off cue cards, do you have any links or citations about that? Every interview I've ever seen claimed that she was very professional, even if she was open about voicing her objections to some things (like the constant jokes about Dorothy's--really her--appearance)--which she still went through with, because she was a professional. Yet DL seems to constantly claim she was a completely unprofessional wreck.

R161 I don’t think she was “jealous”. Bea was great friends with Angela Lansbury, who arguably had a better career than Bea. But, the difference is Bea clearly respected Angela.

If anything Bea looked down on Betty for being a TV figure. Jealousy wasn’t a part of it.

Betty did theatre. And she played the lead in musicals, something Bea longed for but never really did.

Bea Arthur sounds insufferable. If Faye Dunaway was a 10, Arthur was a 1 but still... I'd rather be around a Betty White all day than a Bea Arthur.

To quote another insufferable, a Monsoon: Cheer up, it might not happen.

Betty White did theater? I thought she started on television shortly after high school (while it was still experimental) and remained in that medium for the rest of her life, occasionally landing bit/supporting roles in films in her dotage.

Summer stock, r175.

As r176 beat me to it, White did a lot of summer stock, but no major productions that I can find. Here's a story about some productions she did in Maine (the photo is with Allen Ludden and his son):

More summer stock

But yeah, I believe the difference in Bea's mind was that she (and Rue, and Lansbury) had studied acting and been to drama school and all that. Betty hadn't (which may just be another example of Betty being someone with natural charisma to whom things came naturally). But in Lloyd's interview at r28, White described herself as Soupy Sales somehow ending up onstage with Sarah Bernhardt and Eleanora Duse (famous capital-A Actresses).

R167 & R168 The theory is that Bea's time in the Marines was traumatic for her and so she refused to acknowledge it. According to her file, she contracted an STD during her time and was disciplined with a count of misconduct and a loss of pay. Its been rumored that she contracted that STD as the result of a sexual assault by a superior officer and that it left her unable to get pregnant. Her inability to get pregnant is also rumored to be one reason her first marriage failed.

[quote] Bea was what wed' now term a "functional" alcoholic.

You think that term wasn’t around in the 1980s?

Jesus.

[quote] she would repeat one short antidote

She was poisoned?!

R180 She later adopted so this does make sense. Poor woman if true. That is also why she denied that she was in the marines until the day she died.

She adopted because she didn't want a daughter who was five foot nine and a half in her stockinged feet.

She wouldn’t have to wear stockings.

Bea worked on Broadway regularly in the 50's and 60's. She was in the original companies of Fiddler on the Roof and Mame, winning the Tony for the latter.

It's ludicrous to think she was jealous over Betty doing summer stock, regional theater.

R180 I believe it was syphilis that she contracted.

I'd bet money if DL ran a poll, Bea would be the favourite Golden Girl.

[quote] I believe it was syphilis that she contracted.

Syphilis? You don’t want that! That’s what killed Al Capone.

Bea wanted to be a leading lady in musical theatre. She never achieved that. Betty got to play Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly" etc. Bea would have loved to have played those kind of roles.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Bea worked regularly OFF Broadway.

And Betty worked regularly Off-Off-Off Broadway, so I doubt Bea was envious of her stage career.

Bea said herself that she wished to be a star in musical comedy. She got to be a featured player but never the leading lady. She even shoehorned "Some People" into her one-woman show.

Bea also sang "Don't Rain on My Parade" on an awards show. And the conductor cut her off while singing her final lyric. Bea couldn't catch a break.

R190 I don’t think she was jealous of whatever podunk production Betty was in. Let’s be real.

The Emmy win certainly bothered her though - as I’m sure the fact that she had many more awards and nominations (and was more “beloved” by the industry) generally. She rationalized it by telling herself “well, she’s not a ‘real’ actress.

Feelings of resentment/jealousy and superiority are often commingled together. Nothing new there.

[Quote] Let’s be real.

Let's be real? Park Overall says that Bea grabbed her to complain that Kristy McNichol was eating a meatball sandwich right out in class. Bea's emotions seemed regularly misplaced.

I don't think Bea could have rationalized that she was more beloved in the industry than Betty White. Bea knew that she wasn't a people person. She also knew that she was lucky to finally get her own show (Maude). Betty had numerous shows throughout the years - none long running - but Betty never had to grin and bare Perry Como calling her a man as a sketch performer on his TV show. Bea had it rough. Betty's career was a dance on air in comparison.

*grin and bear

R197 right, I’m saying that less popular actors , directors, etc often rationalize their competitors popularity by telling themselves, “well, I’m more of an artiste. You can’t be THAT popular and not be a sell out” blah blah.

Of course many would sell out in a minute if they could but that’s another story.

Bea and director Hal Cooper (who seemingly everyone but Bea hated) used to make fun of Esther Rolle behind her back. "I dont do windows, and I don't do comedy." They'd say. This is also in that Archive of American Television interview.

[quote]Bea wanted to be a leading lady in musical theatre. She never achieved that.

Often it really helps to be able to sing in a way that people want to listen.

The lies being told by the anti-Bea Arthur trolls. You sad people. Bea never attacked Adrienne, she said she did not have good comic timing at the beginning and if you watch Maude, Bea was right! And the interview R200 references is Arthur quoting Cooper, not agreeing with him. God, it's like the Betty White Jihad in here. Get a grip!

A daily reminder that Betty waited until Bea passed to exaggerate the myth that Bea hated her. Never trust ones who are well liked by everyone.

Well, that'll never be a problem for you.

Oh.

Bea was Hard-Hearted Hanna, the vamp of Savannah G-A.

This is one of my favorite clips. Bea Arthur singing "What'll I Do" I thought it was charming.

Why did Bea need to read off cue cards when she told off the Dr who misdiagnosed her?

R202 I don't think it's "anti-Bea" to acknowledge that while she was hugely talented (one of the best comedic actresses of the 20th century IMO), she also wasn't the easiest person to get along with...something tons of people who worked with or knew her have discussed (even her son said in an interview a few years ago that Bea was very anti-social). That doesn't diminish her status as one of the greats.

As for Betty, I'll admit that as much as I loved watching her, her personality probably would have annoyed me too. I get tired of overly positive "always on" people easily myself so I can understand Bea not having time for Betty after a while.

By most accounts Bea wasn't the easiest person to get along with. She is not alone there.

There are ample stories about Bea trying to get people fired for gum chewing. That alone tells you she wasn’t a very pleasant person.

Overly positive? Betty wasn't sickly sweet. She was a bawdy dame.

[quote]Park Overall says that Bea grabbed her to complain that Kristy McNichol was eating a meatball sandwich right out in class.

Come the fuck on. Bea complained because Kristy was smacking her gum. We have entire threads full of people saying they can't handle the sound (or the disrespect) of kids smacking their gum. Stop acting like Bea Arthur was history's greatest monster for the gum thing.

R213 I believe that was a reference to the John Waters' cult classic FEMALE TROUBLE starring Divine.

I hope Park Overall told Bea to fuck off!

r211, it's also an example of how she believed people should behave professionally in a work setting. Someone making chewing noises and smacking their gum can be distracting when people are trying to work.

Did we ever find out who had to clean the big doo doo off of Betty’s dressing room floor?

And what about a backwards baseball cap made it hard to work?

Gum chewing as a control issue for adults?

Was Miss Arthur an IRL DL Hall Monitor?

[quote] Why did Bea need to read off cue cards when she told off the Dr who misdiagnosed her?

Sitcoms have many re-writes up until, and sometimes including, tape day. Sometimes while taping they’ll change dialogue if the original didn’t get the response they wanted from the audience.

It’s possible they did the scene, the audience didn’t react, so they re-wrote it, with very little or no time to memorize it. That’s the only scene I can recall where any of them are obviously reading off cue cards.

The fierce defence of Beatrice Arthur is one of DL's most delightful quirks.

Have you actually read the site, r221? Those slamming her have been far fiercer (and utterly full of bullshit) than any of her defenders.

Yes, I have read it. I don't care if Bea Arthur gets slammed. She's dead. The passionate defence of someone none of us knew who's been dead for more than a decade is amusing and kind of pathetic to me.

But I will spill blood if any of you say anything nasty about Marie Dressler and I'm not kidding, I'm crazy!

After her death, someone started a rumor that Bea had read one of the nasty comments on the forum and it hurt her feelings. People started deliberately being even meaner about her after that, because they thought it was funny and cool. More than once I've seen someone say it's "DL tradition" to cunt about Bea and that you're "not a real DLer" if you don't do it.

In that Christopher Lloyd interview someone posted earlier, he described Bea as being something of a tortured soul which I think is a good description of her. There is also is a marked difference between Bea during her time on Maude and then on Golden Girls. Bill Macy who played Walter on Maude said in one of his last interviews that Bea's marriage fell apart during the final season of the show (apparently Gene Saks cheated on her with a much younger woman whom he ended up marrying) and that Bea became very bitter and upset and decided she didn't want to do the show any more which was the actual reason it ended rather than continue on as Norman Lear had wanted.

I think Bea never really recovered from her divorce and then added to that her mother's health started waning and during the first season of the Golden Girls she died after going totally deaf and blind for the last few years of her life. Bea also lost a lot of weight between Maude and GG and her drinking picked up too apparently.

She was pleased at the weight loss, though.

Bea had an excellent face lift between Maude and GG, in addition to the weight loss. She actually looked better on GG than she did on Maude, and she was a decade older.

[quote] That’s the only scene I can recall where any of them are obviously reading off cue cards.

From what I heard, by the end of the shows run, they were having to tape a lot of Estelle's stuff after the audience had gone home. I think cue cards were used some of time.

If you look at the later years, most of Sophia's lines are done in close ups.

Yes, and some of them were done in post, like when they had the Italian guy redo their garage and Sophia was supposed to be speaking Italian.

R202 She's totally agreeing with Cooper. She out and out says that Rolle was not a good comedic actress. So what? I'm not attacking her. She was speaking her mind.

How did Bea get along with Lucy during the filming of Mame?

R231 Bea and Lucy were friendly. Not friends, per se, but friendly. Bea got along with Lucy during the filming of Mame, but afterwards very much regretted having done the film due to the finished product. But she didn't blame Lucy. She blamed her ex who was the director.

Bea was part of Lucy's Kennedy Center Honors talent. And Lucy was thrilled that she participated.

Considering Bea's husband at the time, Gene Saks was directing Mame, I would imagine that she knew it was in her best interest to make nice with Lucy. She would later say she only did the film because Saks made her do it.

[quote]She would later say she only did the film because Saks made her do it.

According to Bea, he told her he owed her for moving out to California so she could do TV.

Lucy and Betty were good friends as well.

Lucy attended a taping of The Golden Girls and sat in the audience.

She owed him

[Quote] Lucy attended a taping of The Golden Girls and sat in the audience.

Well, she could hardly sit on the lanai.

Bea had a big penis!

Maybe they can work through it all now that they're puppets?

When I was a kid I thought that it was Rue McClanahan singing the Golden Girls theme song.

Betty White and Bea Arthur were both 63 when GG started. Michelle Pfeiffer, Sharon Stone and Madonna are all currently 63. Amazing how much older people looked back then.

R239 So did I! I also thought CC Babcock sung The Nanny theme.

Bea looked 75 when GG started. Those manly hips didn’t help.

R241 I also thought Nell Carter sang Its Raining Men. Until I got Pandora two years ago.

We can all be idiots together.

R242 Okay 75 is a bit of a stretch but yeah she looked older than 55 which is how old Dorothy is supposed to be when the show starts. Then again, one of the nice things about the Golden Girls is that it's a show about older women where the women actually look older. It's funny to go back and watch older movies and TV shows were actors actually looked their age compared to today where everyone is botoxed and pulled to within an inch of their life.

r244 we just had a thread on On Golden Pond and it was mentioned that Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda were in their early/mid 70s when they made that movie, but by modern standards they looked like they were in their 90s. It's kind of jarring how older people looked SO OLD back then.

Betty White's recent passing brought this old parody back to mind LOL

....

Betty wouldn't suck Bea's cock.

Bea shit on Betty's dressing room floor. Happy 100th!!!!

Bea wanted to eat Betty out.

Betty’s snatch reeked of Bea’s tongue! Happy 100th!!!!!!!

Betty and Allen together at last, forever...

Just finished reading the Golden Girls Forever book. There must be more than a dozen reminiscences by different interviewees that reference Bea being cold and unfriendly whereas the others were not. One guy mentions saying good morning to her at the craft services table two days in a row with no response from Bea. Just odd behavior. Who would treat people like that?

Narcissists

r253, socially awkward weirdos.

Be lucky that Bea didn’t shit on your dressing room floor.

"...and Betty never spoke publicly about her relationship with Bea until after Bea died."

Yes. Very tacky and self-serving.

“Everyone loves me. Except that Bea. What is wrong with her? I am America’s sweetheart.”

-Betts

What possesses someone not to respond to a "good morning" from anyone?

Someone recalled a similar encounter with Nathan Lane, only Nathan responded in a sarcastic manner. My guess is "I'm mad at the world!"

Bea's ex-husband Gene Saks was a theatre director? QUEEN ALERT!! Bea seemed like an angry closeted lesbian. She was very good friends with Betty for a long time. Just look at them during the early interviews, they were always close, touching each other, holding hands etc. Maybe Betty refused Bea's lesbian advances. Wasn't there a thread about a woman who guest starred on GG who accused Bea of hitting on her? Didn't Boze Hadleigh say Bea was a closeted lez? That could explain her attitude.

Lesbian love triangle. Betty slept with Angela Lansbury and Bea was furious!

Bea Arthur was real, like Constance Ford. Betty White was an A-list Hollywood phony, like Dolly Parton.

Did Bea and Connie Ford ever bump pussies???

R261 I don't think Gene Saks was gay. He ended up leaving Bea for a younger woman in the late 70s and by many accounts this left Bea bitter and angry and she never really got over it. There have been gossip that maybe Bea was a lesbian but who knows. I think the tension with Betty White stemmed from their different personalities. Bea was a pessimist while Betty was an optimist. Bea was very low energy and worked to live, whereas Betty was always "on" and was a workaholic. I also think there was jealousy there too. Bea was supposedly very upset when Betty won the Emmy first and Christopher Lloyd (the writer not the actor) who worked as a producer on GGs, suggested Bea was somewhat jealous at Betty's ability to instantly connect with the audience and bring them "on her side." I've gotten the impression from interviews Bea did that she was never comfortable in her own skin. She always said she wanted to be "the blonde starlet" and "American's Sweetheart." Well Betty was, in a way, "America's Sweetheart," and I think that pissed Bea off.

I honestly don't think I would have enjoyed working with either Betty or Bea. They both had personalities that would have grated on me after a while.

From an interview Bea gave in 1998 to Dann Dulin from the magazine A&U called Being With Bea... "With a nod to Barbara Walters I ask Bea for a one word response to a few of the people who've crossed her path. Lucille Ball: Gorgeous, Rue McClanahan: Ah. Gifted, Estelle Getty: Ballsy, Betty White: Bea leans forward, eyes me directly, smiles wide, which I think is going to break into a laugh, and so I begin to laugh. Instead, her eyes moisten, she turns her body completely away from me, then puts her hand up and with a quiver in her voice says "Next". She is stricken momentarily with emotion. I pause."

Seems to me like they were good friends in the beginning and something happened. Something we're not being told about that doesn't have to do with their different personalities or actings styles. Betty once said that she was friends with Bea before the GG started so Bea knew what kind of personality Betty had. Why was it so hard for Bea to answer Dann's question? If she though Betty was a bitch, she would have answered that but instead she became emotional.

I think Betty was a lot tougher than Bea, for better and for WORSE and working day in and day out for years Bea probably experienced both aspects of that toughness.

R266 that would play perfectly into DL’s fan fic of some lesbian relationship /fallout - haha.

R268, Bea and Betty became very close when both their mother's died in 1985 when GG was starting. This is according to an article I read in the magazine Closer. Bea would never go to dinner Rue alone, she would also wait for Betty and then take her hand and they would leave. According to Bea's son Matthew Saks, they also lived close to each other during the first seasons and Bea would pick up Betty to go to work and vice versa. So something happened along the way which angered and hurt Bea.

Also from the 1998 interview with Dann Dulin:

In the mid-fifties, Bea Arthur and Tallulah Bankhead were traveling from city to city by train, appearing in The Ziegfeld Follies. They were in Tallulah's roomette at 9 o'clock in the morning. Tallulah was drinking Bourbon. Bea relates the story. "Tallulah said, 'You know, all the kids in the cast seem to think that I'm having an affair with Jack Cole (the choreographer), but of course, "Bea halts, then in her lowest voice yet, imitates Tallulah, "Jack is gay." Bea drops the Tallulah voice and continues, "Let's face it Divine Beatrice. There's a touch of the homosexual in all of us. It's not the cock. And it's not the twat. It's the eyes don't you know, and sometimes, the smell of lilac." Bea's delivery is so understated. She sums up reflecting with a hint of laughter, "I've never forgotten (this). I could cry thinking about it. It's so beautiful isn't it?" Then in a tranquil voice mixed with affection she says, "She's quite a character."

A Bea Arthur fan story from a guy named Armando who met Bea in L.A. after her show:

Armando: "Oh is Betty with you in the restaurant?" Bea: "Who?" Armando: "Betty, Betty White?" Bea: "Oh no. Why do you ask?" Armando: "Well because she was at your show and I figured that maybe she would be visiting with you?" Bea: Oh no, I didn't know she was there. I would have loved to have seen her. She's so nice."

Betty was a phony and Bea drank too much.

Betty's clit was bigger than Bea's cock.

I don't understand the relationship Bea and Betty had. There are so many contradictions. When Betty appeared on Joy Behar's show about 10 years ago, she said "Bea was not that fond of me. I don't know what I ever did but she was not that thrilled with me. But I loved Bea and I admired her."

However, here's an interview Betty did in 1987 to promote her new book. At 16:06 she says "Bea and I have lunch together every day when there isn't an interview or a wardrobe thing, and we just automatically go to lunch. You don't do that unless you really are crazy about somebody."

Odd.

R274 Betty and Bea having lunch together was something Rue confirmed in her book. Bea apparently was very superstitious and things had to be done they had since the first day the started working on the show. For example, no one could sit in a different seat during table reads, Bea would have to have dinner with Betty on tape night...also Bea HATED people who chewed gum or wore baseball caps backwards.

I think the idea that Bea loathed Betty has been somewhat played up over the years. I think Betty got under her skin and found her annoying...Bea's son said in an interview a few years ago that Bea disliked the the fact that Betty was always "on" that the Betty White you see in interviews is also how she acted off camera and Bea thought it was an act (which it may have been). I also think there was probably some underlying jealousy there (some of the show's writers and producers have hinted at it over the years). Bea was an unhappy rather insecure person and may have been slightly envious of Betty's "America's Sweetheart" status. That being said, I think there was professional respect between them. Bea always complimented Betty on her performance as Rose

At the end of the day, Bea and Betty belonged to an older era of Hollywood where you didn't air your grievances with fellow actors in public. Anyone who knew anything about the Golden Girls knows Bea had issues with Betty but neither confirmed it. It was only after Bea died that Betty confirmed what everyone knew.

Bea and Betty were very good friends before Golden Girls started and during the first 3 seasons of Golden Girls. You can see in interviews from 1985-86 and 87 that they liked each other very much. Bea was often leaning towards Betty, had her arm around her or was grabbing her hand. They went to lunch together every day, lived in the same area and would often pick each other up to go to work. So something happened around season 3-4 that severely affected their friendship. Something Bea never forgave. I don't believe the common excuses given because Bea was friends with Betty therefore she liked who she was and liked her Mary Poppins personality. The media/tabloids/insiders always tell people what they want to hear or what is easier for them to understand. "Bea was jealous of Betty's Emmy win".... "Bea was a pessimist and Betty was an optimist".... "Bea came from a theatre background, Betty from a tv background"... bla bla bla. All for simpletons. Apparently Betty didn't know why Bea didn't like her? Bull. If you're friends with someone for many years and they suddenly stop talking to you and can't stand you, you would ask them why. The notion that Betty and Rue had no idea why Bea hated Betty is ridiculous. I also find it strange that Bea never remarried or had a boyfriend after Gene and didn't like questions about her love life like during the interview she gave to Dinah Shore in 1989 and Betty was the same way. She never remarried after Allen died and was always uncomfortable when asked if she was dating men. For years, there were lesbian rumours about both of them (not together however) and Betty always seemed like she had a school girl crush on Bea. Even until the end, she was loyal to Bea and went to her one woman shows even if Bea didn't acknowledge her.

"She never remarried after Allen died and was always uncomfortable when asked if she was dating men." Absolute bs I have seen at least a couple of interviews where she talks pretty candidly about dating after Allen.

I wonder if Bea might have been bipolar. People described her as eccentric, hateful, loving, drunk, brash, kind etc. She hated shoes and would walk barefoot in the streets of London. Strange behavior. Here's an interview from 1985 with all four of the Golden Girls. Bea is being very affectionate towards Betty but look at her strange reaction at 8:13. She looks at Betty like she wants to kill her. For no reason at all. Strange woman she was. She doesn't look very good in that interview. Her makeup makes her look like a drag queen.

Gotta love this lesbian fan-fic re Bea & Betty.

Merv was an asshole though.

Interview from 1987 and again, Bea finds a way to touch Betty and grab her hand. From 85 to 87, she never does this with Rue or Estelle, only with her dear Betty. Hand grabbing, hair touching, leaning towards Betty with her arm around her. According to Rue, she didn't want to go to lunch with her unless Betty was there. Wow, what a feud! But, all this changed after 87. In a rare Q&A session from 1989 with the Golden Girls available on youtube, Bea and Betty can barely look at each other. Here's what I think happened: Betty was straight, Bea was not (she was gay or bi). You know how straight girls are. She played with Bea and then pretended like nothing happened. Bea never got over it, called her a cunt and Betty spent the rest of her life trying to get Bea to like her again.